Team Lapierre riders Danny Hart, Greg Doucende and David Vasquez (pics: Ian Linton/Pureagency, Orel/Pureagency, Flipper)

Up-and-coming British downhiller Danny Hart has got himself a spot on the Lapierre (“Powered by Saab-Salomon”) DH team for 2008 alongside David Vasquez and Greg Doucende.

Danny, 16, has won pretty much everything there is to win in the UK. 2007 was his last year in the Juvenile category, in which he won the NPS series, the SDA series and the National Championships. He’s also had international success in the Maxxis Cup.

He’ll be in his first year as a Junior in 2008, riding Lapierre’s DH-200 or Spicy bikes according to the courses in question.

Gilles Lapierre, Managing Director of Lapierre, said of the new team, “”It’s a professional structure with international ambitions, which is in perfectharmony with the expansion strategy of Lapierre.”

The rest of the team comprises David Vasquez (European Champion, Spanish National Champion, fifth in the UCI rankings) and Greg Doucende, a specialist in “marathon DH” races like the Megavalanche series and technical enduros like France’s Transvésubienne. They’ll all be kitted out with Salomon gear, with other kit from Fox Racing Shox, Shimano, Hutchinson, Mavic, Giro, E-Thirteen, Easton and Selle Italia.

Unfortunately for Danny, he’s too young to take full advantage of the Saab 9.3 SportHatch with which the team will be equipped to get them to the major European races…