It is well known that Colin Edwards was unceremoniously bounced off the track last time around at Estoril during qualifying by a crashing Randy De Puniet. The punt received by Edwards led to his breaking his collarbone into five parts. Since then Edwards has undergone corrective surgery but has been advised by doctors that he needs rest and time to lead the injury heal and therefore he will not be racing at the Le Mans race in a weeks time. His team has replaced him for Le Mans with Chris Vermeulen whose career in two wheeled racing has been blighted by an injury that he suffered when he went to race in World Superbikes with Kawasaki. He suffered a knee injury that has kept him out of racing for nearly two years now. Prior to that Vermeulen raced on the Rizla Suzuki MotoGP machine for four seasons and got the Japanese manufacturer its first and thus far only victory in four stroke GP racing at a wet Le Mans in 2007. However, with the necessity to replace Colin Edwards becoming a contractual obligation and the BMW-Suter machine of NGM Racing not exactly setting fast lap times, the team seems to have chosen the out of work Vermeulen so that they do not have to pay high wages. Edwards will most likely return to racing post Le Mans so this could be for just one race.