The Doha 8 Hours, the final leg of the 2007 QMMF Endurance FIM World Championship, will roar into action on Saturday 10th November at the Losail circuit in Qatar. This final race of the year also marks an important precedent, as it will be the first ever Endurance World Championship race staged at Losail. The international circuit is 5.4km in length and was built in 2004 in the desert close to Doha, the capital of Qatar.
Suzuki Endurance Racing Team are the form team of the Championship and have already been crowned 2007 World Champions, but Dominique Méliand’s team will nevertheless be paying particular attention to this race. “It is a new circuit and that will allow us to gather new technological data that we will use in future years. We have a responsibility to take part despite having already won the title but it is also a pleasure to be on the start line at a new Championship track.” The objective in Doha for the Suzuki World Champions’ riders, Vincent Philippe, Matthieu Lagrive and Julien Da Costa, will be the same as everyone else – to win! Free from the pressures of the Championship race, they could run away with this on the track.
The other permanent teams in the Championship will be looking to close out the season in the best way possible. Yamaha Austria Racing Team, currently fifth in the provisional standings, will have their eyes on the podium. A third place at the Doha 8 Hours would earn them 19 points and would be enough to clinch third place in the World Championship after a relatively difficult season.
The same goes for Yamaha Phase One Endurance, currently sixth in the world championship chase. Having been beset by bad luck all season, the English Phase One team seem to have put an end to their bad run with a superb fourth place at the Bol d’Or.
Endurance Moto 38, lying seventh in the World Championship, will be looking to consolidate their position as the leading Superproduction machine. The French permanent team’s objective is to finish in the top five at Doha to follow-on from their well-earned seventh at the Bol d’Or.
Bolliger Switzerland are looking to make up for the crash which eliminated them from the Bol d’Or just minutes from the end, where they had been in fifth position since the start. On the Kawasaki will be David Morillon, Patric Muff and Eric Mizera, and all will be highly motivated to do well in Doha.
On home soil Qatar Endurance Racing Team will be hoping to impress with a strong performance. Seven other national teams will also be in Doha, along with the French Suzuki of the Sapeurs Pompiers team, and the BMW of Thomas Hinterreiter, Richard Cooper and a third Qatari rider.
The first testing session will take place on Thursday 8th November at the Losail circuit.
