8 Horas Nocturnas of Albacete The official Yamahas are leading free practice The Yamaha Racing France GMT 94 Ipone and the Yamaha Monster YART nearly signed some equal lap times this morning at the 8 Hours of Albacete free practice, in Spain, which is the second round of the Qtel FIM World Endurance Championship. The Yamaha Racing France GMT 94 Ipone with David Checa, Kenny Foray and Matthieu Lagrive signed their best lap in 1’32.098 just ahead of the Yamaha Monster YART of Igor Jerman, Steve Martin and Gwen Giabbani in 1’32.103. Behind these two Yamaha, in great shape indeed, is the BMW Motorrad France 99 of Sébastien Gimbert, Erwan Nigon and Hugo Marchand, with a best lap in 1’32.214. Damian Cudlin, also engaged in the IDM German Superbike Championship, is busy racing this weekend in the Nürburgring. Behind the leading trio in 1’32, the Honda TT Legends is still making progress. On the official British Honda, Steve Plater, John McGuinness and Keith Amor signed a best lap in 1’33.046. They are leading the Suzuki Endurance Racing Team, which was battling this morning with some suspension setup. The SERT is for now at a very unusual fifth place, but we can trust Vincent Philippe, Freddy Foray, Daisaku Sakai and all the SERT team to reach a more logical place after the qualifying practice this afternoon. After their sixth place at Bol d’Or, National Motos took the decision to enter the Albacete round, and the private team made a good impression once again! The yellow and blue Honda of Emeric Jonchière, Lucas de Carolis and Etienne Masson took the sixth place with a 1’33.395 lap and leads the locals from Yamaha YMES Folch Endurance, as well as Maco Racing Team. A little bit further down, the Kawasaki of Bolliger Team Switzerland is still working on the appropriate suspension setup. In the Superstock class, the battle promises to be harsh once again between the Suzuki of Team Motor Events Bodyguard AMT, the BMW of Van Zon Boenig Motorsportschool Penz13 RT and the Suzuki AM Moto Racing Compétition, since the three of them are very close in the free practice this morning. The Suzuki of Qatar Endurance Racing Team, the Belgian Yamaha of DG Sport and the Spanish from team BMW Mas are also very close. The first qualifying session is taking place this afternoon on the Albacete racetrack. To follow the practices and the race live, log on to www.fim-live.com More, from a press release issued by Team Suzuki News Service: Defending World Endurance Champions Suzuki Endurance Racing Team is aiming to extend its lead in the Championship this weekend at the Albacete 8-Hour race in Spain. The ‘8 Horas Nocturnas of Albacete’ is the second round of the 2011 Qtel FIM Endurance World Championship and team riders Vincent Philippe, Freddy Foray and Daisaku Sakai and their GSX-R1000 Suzuki start with a seven-point advantage over SRS Kawasaki. A total of 32 teams are entered; 14 of them being Suzuki mounted. The first free practices take place today (Friday) with final qualifying tomorrow morning. The “8 Horas Nocturnas of Albacete” race starts on Saturday at 6pm local time with a 2am finish on Sunday. Championship points (after 2 rounds): 1 SERT (GSX-R100 Suzuki) 35 points, 2 SRS Kawasaki (Kawasaki) 28, 3 BMW Motorrad (BMW) 22, 4 Bolliger Switzerland (Kawasaki) 18, 5 Honda TT Legends (Honda) 15.