Yamaha Austria Racing Team leads the 8 Hours of Albacete ahead of the Yamaha BK Maco Moto Racing Team and the Yamaha Folch Endurance. At mid-race, these three teams lead over the Team 18 Sapeurs Pompiers and the Honda Michelin Power Research Team. In the same lap are also the Kawasaki Bolliger Switzerland and the Yamaha Phase One Endurance, and then the Suzuki RT Racing Team and MCS Racing Ipone. The Honda RMT 21 Racing Germany, struggling with its Pirelli tyres on a very hot track, completes the top ten. After a very sensible start, Gwen Giabbani put the Yamaha Austria into the lead after half an hour. In their second shift, Steve Martin has consolidated YART’s position and signed the best race time with a lap in 1’33.723. In the leading pack from the beginning, BK Maco Moto Racing and Folch Endurance made the show in the first laps. There was then a trio of unleashed Spanish riders. Pedro Vallcaneras on the Yamaha Phase One led the first two laps ahead of Dani Ribalta on the Yamaha BK Maco Moto and David Checa on the Yamaha Folch Endurance. But Pedro Vallcaneras has been a bit too fiery and crashed, and the leadership went to Dani Ribalta. Then came a young Italian, Ayrton Badovini on the Yamaha Amadeus X-One took the leadership for half an hour, before he encountered some engine problems. Team 18 Sapeurs Pompiers sticks perfectly to their race schedule and holds the fourth place tightly ahead of Michelin Power Research Team. After a quiet start, Ivan Silva was second on the Honda Michelin after 30 minutes, but lost all the benefits of his efforts as he crashed. He went back on track in eleventh place, and did not go through the pits. After this incident, the Honda Michelin managed to come back in fifth place at 10 pm and, as a bonus, took the best race lap so far in 1’32.563. AM Moto Racing Competition is the great looser of this first half of the race. Very fast, the Suzuki was in sixth place before Fabrice Auger crashed around 9 pm. They are back on track, but at the end of the pack. In the Superstock class, the Suzuki Qatar Endurance Racing Teams leads in the eleventh place after four hours. The Qatar even makes it right and left, as QERT Junior is the second Superstock, ahead of the Kawasaki Cordoba Patrimonio de la Humanidad. Behind, the Yamaha LTG 57 Zone Rouge suffers from some overheating problems the Kawasaki Atomic MotoSport was delayed by some gearshift and brake calliper problems and the Suzuki Endurance Moto 45 lost ground with an loose alternator joint that ended up with an oil leak. The Markos Suzuki Serbian Team was also delayed with some overheating troubles. The night just came down on Albacete. The arrival of the 8 Horas Nocturnas will be judged at 2 am on Sunday morning.