Tyre brands throw weight behind 8-Hour
The big event at Phillip Island continues to take shape, with plenty of incentive bonuses and one trick Honda to take its place on the gridWith entries still open for the 2011 Australian 8 Hour Endurance Championship at Phillip Island from December 2-4, a number of leading tyre manufacturers have announced generous contingency packages for the big event.
Dunlop has pledged $5000 to the team which uses its rubber to claim outright honours, and $1000 each to the following class winners – Superbike, Supersport, Superstock 1000, Superstock 600 and Bears.
As well as the support from Dunlop, Bridgestone, Pirelli and Metzeler will also be offering discounted tyres for the eight-hour, and the latter also has a contingency program in place.
Meanwhile, Bridgestone is also entering its own team at Phillip Island, having purchased the potent Honda CBR1000RR (pictured) that won this year’s Suzuka 8 Hour with Japanese trio Ryuichi Kiyonari, Shin’ichi Itoh and Kohsuke Akiyoshi. Its line-up of riders is still to be announced.
The 2011 Australian 8 Hour Endurance Championship will be held during daylight hours, starting at 9:30am and finishing at 5:30pm.
The event is presented by Insure My Ride and will be packaged into a two-hour television program, which will be broadcast on dedicated motorsport channel SPEED.
The race will begin with a spectacular Le Mans start, an endurance staple, and all teams will be required to have a minimum of three riders. Final qualifying for the top teams on Saturday will be a cut-throat 20-minute session, which will determine the final Le Mans grid.
If conditions are dry for the race, the winning team can expect to complete around 290 laps of the 4.448km circuit on Bass Strait, with times certain to dip into the sprint-like 1m33sec bracket.
Entries for the 2011 Australian 8 Hour Endurance Championship and support classes (Bears, Juniors, 125GP, 250GP and Formula 400) are still open. The support classes will be in action on Friday and Saturday.
Admission is $45 for a three-day adult pass, and one-day entry is as low as $10. Children under 15 will be admitted free with an adult.
For more information on the event, visit www.phillipisland8hour.com.au or tel (03) 5952 2710.
Tags
Please see our Editorial Guidelines & Code of Ethics (including for more information about sponsored content and paid events). The information published on this website is of a general nature only and doesn’t consider your particular circumstances or needs.
