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