BMW returns to Le Mans

From BMW Motorrad Motorsports

Last year saw BMW Motorrad Motorsport’s return to World Championship motorcycle racing at the classic ‘24 Heures Moto of Le Mans’, where they won their class and finished a superb 16th overall.

Despite their HP2 1200S Boxer being down on horsepower compared to their 1000cc multi-cylinder rivals, Thomas Hinterreiter, Rico Penzkofer and Markus Barth were able to hustle the twin-engined bike round the 4.18km Bugatti circuit for 776 trouble-free laps.

It was a tremendous achievement, considering that it was the team’s first event and that the bike had only completed one shakedown test beforehand.

After a successful season in 2007, BMW Motorrad Motorsport return to Le Mans this weekend to see if they can improve on last year’s impressive performance. This year though, BMW Motorrad Motorsport will field two HP2s. Bike number 17 will be ridden by experienced campaigner Stéphane Mertens, together with fellow Belgian Sébastien Le Grelle and German Rico Penzkofer and bike number 71 will be ridden by Briton Richard Cooper, Spaniard Jose-Luis Nion and American Brian Parriott.

For Mertens, it will be an emotional return as it will be his first race since his bad crash in preseason testing last year. He brings a wealth of experience to the team, only slightly more so than his fellow countryman Le Grelle - a BMW Boxer Cup veteran.

Penzkofer is one of the toughest racers around. In the Bol d’Or 24 hour race last year, he suffered a broken collarbone in a crash, but picked up his HP2 and grittily pushed it back to the pits so that the team could repair the damage and finish the race.

Cooper is the smallest member of the squad, but what he lacks in size is more than made up for in his determination. He was a member of the BMW Motorrad Motorsport team who took part in the prestigious Formula Xtreme Daytona 200 race recently, where he finished a superb fifth, just ahead of his team mate Parriott.

Parriott was a faller early on in the race, but remounted and then embarrassed most of his rivals on the way to sixth.

Nion is no stranger to BMW boxer bikes and having tested at the Bugatti circuit recently is fired up and ready to add Spanish passion to the Anglo-American mix.

"The Le Mans race last year was the start of our big adventure and I remember how pleased and happy I was with the result and the performance of our whole team," said Berti Hauser, director of BMW Motorrad Motorsport. "We were pleasantly surprised about the warmth and affection we received from everybody about our return to world championship motorcycle road racing and throughout the year, we worked hard and learned a lot. Make no mistake, the world endurance championship is not an easy class, but I think we showed what we are capable of and maybe surprised a few people along the way."