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2005 OSCHERSLEBEN 24 HRS WORLD ENDURANCE MOTORCYCLE CHAMPIONSHIP

SUZUKI CATROL TEAM WINS THE RACE & THE CHAMPIONSHIP Philippe, Kagayama, Lagrive

2005 WORLD ENDURANCE MOTORCYCLE CHAMPIONSHIP

2005 OSCHERSLEBEN 24 HRS

RACE RESULT

• 1 Suzuki Castrol, FRA, Suzuki GSX-R1000, Philippe, Kagayama, Lagrive, 855 laps
• 2 Kawasaki Bolliger, SU , Kawasaki ZX10R, Kellenberger, Morillon, Stamm, 832 laps
• 3 Kawasaki Diablo, GBR, Kawasaki ZX10R, Hutchins Mizera, Bake, 825 laps
• 4 No Limits & RT Racing Team, ITA, Suzuki GSX-R1000, Giachino, Ruozi, Monot, 812 laps
• 5 Bridgestone Bikers Profi GER, Suzuki GSX-R1000 , Roethig, Strauch, Heiler , 811 laps
• 6 Suzuki Austria Team 76 , AUT , Suzuki GSX-R1000 , Klein, Marjan, Bitter , 805 laps
• 7 Aprilia Motociclismo Test Team, ITA, Aprilia RSV1000, Pellizzon, Veghini, Alivert, 794 laps
• 8 Suzuki Fagersjo-el.se 2, SWE, Suzuki GSX-R1000, Hulth, Agombar, Carlberg - 794 laps
• 9 ABBCO Hein Gericke GER, Suzuki GSX-R1000, Marceletti, Schoenfelder, Walter, 790
• 10 Engel Racing Team, GER, Suzuki GSX-R1000, Kittel, Koenig, Steinebach - 789 laps

WINNERS:

• Vincent Philippe, Suzuki Castrol, 1st place: “It’s strange to win the world championship with a broken hand. It’s good that I have ridden in the race; I had a lot of pain but I did five relays so I am happy. I don’t think it is possible to be world champion if I don’t ride at every race, so I am very happy.”
• Keiichi Kitagawa, Suzuki Castrol, 1st place: “First of all I would like to thank the team, I’ve really enjoyed working with them and the other riders. I’m the first Japanese World Endurance Champion so I’m very pleased. Some of my fans have come over from Japan; it’s their first time in Europe, and they have really helped to motivate me during the race.”
• Mr Teramoto, Head of Suzuki France: “One of the most important categories for Suzuki is the sports models, so winning the championship , the world title, is very important for us. Today I am very happy on behalf of all of Suzuki that Suzuki France has won this title, particularly in the 20th anniversary of the GSX-R series.”
• Marcel Kellenberger, Kawasaki Bolliger, 2nd place: “Qualifying was not so bad for us, and we did nearly the same times in the race. We also had a lot of luck when the other teams had some problems, so the race was very good for us.”
• James Hutchins, Kawasaki Diablo, 3rd Place: “I’ve been fighting a bit of a demon having started this race twice and not finished it, so I’m pleased to have conquered it now. With the team only in its second year we’re very pleased to be on the podium, and more than proud of what everyone has done to bring us here.”

RACE REPORT

Suzuki Castrol: Oschersleben 24H Winners and 2005 FIM World Endurance Champions

• Kawasakis Second and Third
• The Oschersleben 24 Hours round of the FIM World Endurance Championship has been won
  by Suzuki Castrol. Second place has gone to Kawasaki Bolliger, and third to Kawasaki Diablo. The race win gives Suzuki Castrol an unbeatable lead in the championship standings; they are 45 points ahead of Kawasaki Bolliger, with only 25 points available for the final round of the year at Vallelunga, Italy, in September.
• From the start of qualifying on Thursday it looked as though the race would come down to a
  four way battle between Suzuki Castrol, Yamaha Austria, Yamaha Phase One Endurance and Kawasaki Bolliger, with only Phase One and the Austrians able to challenge Suzuki Castrol for the championship title.
• The race itself was action packed, with Suzuki Castrol and Yamaha Austria both crashing on
  oil in the opening fifteen minutes of the race. Both riders were able to rejoin the race, but
  Suzuki Castrol rider Vincent Philippe had injured his left wrist in the fall. With the two fit Suzuki Castrol riders, Keiichi Kitagawa and Matthieu Lagrive, doing back-to-back sessions both Yamaha Austria and Yamaha Phase One saw a chance to pile the pressure onto the Suzuki team. While they could not match Suzuki’s lap times, they could possibly force a mistake by the two increasingly tired riders.
• Yamaha Phase One paid the price of this blistering pace just before midnight, when their
  engine failed. Yamaha Austria held second place through the night, but a high-side crash by
  Thomas Hinterreiter in his first session in daylight on Sunday morning left the bike unrideable. While all of this was going on, Kawasaki Bolliger and Kawasaki Diablo had been putting in reliable lap after reliable lap. The Bolliger bike made an unplanned stop to replace an exhaust system, and another to change a leaking front fork, but otherwise the two Kawasakis ran a perfect race.
• Further down the field, Suzuki No Limits & RT Motor Team, Suzuki Bridgestone Bikers Profi
  and Suzuki Austria Team 76 all completed the race without major incident. The Aprilia
  Motociclismo Test team continue to go from strength to strength, with their almost standard
  bike finishing in seventh place.

