WEC: Record entry for Le Mans 24 Hours Moto

Entries for the motorbike version of the Le Mans 24 Hours, the opening round of the FIM World Endurance Championship, have reached record levels.

With more than three weeks to go until the season-opener, the endurance championship has already attracted 31 permanent entries for 2010 with 80 bikes having applied for the 64 places available at Le Mans.

The entry list includes ten different marques, 12 nationalities and four tyre suppliers across the three classes; Formula EWC, Superstock and Open.

Of the 31 full-season entries to be present on the grid at La Sarthe next month, reigning world champions, Yamaha Austria, will return with support from Michelin, while nine-time title winners, Suzuki Endurance Racing Team, is back and will utilise Dunlop rubber. 2004 champion, Yamaha France GMT 94, has switched to Bridgestone as its supplier, making for an interesting tyre-war which should play out during the five-round series.

A number of newcomers are also hoping to challenge the established order in the premier Formula EWC category, including the BMW Michelin Team which will field Sebastien Gimbert and Erwan Nigon on the new S1000 RR, with Sebastien Charpentier also expected to be added to the team’s driver roster.

An impressive trio of riders in Matthieu Lagrive, Karl Muggeridge and Damian Cudlin will line up for the Honda BMP Elf 99 team, while a one-off entry at Le Mans for Julien Da Costa, Gregory Leblanc and Olivier Four at Kawasaki GSR could also challenge for the race win.

In the Superstock class the Junior Team Suzuki LMS looks likely to be the squad to beat and will field Cedric Tangre, Lucas de Carolis, Baptiste Guittet and David Niviere, while the Qatari Endurace Racing Team will also be a contender after winning the FIM World Cup last year. Anthony Delhalle, Alex Cudlin and Rashid Al Mannai will ride the squad’s Suzuki.

Others to look out for include the Endurance Moto 45 Suzuki of Alexandre Lagrive, Frederic Bernon and Brice Nunnari and LTG 57 Yamaha shared by Nicolas Jaulneau, Kevin Denis and Adrien Ganfornina.

Superstock Class newcomers are led by the Team Motor Events Suzuki of Vincent Bocquet, Emilien Humeau and Gerald Muteau and the BMW Penz13.com squad of Rico Penzkoffer.

A pre-event test will begin at Le Mans next week, with qualifying for the 24-hour race due to begin at the Le Mans Bugatti Circuit on Thursday 15 April.

Click here for a provisional entry list.

Watch FIM World Endurance Championship highlights on Motors TV (Sky Channel 413, Virgin Media 545) in 2010.


Andy Wilkinson

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