2008 Endurance World Championship
BMW Motorrad Motorsport
Le Mans 24 hours, France
Final qualifying, Friday 18 April
Conditions: Overcast, damp, cold, some rain.
Conditions were once again mixed during final qualifying
at Le Mans today and although Team BMW Motorrad Motorsport
did not finish as high up the grid as they would’ve
liked, they were satisfied with the set-ups of their bikes
for the race ahead. Suzuki Endurance Racing Team ended final
qualifying with pole position, followed by Yamaha France GMT
and Team Kawasaki France.
Sebastian Le Grelle - 1:44.235
The weather has not been all that helpful, but it’s
the same for everybody and we just have to get on with it.
I’m happy with my lap time and I know Stéphane,
Rico and I can all run good consistent laps and that's important
in a twenty-four hour race. The weather reports are mixed
for the weekend, but I think our bike will work well round
here, whatever the conditions.
Brian Parriot - 1:44.781
I am enjoying being here at Le Mans and I think it’s
a great event. Mertens and I were out on the track at the
same time and he helped me sort out some lines and I was able
to get used to the track more easily. It’s going to
be a long, long race and although our grid positions are not
so good, I don’t think that really matters, when you
think we’ve got twenty-four hours to do.
Berti Hauser (Director of BMW Motorrad Motorsport
Once again a difficult day, with regard to the conditions,
but I’m happy that all our riders kept safe and made
sure that everything would be OK for the race. I’m sure
that this year will be tougher then last year, but we are
looking forward to a good race and finishing as strongly as
possible. I’m sure the weather will play some part in
the weekend, but we’ll just have to be ready for whatever
happens and respond in our usual quick way. I have confidence
in our whole team and know we’ll do the very best job
we can.
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