Eventful Bol d'Or for BMW Motorrad Motorsport BMW NA Press Release

September 21, 2007 Page 1 of 3    123

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In front of a crowd of more than 55,000 race fans at Magny-Cours circuit in France, Team Yamaha GMT94 won the 71st Bol d'Or, with riders David Checa, Sebastien Gimbert and Olivier Four taking the chequered flag a comfortable seven laps ahead of Suzuki Endurance Racing Team's Vincent Philippe, Matthieu Lagrive and Julien da Costa. Third place went to Suzuki Endurance Racing's second team of William Costes, Guillame Dietrich and Max Neukirchner.

Despite a few problems at the 4.225-km Magny-Cours circuit, Team BMW Motorrad Motorsport ended its return to world championship motorcycle racing on a positive note and is looking forward to continuing its participation next year. The Bol d'Or was always going to be the toughest race of the season for the BMW 'rookie' team and so it proved. But the team's four crashes and one DNF was just a drop in the ocean compared to the overall pandemonium of crashes and retirements throughout the field.

Out of 57 starters, only 30 made it to the finish line and Team BMW Motorrad Motorsport's number 17 R 1200 S was one of them. Thomas Hinterreiter, Richard Cooper and Rico Penzkofer suffered three crashes, but each time the bike was brought back to the pits and the damage repaired.

The biggest drama occurred when Rico Penzkofer crashed on Sunday morning, breaking his right collarbone in the fall. But instead of leaving the R 1200 S where it was, he somehow defied the pain and managed to push the bike back to the pits. His race was over, but after the bike was repaired, his co-riders Thomas Hinterreiter and Richard Cooper did the remaining seven or eight hours between themselves and gave the team a hard-fought 23rd place overall and first in the Open Class.

"Now that's it all over, I'm happy that we managed to finish and get a result here," said bike number 17 team rider Thomas Hinterreiter. "After Rico crashed, Richard and I had to put in extra stints and that was quite tiring, but we were determined to finish, so we just kept going. Despite the crashes the bike felt good to ride in the last few hours and for this we've got to thank the mechanics for doing a superb job - three times! Because of the nature of the track, I knew it was going to be our hardest race of the year, so it's great to get a finish when so many did not!"

This was a view shared by team-mate, Richard Cooper: "When I crashed in the early hours of the morning, I banged my head and the doctor advised me to take it easy. I got the bike back to the pits, but I really thought that was the end of the race. However, the mechanics did a great job and we were back in action before too long. Thomas and Rico then did an extra session each and I was able to rest up, but when Rico broke his collarbone, I knew I had to get back on the bike. At first, I was a bit nervous but soon I felt really good and began turning in fast, consistent laps, and from then it wasn't so bad at all. I think just finishing this race is a great achievement and one that the whole team can feel proud of."