]SUCCESSFUL ALBACETE TEST FOR BMP-ELF-99 RACING TEAM

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SUCCESSFUL ALBACETE TEST FOR BMP-ELF-99 RACING TEAM

The BMP-ELF-99 Racing Team yesterday concluded a successful two-day test at Albacete, ahead of the next round of the Endurance World Championship, which takes place at the Spanish circuit on the weekend of 22/23 May 2010.

The test was in support of Dunlop, the BMP-ELF-99 Racing Team's tyre partner in the Endurance World Championship, to assist with their further development of the tyres that the team will race this season.

Damian Cudlin, one of the three riders that rode the BMP-ELF-99 Racing Team CBR1000 to a hard fought 15th place at Le Mans, securing eighth place in the championship standings, shouldered the testing responsibilities over the two days in Albacete.

The Australian rider, who will contest the eight-hour race at Albacete alongside four-time World Endurance Champion Matthieu Lagrive, left the Spanish circuit satisfied with the progress made, both with the tyres and the set-up of the team's Honda CBR1000 endurance racer.

"It was a big two days on track," explained Cudlin. "On the one hand, being the only rider meant I had a pretty heavy testing schedule to complete, which was hard work, but it also meant I was able to work more closely with the team and get across my feelings about how to improve the bike."

"We tested a lot of tyres for Dunlop, but we also worked our way through different settings on the bike, different suspension set-ups and even different engines during the two days. We managed to address some of the dramas we had at Le Mans with the bike and we posted some pretty impressive lap times on the second day. We're definitely moving in the right direction and I think we've got a good set-up ready for the race here in three weeks time."

Cudlin was the fastest rider on track during the test, posting a lap time almost two seconds quicker than the fastest lap in last year's eight-hour race at Albacete.

 

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BMP-ELF-99 TEAM READY FOR ALBACETE

The BMP-ELF-99 Racing Team head for this weekend's 8 Horas Nocturnas De Albacete race in a confident mood, having completed a successful two-day test at the Spanish track just three weeks ago,

Damian Cudlin, one of the three riders that rode the BMP-ELF-99 Racing Team CBR1000 to a hard fought 15th place at Le Mans, securing eighth place in the championship standings, shouldered the testing responsibilities over the two days in Albacete. The Australian rider ended the test with a lap time almost two seconds faster than the best race time at the 3.539km Spanish circuit.

For this weekend's Albacete race, the second round of the Endurance World Championship, Cudlin will once again be partnered by four-time World Endurance Champion, Matthieu Lagrive, who was also part of the BMP-ELF-99 team's rider line up at Le Mans.

The third rider at Le Mans, Werner Daemen, will also be at Albacete, but this time in his new role as the BMP-ELF-99 Racing Team's Sporting Manager. The Belgian rider brings a vast amount of experience to his new role, which will strengthen the team considerably and eliminate some of the problems experienced in the Le Mans race.

Circuito de Albacete is located 170km inland from Alicante and was first opened in 1990. The circuit, which features five left-hand and eight right-hand corners, hosted a World Superbike round from 1992 to 1999, but the 8 Horas Nocturnas De Albacete is now the biggest international motorcycle event on the Spanish circuit's calendar.

Damian Cudlin
"I'm more confident going into this race than I was going into Le Mans, as we're better prepared as a team than we've ever been. I'm really looking forward to it as we're heading to Albacete off the back of a really positive test at the circuit and I think we'll be in a position to spring a few surprises this weekend. We proved in Le Mans that we're one of the fastest teams out there and, if it hadn't been for a couple of issues, we'd have finished a lot higher than we did. But, we learnt a lot from Le Mans and that will stand us in good stead this weekend in Albacete. The bike is good, the tyres are good and we know we have a good set-up, so I'd be disappointed if we came away from this weekend with anything less than a podium finish."

Michael Bartholemy: Team Principal
"We had a very successful test with Damian at Albacete three weeks ago, so we head into this race confident that the bike and the tyres are both more than capable of a good result this weekend. Damian and Matthieu were consistently the fastest riders on track at Le Mans, so we know they have the pace, but we were let down in that race by a couple of mistakes in the pits, which is why we've strengthened this side of the team by bringing in Werner as the Sporting Manager. He will oversee the team's activities on track and I'm confident that, which his vast amount of experience, we will not have a repeat of the issues that cost us so much time at Le Mans. I am looking forward to a good result by the team this weekend at Albacete, where I think a podium finish is a realistic possibility given our testing performance at the track previously."

 

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BMP-ELF-99 RACING TEAM ON THE PACE IN ALBACETE

The BMP-ELF-99 Racing Team finished today's regular qualifying for the 8 Horas Nocturnas De Albacete with the second fastest combined time, as Matthieu Lagrive and Damian Cudlin both headed the timesheet by a considerable margin in their respective qualifying groups.

The team will go into tomorrow's Superpole shootout as firm favourites to secure their first pole position start in only their second race in the Endurance World Championship.

The day wasn't without incident though. Lagrive crashed heavily during the qualifying session, completely destroying one of the team's Honda CBR1000 machines, leaving them with only one bike for Superpole and the race. While Lagrive was uninjured, the crash meant that the team's third rider and sporting manager, Werner Daemen, was only able to complete five laps during his qualifying session.

