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POSITIVE FIRST TEST FOR NEW WORLD ENDURANCE CHALLENGERS
The all-new BMP-ELF-99 Racing Team made their on-track debut this week, as former World Endurance Champion Matthieu Lagrive and Damian Cudlin successfully put the team's Honda CBR1000 through it's paces, during a two-day test at the Le Mans circuit in France.
Bitterly cold weather meant conditions were far from ideal for testing, but Lagrive and Cudlin were able to match the pace of the top teams during the test, despite the BMP-ELF-99 CBR1000 not running a full complement of kit race parts first time out.
After working together with Cudlin and the team on the opening day to improve the overall set-up of the bike, Lagrive ran consistently at the top of the timesheets during the second day, with Cudlin just three tenths of a second behind his vastly experienced new teammate.
Having made significant improvements to the CBR1000 throughout the two-day test, the BMP-ELF-99 Racing Team are looking forward to returning to Le Mans, with two full race specification machines, for a second two day test from 30-31 March, at which both riders are confident of making further improvements.
The BMP-ELF-99 Racing Team will announce their full rider line-up for the Le Mans 24-Hour Race ahead of this second Le Mans test.
Matthieu Lagrive
"I've not ridden a bike for around five months, so it was good to get back on track and back up to speed at Le Mans. It took me a while to find my rhythm again, but by the end of the two days I felt confident enough to start pushing harder. The bike definitely has a lot of potential; although we don't yet have all the kit parts for the engine we were still able to run at the same pace as the other top teams. We've identified the direction we need to go in terms of development and I'm confident we'll see further improvements at the next test, when the bike will be in full race trim. The team are very professional and it's been good working with them. Overall it's been a very positive first test and I'm looking forward to riding the bike again at Le Mans at the end of March."
Damian Cudlin
"I am so pleased to be involved with what is a very exciting project. Michael Bartholemy has a lot of experience at all levels of the sport, and it's good to be working with the guys from Dunlop once again. The team are very professional and the bike has a lot of potential. This was my first time on a Honda, but I had a good feeling with the bike straight away. We're still missing some kit parts, which we'll have for the next test, but already the bike is at a very good level. I really believe that, after such a productive first test, we can be serious challengers this season."
Michael Bartholemy: Team Principal
"I'm happy to be back in World Endurance, as this is where it all started for me. Pascal H?risson and his team have done a fantastic job building the bike, which has surpassed all expectations at this first test. We came here really just to shakedown the bike, which isn't even in full race trim yet, but Matthieu and Damian did a great job and were able to run the same pace as the leading teams. I'm confident that, when we have the bike built to the full race specification, we'll see even further improvements from Matthieu, Damian and our third rider, who we'll be announcing shortly. I'm very happy with what we've achieved over the past two days and I'm already looking forward to returning to Le Mans for our second test at the end of March."