FIM PR:

The 2009 8 Hours of Oschersleben finally lasted 6 h 40! The race had to be interrupted after being hit by a strong thunderstorm and finally stopped as the weather forecast was quite pessimistic for the coming hours. Leading the race from almost the beginning, Igor Jerman, Steve Martin and Gwen Giabbani took victory on the Yamaha Austria Racing Team with a four laps lead over the competition.

YART strengthens his favourite status for the 2009 Qtel FIM Endurance World Championship title. After two victories at Le Mans and Oschersleben, YART leads now the championship by 28 points. YART won at Oschersleben ahead of the Italian Yamaha Amadeus X-One of Paolo Tessari, Will Gruy and Ayrton Badovini. Amadeus X-One signed here his first podium after a faultless race and takes the third place in the championship after two races.

Third in Germany, RT Racing Team had a fantastic race with Jean-Louis Devoyon, Frédéric Jond and David Morillon. The Franco-Italian Suzuki had always been in the leading group during the race.

Behind them, two teams could have made a come-back towards the end of the race. The Team 18 Sapeurs Pompiers and their Suzuki ridden by Stéphane Molinier, David Brière and Jérôme Tangre finished near the podium, less than one minute from RT Racing Team. Same for Kawasaki Bolliger Switzerland of Horst Saiger, Rico Penzkoffer and Eric Mizera, in fifth place.

BK Maco Moto Racing Team was very well placed at the beginning of the race, but they stepped back in sixth place after some fuel pump problems, ahead of AM Moto Racing Competition. The French Suzuki lost some ground in the middle of the race as the gearshift support broke down. The German RMT 21 Racing Germany is eighth, ahead of Suzuki MCS Racing Ipone and the Honda Michelin Power Research Team.

Potential winner and great rival of Yamaha Austria, Honda Michelin Power Research Team lost the pace after three hours of battle with YART, as they had a problem with a stand during a pit stop, then they lost a lot of time as their chain broke down and last but not least they had a crash involving a delayed rider.

Bad luck was also with the British team of Phase One Endurance. Starting from the fifth place on the grid, Damian Cudlin crashed after a few laps. Back in the top 10, the British Yamaha was then delayed by a battery problem. Finally, a crash from Pedro Vallcaneras around 8 pm forced Phase One to retire.

The Kawasaki Atomic MotoSport also had to retire after their gearbox broke down, as they were holding strongly a third place in the Superstock class.

In the Superstock class, the victory goes to Qatar Endurance Racing Team with Mashel Al Naimi, Rashid Al Mannai and Anthony Delhalle. They managed to hold back the pressure
from Yamaha LTG 57 Zone Rouge, with Franck Millet, Branko Srdanov and Michael Lalevée. The Suzuki Endurance Moto 45 with Alexandre Lagrive, Adrien Ganfornina and Nicolas Jaulneau completes the Superstock podium.
The next round of the Qtel FIM Endurance World Championship is the 8 Hours of Albacete, Saturday 4th of July, in Spain.