Werner Daemen: Sporting Manager
"Overall it's been a good day for the BMP-ELF-99 Racing Team. We will go into tomorrow's Superpole shootout as the second fastest team in regular qualifying, with a very good chance of securing our first pole position start at only our second race. The only downside today is that we now have only one bike, after Matthieu crashed earlier in the day and totally destroyed the bike we were using for practice and qualifying. The bike can be fixed; what is important is that Matthieu was uninjured in the crash and continued to head the timesheet in his qualifying group. The same was true of Damian, who also headed his group with a margin of more than one second, which shows that we have good pace here at Albacete."

 

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ALBACETE 8 HORAS

The 2010 Qtel FIM Endurance World Championship started mid April in the fast lane with the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The first round was won by the GSR Kawasaki with Julien da Costa, Olivier Four and Gregory
Leblanc, ahead of the 2009 Qtel FIM Endurance World Champions Igor Jerman, Steve Martin and Gwen Giabbani of the Yamaha Austria Racing Team. The YART has got a good lead for the 2010 world title, since
team GSR won’t participate in all the races this season and also since SERT, another great challenger, didn’t score any point at Le Mans as they had to retire.

However, Yamaha Austria Racing Team will have to watch the come back of the Yamaha France GMT 94 Ipone from the next round: the “8 Horas Nocturnas of Albacete”, scheduled in Spain on May 22. Despite
lagging behind its new Bridgestone tyres, the French official Yamaha ridden by David Checa, Gregorio Lavilla and Kenny Foray finished fourth at Le Mans. The Suzuki RAC 41 City Bike of Greg Junod, Gregg Black and Olivier Depoorter will be one of the 2010 outsiders. By finishing third at Le Mans, they are definitely in the right track for the 2010 championship, like the Suzuki RT Moto Virus with Frédéric Jond, Eric Mizera and William Grare and the Kawasaki Bolliger Team Switzerland which was very fast at Le Mans with Horst Saiger, Roman Stamm and Frédéric Chabosseau.

Among the unlucky competitors of Le Mans 24 hours, the Honda BMP Elf 99 (Matthieu Lagrive, Damian Cudlin and Werner Daemen) finished 8th, the BMW Michelin (Sébastien Gimbert, Erwan Nigon and Bertrand
Stey) which was forced to retire, the Spanish Yamaha YMES Foch Endurance who is used to being on the Albacete podium will also be highly motivated and the Honda National Motos (Sébastien Scarnato, Emeric Jonchière et Sylvain Barrier) who finally decided to take part in the 8 Hours in Spain.

In the Superstock class, we expect a new confrontation between the Qatar Endurance Racing Team 1 and Team Motor Events, a new challenger in the FIM World Cup, won by QERT in 2008 and 2009. The start of the 8 Hours of Albacete, a semi-nocturnal race, will take place Saturday, on May 22 at 6 pm. The first qualifying sessions are scheduled on Friday morning.

 

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HARD FOUGHT SIXTH IN ALBACETE FOR BMP-ELF-99

The BMP-ELF-99 Racing Team took sixth place in an incident packed 8 Horas Nocturnas De Albacete, after fighting their way back through the field following two major crashes.

The drama started shortly after the start of the race when the leading 10 riders - including Damian Cudlin on the BMP-ELF-99 Honda CBR1000 - crashed as a result of oil dropped on the circuit. Cudlin managed to get the bike back to the pits, where it was quickly repaired before returning to the track with Matthieu Lagrive at the controls.

Lagrive started the fight back, scything through the field to regain the places lost to the early race crash. Cudlin then continued to progress through the order during his second stint, but another crash by Lagrive as the Frenchman was closing on the top ten meant more time lost in the pits for repairs and another fight back through the field once the bike returned to the track.

Lagrive, Cudlin and the team's third rider, Werner Daemen, pushed hard during the closing stages of the race to try and catch the leaders, but eventually ran out of time and had to settle for sixth place at the chequered flag. The result means the BMP-ELF-99 Racing Team move up to joint sixth place in the Endurance World Championship standings, just 16 points behind the leaders, after two rounds.

Damian Cudlin
"Another one slips through our fingers! We definitely had the potential to win this race, after being fastest all weekend and then securing pole position in Superpole, but we had some bad luck and that's what cost us. The crash at the start of the race was a big one; it was like a war zone in the gravel trap, with bikes and riders flying everywhere. When I picked the bike up to get it back to the pits I thought our race was over, because there was a lot of damage. Hats off to the crew though, as they had it fixed and ready to go in just ten minutes, which was impressive to say the least! At the halfway point a podium finish was still on the cards but then Matt took a tumble and, although the bike was once again repaired in record time, we'd lost too much ground on the front five teams. I'm disappointed with sixth, as we really did have the potential to win this race. Matt and myself were consistently the fastest riders on track all weekend, but maybe our biggest strength was with the pit crew, who have really stepped up their game since Le Mans. We certainly ruffled a few feathers again this weekend, now we just need a bit more luck if we are to realise our true potential. With such a strong team, both on the bike and in the pit box, I think it's only a matter of time until we pick up our first race win."

Michael Bartholemy: Team Principal
"We went to Albacete looking for a podium finish, so we're a little disappointed to only finish sixth. The first crash was unavoidable, as there was oil on the circuit, and it was while trying to make up time lost at the beginning that caused Matthieu to crash the second time. The team did a fantastic job repairing the bike in record time, but the second crash effectively ended our chances of a podium finish, despite some superb riding by all three pilots. But, while I'm not so happy with the final result, I am pleased that the team worked really well to eliminate the problems we encountered at Le Mans and are now on par with the leading teams in the EWC paddock. Congratulations to everyone in the team, who all did a fantastic job this weekend. I'm confident it won't be long before we claim that elusive first podium finish in what is turning into a hotly contested championship."