QUALIFYING

• 1 Suzuki Castrol Team , FRA , Suzuki GSX, R1000 , M.Lagrive , 1:29.960
• 2 Yamaha Austria 7 , AUT , Yamaha YZF, R1 , G. Giabanni , 1:30.517
• 3 Yamaha Phase One Endurance , GBR , Yamaha YZF, R1 , D.Cudlin , 1:30.608
• 4 Bolliger Team Switzerland , SUI , Kawasaki ZX10R , R.Stamm , 1:31.128
• 5 Suzuki Fagersjo, el.se , SWE , Suzuki GSX, R1000 , M.Christer , 1:31.687
• 6 JLC Moto Ulteamatum , FRA , JBB Suzuki , A.Delhalle , 1:31.702
• 7 Shell Endurance Academy , GBR , Yamaha YZF, R1 , C.Hogan , 1:32.368
• 8 Racing Team Hepelmann , GER , Yamaha YZF, R1 , R.Kraechter , 1:32.405
• 9 Ducati Team Spring , ITA , Ducati 999RS , L.Mauri , 1:32.719
• 10 Suzuki Bridgestone Bikers , GER , Suzuki GSX, R1000 , T. Roethig , 1:32.875

QUALIFYING REPORT

• Suzuki Castrol Pole Position, Yamaha Austria Second, Yamaha Phase One Third
  Provisional pole position for tomorrow’s Oschersleben 24 Hours round of the FIM World
  Endurance Championship has been taken by Suzuki Castrol’s Matthieu Lagrive with a
  time of 1:29.960. He beat his team mate Vincent Philippe – normally the star of world
  endurance qualifying – by just one hundredth of a second.
• Second place went to Yamaha Austria’s Gwen Giabbani, half a second behind Suzuki
  Castrol and just under a tenth of a second faster than third placed Damian Cudlin for
  Yamaha Phase One Endurance. Tomorrow’s race looks set to be a battle between these
  three teams, with fourth in qualifying Kawasaki Bolliger fighting for fourth place in the race.
  Suzuki Fagersjo-el.se were fifth and JLC Ultimateam sixth. The latter bike is a Suzuki
  engined special with a radical hub-centre-steering front suspension system.
  Shell Endurance Academy’s Calvin Hogan was seventh, Yamaha Racing Team Hepelmann
  eighth, Ducati Spring Team ninth and Suzuki Bridgestone Bikers Profi tenth.
• Only three of the top ten teams’ first riders were fastest this morning, suggesting that the track may have warmed up over the course of the qualifying sessions. Crashers so far have included Fagersjo-el.se’s Paul Young during first qualifying, Aprilia Motociclismo Test Team who have had to source a new frame from a local dealer, and Suzuki No Limits & RT who returned from the first night practice session on the back of the recovery truck.
• Qualifying Quotes
  Matthieu Lagrive, Suzuki Castrol, first place: “I’m very happy; I’m doing this for the team
  and for the championship. I’m just doing my job; I came here for a ride and… For sure I
  wanted to go faster; it’s very hard here because there is a lot of traffic and I lost time on a
  lot of laps. I wanted to do a 1:28. The bike is okay for the race, Vincent and Keiichi are
  okay, we will ride easy for the finish.”
• Gwen Giabbani, Yamaha Austria, second place: “Qualifying was okay. I aimed for a better
  result, to be closer to Suzuki Castrol, but second place on the grid is not so bad; I’m
  happy with that. I am confident for the race because I know the team is good in the pits,
  for refuelling and everything, and my team mates and I are all doing the same lap times.”
• Damian Culdin, Yamaha Phase One Endurance, third place: “Qualifying went to plan,
  really. I struggled a lot with the set-up of the bike when I first turned up here; it’s different
  to what it’s been all year and I wasn’t here for the testing. We tried something last night in
  the night practice session, and I found some more speed today. I managed to do the

RACE PREVIEW:

