The fourth round of the 2012 Endurance World Championship – the Oschersleben 8-hour – got underway in Germany today with the Honda TT Legends placing fifth on the provisional grid after the first qualifying session.

John McGuinness, Cameron Donald and stand-in rider Jason O’Halloran each had 30 minutes of track time in which to post their fastest possible laps. By the end of the session, the three riders were within one second of each other but it was McGuinness who stole the show, posting a 1:27.739 lap to place third in his group.

The Honda TT Legends’ combined average time of 1:28.301 places the team fifth fastest. Championship leaders SERT posted the quickest time, followed by BMW Motorrad France, YART and Yamaha GMT 94. All teams will take part in night practice this evening before the second qualifying session tomorrow afternoon.

Russell Benney – race manager

We find ourselves fifth which is a great credit to John really. He dug deep and has done better than his expected position. Cam is suffering a little bit because it’s his first time around here and Jason is exactly where we expected him to be and is fairing well. I think we can build on what we have done and I’m pleased that we are putting a gap between ourselves and some of our key competition. We’ve only got one second between the fastest and slowest so our aggregate team is very competitive compared to others and I’m pleased with that.

John McGuinness

Top three is amazing, to look down the sheet and see our championship rivals behind us is pretty good. Maybe my throttle stuck or something, I’m not sure! I thought my pit board was telling me lies, but I found a really good rhythm and we’ve got a good set up. The test we did here was absolutely invaluable and we’ve hit the ground running. We’ve worked together brilliantly as a team to get the best out of the bike and we’re on the pace. We just need to keep the ball rolling but I’m really pleased with myself to get such a good time. Onwards and upwards… I’m looking forward to the race.

Cameron Donald

I’m feeling positive because as a team we’re going quite well. I’m frustrated because I feel like I’m letting the side down a bit and it’s the only session this week where I haven’t made a step forward, so that’s a bit of a blow. It’s all part of learning a new circuit though, which it is for me as I didn’t do the test here last month. I have to remind myself that it’s an eight hour race and it’s about good, consistent laps, not one fast one. We’re well on our way.

Jason O’Halloran

The first part of my session was a bit difficult but we changed to a softer tyre and it all turned out pretty good in the end. There’s was a bit of traffic out there and I got held up a couple of times on fast laps. John and Cam went well and our combined time is not bad at all. We’ve got another session tomorrow so we’ll just do the best we can to improve.

The Oschersleben 8-hour race is part of the 15th German Speedweek – a week-long motorcycling festival at the Motorsport Arena Oschersleben. The race still begin at 14.00 (CET) on Saturday 11 August.



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