From press releases issued by series promoters FGSport Group:

The 24 Stunden von Oschersleben round of the World Endurance Championship takes place over the weekend of the 14th and 15th of August, with qualifying starting on Thursday the 12th of August. The 24 hour race is one of the key races in the World Endurance Championship calendar, and is the ultimate test for the riders, for the teams, and for the bikes they race. Just finishing a twenty four hour race is an achievement.

Toughest and Most Important?
The race is considered such a testing and arduous part of the series that the championship points normally awarded to the top fifteen finishers are doubled; the winners gets fifty points, second place forty points, and so on. With just 14 points currently separating the top two teams in the championship – and with the next two teams split by only four points – the toughest race of the year could also be the most important.

24 Hour Party People
The Oschersleben 24 Hour World Endurance race is the centre piece of the German circuit’s “Speedweek” celebration. Race fans travel from all over Europe to spend a long weekend eating, drinking and enjoying the festivities. The race begins with the traditional “endurance start” sprint across the track, and continues through the night. Some spectators will follow the whole race, moving from corner to corner or spending all night in the grandstand opposite pit lane watching the drama unfold as teams struggle to stay in contention.

There’s More…
The action continues in and around the paddock and campsites, with test rides, trade stalls, music and the now famous “Bikini Bikewash”. There is also a packed support card which includes the European Supermono Championship, German national series, one-make championships, sidecar competitions, Super Moto events and even an “Old Timers” race for classic and historic bikes.

Yamaha GMT94 team manager Christophe Guyot spells out the importance of the Oschersleben race to his team: “The 24 Hours of Oschersleben are of utmost importance for the world title. We have been leading the championship since our Chinese victory at the beginning of May. We are 14 points ahead now, which is not much compared to the possible score in Germany. We are really delighted – we have managed to stay in the lead for three months now! But in Germany there is even more at stake: we can win the title outright, or “neutralise” the situation to so that it all comes down to Italy!.

“We’ve had three pole positions from four starts (1999 – 2001 – 2002) and two wins (2000-2003); we really like the circuit and the organisation is always great. It has become a prestigious event through the years with more and more people coming in. Winning in Germany is THE goal for many other teams, so we’ll have to deal with our rivals’ strong motivation in order to get a third German victory. But the quest for the title remains, of course, our major objective. We are looking forward to a high level of competition as well as breaking our 2003 record of 891 laps completed.”

Yamaha Austria continue to vary their rider line-up; for Oschersleben endurance stalwart Mike Edwards will join the Austrian squad as reserve rider. “I’ve not ridden for the team before although I’ve raced against them many times, also I’m quite interested to find out what the bike’s like.” Mike will also be battling to hold onto his lead in the European Supermono championship while at Oschersleben.

Finally, the Oschersleben weather. Forecasts at the time of writing predict thunderstorms for Thursday and light rain for Friday, with temperatures in the high twenties. It wouldn’t be Oschersleben if the rain didn’t play at least some part in the racing…