• Warwick Nowland (Yamaha Phase One Endurance): “Not only is Speedweek a festival, it is the most important race in the 2005 Endurance World Championship. I love coming to Oschersleben, but Phase One is here to do one thing, win the race. It has been a difficult year with very few races for the team to develop and improve our bike, but after our test here in June and our race at Suzuka, we are in pretty good shape ... Our main goal this weekend is to gain maximum points and close the gap to Castrol Suzuki. Yamaha Austria is also a big threat and will be hard to beat after being supported this season with technical and human resources from last year’s world championship- winning team, GMT94 Yamaha. My goal is to improve our bike’s traction. This is our biggest problem. We have been equal to, or better than, the other bikes in all areas except for drive of the corners. This also affects our tyre wear and makes life difficult after 10 or 12 laps. I spoke with Yamaha last weekend at the world Superbike round at Brands Hatch, and this is an area under revision for the 2006 model.”
• Championship Introduction
  The FIM World Endurance Championship is a unique and gruelling test of motorcycle and
  rider power and endurance - a worldwide phenomenon that's a massive hit with race fans,
  riders and teams alike. The Championship is one of only three world road racing championships officially sanctioned by the FIM. World Endurance races are known for their spectacular starts, which see the riders sprint across the track to their waiting motorcycles. Race weekends are hugely popular festivals with music and all kinds of entertainment for spectators. Last year saw production based motorcycles from twelve manufacturers ridden by competitors from twenty different nations competing for overall honour.
• Suzuki Castrol, winners of the Assen 500 and Albacete 8 Horas races, extended their
  championship lead after finishing seventh at the Suzuka 8 Hours ten days ago. Yamaha
  Austria have moved up to second in the championship after Suzuka, and Yamaha Phase
  One Endurance up to third.
• Oschersleben Race Weekend
  The “24 Stunden von Oschersleben” race is the finale to German Speedweek, a festival of
  motorcycle racing which takes place at the circuit every year. The support races include track action for KTM Dukes, Aprilia RSV1000s, the ADAC Juniors, the European SuperMono single cylinder championship, the Yamaha Cup and classic solos and sidecars.
• Off-track there’s the usual mix of stunt shows and live music, as well as the chance to meet
  the teams and riders during the pit walks or in the paddock.
• 24 Hours of Racing
  Twenty four hours of non-stop racing is a real challenge, and one that brings a full entry to
  Oschersleben every year. Joining the permanent teams on the grid are many strong and experienced teams from around the world who will be content with just completing the race. Germany is particularly well represented, with some real endurance experts coming out of the woodwork for this race. A number of manufacturers will also be making one-off appearances at Oschersleben.
• Quite apart from the length of the race, Oschersleben presents a number of other challenges. The circuit is very demanding, with series of bends which fold back on themselves leaving riders little chance to rest and giving the bikes’ gearboxes and transmissions a hard time. The weather is also likely to make its presence felt, with a possibility of thunderstorms over the weekend and temperatures expected to range from the high twenties for the start to the low teens as night falls.
• For the riders and pit crew staying cool during the day and warm at night will be a real issue, but it is unlikely to bother the many thousands of spectators who will gather to watch the race. With the many attractions running alongside the main event at Oschersleben – from SuperMono racing to the Bikini Bike Wash – race goers are guaranteed a great weekend. For the competitors the only focus will be the 24 hours of racing, and the points and glory that will come with a good result.
• Quotes
• Gwen Giabbani, Yamaha Austria: “The Oschersleben bikes were already being prepared
  in Europe while we were at Suzuka. It will be the main event of the championship so we
  are looking forward to it. The future is good.”
• Russell Benney, team manager, Yamaha Phase One Endurance: “Oschersleben is a
  great chance for us to springboard our way up to second in the championship. The testing
  we did there before Suzuka will mean that we will be on the pace straight away. This is the
  most important race in the championship for us.”
• Race Curiosity
• Eleven manufacturers are represented in the Oschersleben 24 Hours entry list. The usual
  suspects from Suzuki, Yamaha, Kawasaki, Honda, Aprilia, Ducati and MV Agusta are
  joined by one-off entries from BMW, KTM, Triumph and MZ.
• Three different models of BMW will compete – a K1200R, a K1200S and an R1100S
  based KB35. Five MZ1000Ss have been entered by three teams; a single example of the
  model entered last year, finishing in a creditable 17th place overall.
• Last Years Race
  The Oschersleben 24 Hours was a pivotal race in last year’s season. Going into the race
  Suzuki Castrol held a comfortable lead in the championship standings; by the time it was
  over, Yamaha GMT94 had secured the World Endurance Championship title. The two teams fought for the lead from the off, but the race was over for Suzuki Castrol by the early hours of Sunday morning. Yamaha GMT94 went on to win the race by a comfortable margin, in front of second placed Yamaha Austria. Yamaha Phase One Endurance and Kawasaki Bolliger were among the many experienced teams who failed to finish the toughest race of the year. Championship