BMW Motorrad returns for the Le Mans Classic.
Munich. Last year saw BMW Motorrad Motorsport's return to World Championship
motorcycle racing at the classic '24 Heures Moto of Le Mans', where they won
their class and finished a 16th overall. Despite their HP2 Endurance Boxer
being down on horsepower, compared to their 1000 cc multi-cylinder rivals,
Thomas Hinterreiter, Rico Penzkofer and Markus Barth were able to hustle the
twin-engined bike round the 4.18 kilometre Bugatti circuit for 776 trouble-free
laps. It was a tremendous achievement, considering that it was the team's
first event and that the bike had only completed one shakedown test beforehand.
After a successful season in 2007, BMW Motorrad Motorsport return to Le Mans to
see if they can improve on last year's impressive performance. This year
though, BMW Motorrad Motorsport will field two HP2s. Bike number 17 will be
ridden by experienced campaigner Stéphane Mertens, together with fellow Belgian
Sébastien Le Grelle and German Rico Penzkofer and bike number 71 will be ridden
by Briton Richard Cooper, Spaniard Jose-Luis Nion and American Brian Parriott.
For Stéphane, it will be an emotional return as it will be his first race since
his bad crash in preseason testing last year. He brings a wealth of experience
to the team, only slightly more so then his fellow countryman Sébastien - a BMW
Boxer Cup veteran. Rico Penzkofer is one of the toughest racers around. In the
Bol d'Or 24 hour race last year, he suffered a broken collarbone in a crash,
but picked up his HP2 and grittily pushed it back to the pits so that the team
could repair the damage and finish the race.
Briton Richard Cooper is the smallest member of the squad, but what he lacks in
size is more then made up for in his determination. He was a member of the BMW
Motorrad Motorsport team who took part in the prestigious Formula Xtreme
Daytona 200 race recently, where he finished a superb fifth, just ahead of his
team mate Brian Parriott. Brian was a faller early on in the race, but
remounted and then embarrassed most of his rivals on the way to sixth.
Jose-Luis is no stranger to BMW boxer bikes and having tested at the Bugatti
circuit recently is fired up and ready to add Spanish passion to the
Anglo-American mix.
Stéphane Mertens:
"Le Mans is a famous race and a famous track and it's always exciting to be
there. It's not too physical, but it's a track where you have to be good on the
brakes and be good on acceleration - and that suits me well. There are no
problems in the night - because the lighting is quite good - unless somebody
crashes in front of you and spills oil! It's not the most exciting track in the
world, but I normally do well there, so I am looking forward to racing there
again."
Richard Cooper:
"Le Mans and I have never quite clicked yet. I enjoy racing there but I've
never got much out of it so far, though I'd like to think that this year could
be different. The BMW goes well there and, as it is not such a physical track
for me, I think we can look forward to a good result there this year. We all
have a lot more experience then last year's race and I hope we put it to good
advantage."
Berti Hauser (General Manager BMW Motorrad Motorsport):
"The Le Mans race last year was the start of our big adventure and I remember
how pleased and happy I was with the result and the performance of our whole
team. We were pleasantly surprised about the warmth and affection we received
from everybody about our return to world championship motorcycle road racing
and throughout the year, we worked hard and learned a lot.
Make no mistake, the world endurance championship is not an easy class, but I
think we showed what we are capable of and maybe surprised a few people along
the way.
Although we now have one year's experience under our belts, it doesn't mean
that this year will be any easier. There are many tough teams out there with
much more experience then us and the challenge is as hard as ever. We are
showing our seriousness by fielding two bikes this year, with riders who have a
mixture of experience and youth. I am sorry that Thomas Hinterreiter cannot
take part, because of an injury, but I think he will be at Le Mans anyway to
support the team. And that typifies the wonderful spirit there is in our whole
team."
Free practice starts at 11.00 on Thursday 17 April, followed by the first
qualifying session in the afternoon and a night session in the evening. The
second qualifying starts on Friday at 11.00, with the traditional open pit-lane
from 17.00 to 20.00. The race starts at 15.00 on Saturday and finishes 24 hours
later on Sunday
