Martin to start world endurance campaign in France

Although he's in the twilight of his career, Australian Steve Martin is still a seriously fast motorcycle racer.

The South Australia turned Victorian, who now spends most of his time living in Italy, will begin his quest to become 2009 world endurance champion at Le Mans in France this weekend.

The 24-hour at the famous track is the traditional season opener for the world endurance title, which this year has 19 'permanent' teams on its roster, including Martin's crack Yamaha Austria Racing Team (YART).

One of the teams has the words "Moto Virus" in its name, which is a little bit of a worry…

I digress. Martin, who filled a guest testing role with the fledgling BMW world superbike team last week, will be partnered by Igor Jerman and Gwen Giabbani at Le Mans, with Gregory Leblanc a reserve.

YART - is that not the best motorcycle racing acronym? - was second in the world title last year and, with the official withdrawal of the all-conquering Suzuki Endurance Racing Team in 2009, the path is now clear to go one better.

YART will also have the all-new big-bang YZF-R1 at its disposal, so all the cards are falling its way to end the year as No.1.
 
Martin's countrymen, siblings Alex and Damian Cudlin, will also compete in the 2009 world title for the British-based Phase One Yamaha, which is a three-time world champion.

Phase One has been a world endurance stalwart, and 2009 will be its 25th year in the championship.

There wil be six rounds in this years title, with Le Mans followed by rounds in Germany (May 31), Spain (July 4), Japan (July 26), France (September 12-13) and Qatar (November 4).

The Japanese round, otherwise known as the Suzuka 8 Hour, is still one of the biggest motorcycle races in the world, with all the Japanese manufacturers regularly fielding their MotoGP and world superbike stars.

Plenty of Aussies have won at Suzuka - Mick Cole, Tony Hatton, Wayne Gardner, Kevin Magee, Daryl Beattie and Mick Doohan - and three Aussies have prevailed in the world endurance title - Peter Godard (1997), Warwick Nowland (2000/2002) and the little known Heinz Platacis (2001).