FIM endurance battle set for Germany

The fourth leg of the QMMF Endurance FIM World Championship, the Oschersleben 24 Hours in Germany, marks the start of the second half of the season and is set to be a decisive point in the race for the Championship.

Thirty-five points are on offer for the winner at Oschersleben on August 12 with only 25 points separating the two teams at the head of the classifications.

Suzuki Endurance Racing Team, second in the Superbike class at Suzuka, lead Kawasaki Motor France who did not take part in Japan.

A thrilling battle therefore looks likely in Germany between these two official French teams.

SERT have recorded two consecutive victories at Oschersleben, however Kawasaki France, winners at Albacete last May, will be formidable challengers for the top podium spot with everything at stake in this race. FCC TSR 778, the Japanese team that was victorious in the Superbike class at Suzuka and lie third in the overall classifications, is not taking part in Germany.

This track, as highly demanding for the machines as for the riders, also offers certain permanent teams the opportunity to make an impact.

Yamaha Austria Racing Team, fifth overall, along with Yamaha Phase One Endurance, Bolliger Team Switzerland Kawasaki and Endurance Moto 38, following their strong results at Suzuka, have all made an impressive leap up the classifications and could surprise a few people.

Each of these permanent teams have been on the podium at Oschersleben in the past few seasons.

The best performance has come from Endurance Moto 38 who were victorious in 2002 ahead of the Suzuki Zongshen and GMT 94, the top teams in the 2002 Endurance World Championship.

As in every year, the 2007 Oschersleben 24 Hours will showcase a good number of German teams including one official team.

Sixteenth at the 2007 Le Mans 24 Hours, BMW Motorrad Motorsport will be using two R1200Ss in the Open category.

Among the other peculiarities at this German race will be the sight on the track of the Harley Davidson VRSC RR of HD Racing Bonn as well as the two Super Dukes of the KTM Dealers team.

One of the Super Dukes in fact finished in 18th position in 2006. Finally there will also be an MZ 1000 and four Triumph Daytonas entered into the Open category.

Free practice will take place on Thursday morning and the first round of qualifying on Thursday afternoon before the night-time testing session.

The second qualifying session is scheduled for Friday morning.

The race itself will start on Saturday, August 11 at 3pm.