Release Date: Tuesday 13 August 2013
Honda TT Legends set to tackle EWC and the Ulster GP
The Honda TT Legends Endurance World Championship squad will head to Germany this week for the penultimate round of the 2013 season, while Michael Dunlop will compete for the team at the Ulster Grand Prix road races in Northern Ireland.
John McGuinness, Michael Rutter and Simon Andrews will form a three-man squad for the 8 Hours of Oschersleben and following a disappointing first half of the season, the riders and crew are determined to put in a good performance. The TT Legends narrowly missed out on the podium at the same race in 2012, so hopes are high for another solid result this year. The 8 Hours of Oschersleben will begin at 13.00 CET on Saturday 17 August.
As the EWC team lines up in Germany, Michael Dunlop will be competing in the Superbike class at the Ulster Grand Prix aboard his Honda TT Legends CBR1000RR Fireblade. Dunlop already has six UGP wins under his belt and will be looking to add to his tally when he tackles the 150 Dundrod Superbike race on Thursday 15 August and the two Superbike races on Saturday 17 August.
Neil Tuxworth - team manager
We’ve had a few issues in the first two rounds of the Endurance World Championship so this time we’re hoping for a trouble-free outing and ideally a podium finish. If we have no problems and the riders are running to their full ability I think we can definitely achieve this. As for Dunlop and the Ulster GP, it’s the third major road race of the year following the NW200 and the TT and one with tremendous history. It’s also an event at which Michael has been very successful in the past and we’re hoping he can continue this success aboard the Honda TT Legends machine. We’re pleased to be able to support him in the Superbike category and also wish him all the best in the other classes, which he’ll compete in with his own team.
John McGuinness
After the first two rounds we’re due some better luck so hopefully that will come this weekend. Fourth place last year was a strong result and it would nice to do the same if not better this year. We need to get some points and get our foot on the championship ladder. It’s a magic atmosphere at Oschersleben and it’s a nice track that I think Simon and Michael will get to grips with pretty quickly. The team as a whole deserves a good result and there’s no reason why we can’t get one in Germany.
Simon Andrews
I raced at Oschersleben 10 years ago with World Superbikes so it’s not a totally new track for me but it’s been a long time since I rode there. I’m looking forward to the race as it’s a tight and twisty track so I think it will suit our bike well. We’re straight off the back of Suzuka and it will be good to race on the bounce as we all know where we’re at with the bike. The team got a fourth place there last year so I’d like to think we can come away with some good points and maybe even a trophy.
Michael Rutter
I’ve never ridden at Oschersleben before so I’ve got a bit of learning to do but I’m looking forward to this race. I hope that we can repeat last year’s strong performance and score some decent points as the team has been working really hard without much reward so far this year. We’re all determined to do well and we’re just hoping for a trouble-free race.
Michael Dunlop
I’m looking forward to racing at the Ulster on the Honda TT Legends superbike. We’ve done a lot of work on the bike this season with the NW200, TT and Southern 100 and we’re in a good position now. We’ve had some good results on it so it would be great to get a win at the Ulster too.
8 Hours of Oschersleben schedule
Thursday 15 August
11.00 – 13.00 Free practice
15.00 – 15.20 First qualifying – rider one
15.30 – 15.50 First qualifying – rider two
16.00 – 16.20 First qualifying – rider three
Friday 16 August
12.30 – 12.50 Second qualifying – rider one
13.00 – 13.20 Second qualifying – rider two
13.30 – 13.50 Second qualifying – rider three
Saturday 17 August
08.45 – 09.30 Warm up
13.00 Race starts
21.00 Race ends
