The BMW Motorrad France 99 won the 8 Hours of Albacete and took their first victory in the Qtel FIM Endurance World Championship.

Sébastien Gimbert and Erwan Nigon won on the S1000RR with a 30 seconds gap from the Yamaha Racing France GMT 94 Ipone of David Checa, Kenny Foray and Matthieu Lagrive, and one lap from the Suzuki Endurance Racing Team of Vincent Philippe, Freddy Foray and Daisaku Sakai.

This unprecedented podium is also Michelin’s revenge over the SERT partner Dunlop, as the French tyres were fitted on the first two machines for the 8 Hours of Albacete.

If the BMW Motorrad France 99 and the Yamaha Racing France GMT 94 Ipone enjoyed some trouble-free races, the SERT lost a bit of ground as they had to obey a stop and go penalty for not having switched off the bike’s lights during a pit stop.

The Suzuki Endurance Racing Team remains the championship leader, with a two points advantage over the BMW Motorrad France 99.

The fourth place was promised to the team Honda TT Legends, who were racing with the leaders from the beginning of the race.

But John McGuinness crash around 1.00am was fatal for the British Honda.

Honda TT Legends gave up their fourth place to another great contender of the race, Steve Martin’s Monster Yamaha YART, who also could have been on the podium spot if they had not been delayed by a fuel issue in the middle of the race.

The Yamaha of Maco Racing Team managed to kill the black cat at last! Jason Pridmore, Gregg Black and Grégory Junod took the fifth place ahead of the Yamaha YMES Folch Endurance of Dani Ribalta, Pedro Vallcaneras and Jose Manuel Luis Rita.

The Honda National Motos was in the surroundings 25 minutes away from the chequered flag, but a technical problem made them lose any benefit from a great race.

BMW took victory in the Superstock class as well. The BMW Van Zon Boenig Motorsportschool Penz13 RT of Werner Daemen, Grégory Fastré and Michael Filla finished seventh overall and first in their class

Alex Cudlin’s Suzuki of Qatar Endurance Racing Team suffered a broken engine.

The next round of the Qtel FIM World Endurance Championship is scheduled on 31 July for the 8 Hours of Suzuka reserved to the EWC Formula machines.