From a press release issued by FGSPORTGROUP:

Imola 200 – World Endurance Starts This Weekend
Teams go Head to Head – Stars Return to Track

The opening round of the World Endurance Championship takes place this Sunday. The 200 Miglia di Imola is the San Marino round of the championship, and the first chance for the leading teams to measure themselves against the competition.

World Champions Zongshen have kept their two-bike team line-up stable since last year, after clinching both first and second place overall. GMT94 finished third last year, and have switched from Suzuki to Yamaha over the winter. Fourth placed Endurance Moto 38 are another Yamaha team but with better backing for 2003 and a stronger rider selection. In fifth place last year and confident of improving, Suzuki GB Phase One have also worked to stabilise their line-up, chasing the consistency vital in world endurance.

Until the bikes roll out on to the track, the competition will remain verbal. Zongshen’s Warwick Nowland, world champion in 2002: “My goal last year was to win every race and I was disappointed, so it’s the same goal again for 2003; there’s no excuse not to win. Our main rivals for this year will be GMT94 and Phase One when Jason [Pridmore] is riding for them. Yamaha Austria could be a good team as well. I’m looking
forward to some great races with Sebastien Scarnato.”

Russell Benney, team manager of Suzuki GB Phase One (5 th in 2002) is equally confident: “Going into Imola, we can beat GMT94 based on their recent performance, but it’s going to be an almighty scrap. When James Ellison and Jason Pridmore are paired up we will beat Zongshen. I’m really excited about the coming year.”

The 200 Miglia di Imola also sees the return to the track of two great names of Italian – and world – motorcycle racing. Former world 500cc champion Marco Lucchinelli will ride the Cuneo Ducati 998R alongside Serafino Foti and Marco Gerbaudo. Lucchinelli first rode in the Imola 200 in the nineteen seventies. Another ex-grand prix star, Doriano Romboni, will ride the No.101 DRE Ducati with Mori and Tessari.

The Imola 200 begins at 2:00pm on Sunday the 4th of May with the traditional endurance “sprint across the track” start. It will be the climax of a full weekend of action both on and off track, but only the first of eight races which decided the championship.