2008 Qtel FIM Endurance World Championship. Preview: Round 5, Bol d'Or , Magny Cours, September 13/14. BMW Motorrad Ready for the Bol.

Munich. BMW Motorrad Motorsport's fourth race of the year is the Bol d'Or 24
hours at Magny-Cours, France this coming weekend. This year is the 72nd edition
of this famous race and the 24 hour marathon will see BMW Motorrad Motorsport
competing once again with two HP2 Sport bikes. Bike number 17 will be ridden by
Richard Cooper, Thomas Hinterreiter and Rico Penzkofer and bike number 71 will
be ridden by Stéphane Mertens, Sébastien Le Grelle and Brian Parriot. Young
German Franz Aschenbrenner will be standing by as reserve rider.

Last year's Bol d'Or was a dramatic one for the team but, despite crashes,
Richard Cooper, Thomas Hinterreiter and Rico Penzkofer managed to bring the
bike home to victory in the Open Class and 23rd overall. The other bike, ridden
by Jose-Luis Nion, Brian Parriot and Barry Burrell got up to 14th place overall
before a crash ruled them out of contention.

Berti Hauser (Director of BMW Motorrad Motorsport)
"Our fourth race of the year is going to be a very tough one, but all our races
are hard so we are a bit used to that by now. For sure, I think that a 24 hour
race gives us a better chance than an eight hour sprint because so much can
happen and the format suits our bike better. This is our second year of
competing in a road racing World Championship and I think we have acquitted
ourselves very well over these two seasons, especially when you consider the
high level of the opposition in all the races we have contested. We have had
some wonderful experiences and some great results and I hope that we can end
this particular journey with a good result on Sunday."

The Bol d'Or 24 hours starts on Saturday 13th September at 15.00 (local time)
in Magny-Cours circuit, France, and finishes on Sunday 14th September at 15.00.