SERT PODIUMS DESPITE STOP-GO PENALTY

Suzuki Endurance Racing Team has finished third in the Albacete 8 Hours World Endurance Championship race in Spain despite being given a Stop-Go Penalty in the opening half of the race.

The reigning World Champions - who currently lead the WEC Standings after two rounds - were penalised at 9.30pm last night for not switching off the lights of the GSX-R1000 Suzuki during a scheduled Pit stop, which enabled leaders and eventual winners, BMW Motorrad France 99 to increase its lead along with the Yamaha France GMT 94 squad.

SERT riders Vincent Philippe, Freddy Foray and Daisaku Sakai battled hard throughout the night session but couldn't quite catch the leaders at the 2am finish, recording a total of 305 laps; just one behind BMW and Yamaha.

The team holds a two-point lead over BMW going into the third round of the series, the Suzuka 8-Hour race in Japan on July 31.

Albacete Race Results:

1: BMW MOTORRAD FRANCE 99 (BMW S1000RR) - 306 laps 2: YAMAHA FRANCE GMT 94 (YAMAHA R1) - 306 3: S.E.R.T. (SUZUKI GSX-R1000) - 305 4: MONSTER YAMAHA - YART (YAMAHA R1) - 302 5: MACO RACING TEAM (YAMAHA R1) - 301 6: YMES FOLCH ENDURANCE (YAMAHA R1) - 299 7: VAN-ZON BOENIG MOTORS (BMW S1000RR) - 296 8: TEAM MOTORS EVENTS (SUZUKI GSX-R1000) - 295 9: NO LIMITS MOTOR TEAM (SUZUKI GSX-R1000 - 294 10: MCS RACING IPONE (SUZUKI GSX-R1000) - 292

Championship points (after 2 rounds):

1 Suzuki Endurance Racing Team FRA (Suzuki GSX-R1000) 54 2 BMW Motorrad France 99 BEL (BMW S1000RR) 52 3 Yamaha Racing France GMT 94 Ipone FRA (Yamaha YZF-R1) 35 4 Team SRC Kawasaki FRA (Kawasaki ZX10R) 28 5 YMES Folch Endurance ESP (Yamaha YZF-R1) 25 6 National Motos FRA (Honda CBR1000RR) 22 7 Bolliger Team Switzerland SUI (Kawasaki ZX10R) 18 8 Team R2CL FRA (Suzuki GSX-R1000) 17 9 Monster Yamaha YART AUT (Yamaha YZF-R1) 16 10 Honda TT Legends GBR (Honda CBR1000RR) 15