The 8 Hours of Oschersleben, fourth round of the 2008 Qtel FIM Endurance World Championship, will take place Saturday 9 August in Germany. This 8 Hours event will be partly at night, with a 3 pm start on Saturday for an 11 pm finish. The new race format leaves space for a round of the very disputed German Superbike Championship on Sunday, as part of the “German Speedweek”. We’ll also see some new and high-performing German teams on the 8 Hours starting grid. After the special Suzuka round, where regular Endurance contenders have to race against local Japanese teams on factory machines, Oschersleben goes back to the classic format of Endurance. In Germany, Suzuki Endurance Racing Team remains the favourite; the current World Champion is still the series leader, despite a difficult race in Japan and the injuries of one of its riders, Vincent Philippe. Vincent will let us know on Tuesday, just before the opening of Oschersleben qualifying, if he feels able to hold his place on the official Suzuki despite his right ankle injured. We also know as a fact that Matthieu Lagrive and Julien Da Costa is a duo perfectly able to get the victory at Oschersleben. However, the competition will be harsh in Germany. Main contender for victory is official team Kawasaki France with Chris Walker, Erwan Nigon and Julian Mazuecos. A few Yamahas made a positive impression at Suzuka, such as Yamaha Austria Racing Team with Igor Jerman, Steve Martin and Steve Plater, YMES Folch Endurance with Dani Ribalta, Pedro Vallcaneras and David Tomas and Phase One Endurance with Damian Cudlin, James Haydon and Stéphane Duterne. In the top ten of the 2007 edition, then disputed on a 24 Hours format, are also three Kawasaki with strong ambitions: Kawasaki Bolliger Switzerland, Raffin Motos and Diablo 666 Bolliger. We’ll also have to keep an eye on some local teams. The Honda Holzhauer Racing Promotion with Martin Bauer, 2007 German Superbike Champion and 2008 championship leader, and Matthias Von Hammerstein, another German SBK rider, are under the spotlights, since Bauer’s team-mate on that Honda could also be Michael Schumacher. The previous F1 World Champion is having fun lately in racing motorbikes and could have a taste of what is World Endurance for the first time. The Suzuki Yoshimura Germany is also here with strong ambitions with German SBK riders Olivier Depoorter and Werner Daemen and World Supersport rider Didier Van Keymeulen. Three other regular German SBK contenders, Jorg Teuchert, Andrzej Pawelec and female rider Nina Prinz will also be on the Yamaha Motor Deutschland. Let’s not forget about BMW Motorrad, who took fifth and ninth place at Oschersleben last year. Two BMW HP2 Sport will be again on the starting grid, with Thomas Hinterreiter, Richard Cooper, Jose-Luis Nion, Rico Penzkofer, Stéphane Mertens and Franz Aschenbrenner.