Suzuki Castrol Win Albacete 8 Horas Nocturnas Yamaha Austria Second, Yamaha Folch Third Suzuki Castrol have won the Albacete 8 Horas Nocturnas round of the FIM World Endurance Championship after running a consistent race which was incident packed for most of their competitors. The drama began on the start line when a bike and mechanic collided, bringing out the pace car while they were attended to. When the race proper finally got under way, Kawasaki Bolliger led briefly before Suzuki Castrol, Yamaha Phase One, Yamaha Austria and Yamaha Folch No.31 moved ahead of them. Yamaha Austria briefly took the lead at the end of the first hour, but Suzuki Castrol re-passed them to hold onto the lead for the rest of the race. Yamaha Austria managed to ease ahead of the chasing pack but the race for third place would last for the full eight hours. Yamaha Folch 31 recorded the fastest lap of the race (1:33720) in the effort to hold onto third place, while Kawasaki Bolliger’s careful fuel strategy advantage was lost when they were given a stop-go penalty for refuelling with the bike’s lights left on. Yamaha Phase One kept the pressure on the Folch team, closing to within 23 seconds of third place before they were forced to make a splash-and-dash stop twenty minutes before the end of the race. The story of the battle for third place was repeated further down the field. Suzuki Fagersjo-el.se held a comfortable sixth place and Yamaha Endurance Moto were secure in seventh, but eighth to tenth places were separated by just seconds until the final thirty minutes of the race. The first SuperProduction team to finish were Suzuki Team 18 Sapers Pompiers and the first SuperStock team across the line was Suzuki Endurance Moto 45. The next round of the FIM World Endurance Championship is the Zolder 6 Hour race in Belgium on June the 18th. Rider Quotes Vincent Phillipe, Suzuki Castrol, first place: “This was a good result for the team and for the championship. The bike and the tyres worked well so we are very happy.” Mattheiu Lagrive, Suzuki Castrol, first place: “Zolder is a new circuit to everyone in the championship, I think, so I am looking forward to it.” Sebastien Scarnato, Yamaha Austria, second place: “In this race Suzuki Castrol were much stronger than us, but one day it will happen, we will beat them. Josep Monge, Yamaha Folch, third place: “I think our third place was always safe, but apart from some problems in the first hour we could have been closer to Yamaha Austria.” Provisional Top Ten Finishing Positions 1st 1 – Suzuki Castrol – FRA – Suzuki GSX-R1000 – Philippe, Kitagawa, Lagirve – 295 laps 2nd 7 – Yamaha Austria – AUT – Yamaha YZF-R1 – Jerman, Scarnato, Giabbani – 292 laps 3rd 31 – Yamaha Folch 2 – SPA – Yamaha YZF-R1 – Salom, Monge, Salom – 290 laps 4th 3 – Yamaha Phase One Endurance – GBR – Yamaha YZF-R1 – Nowland, Cudlin, Miinin, 290 laps 5th 8 – Kawasaki Bolliger – SUI – Kawasaki ZX10R – Muff, Saiger, Morillon – 288 laps 6th 12 – Suzuki Fagersjo-el.se – SWE – Suzuki GSX-R1000 – Hanson, Andersson, Carlberg – 286 laps 7th 38 – Yamaha Endurance Moto38 – FRA – Yamaha YZF-R1 – Faustre, Bouan, Devoyan – 286 laps 8th 44 – Suzuki No Limits & RT – ITA – Suzuki GSX-R1000 – Ruozi, Monot, Jond – 284 laps 9th 18 – Suzuki Team 18 Sapeurs Pompiers – FRA – Suzuki GSX-R1000 – Molinier, Grelaud, Pialoux – 284 laps 10th 666 – Kawasaki Diablo 666 Bolliger – GBR – Kawasaki ZX10R – Hutchins, Rohtlaan, Cudlin – 283 laps