From a press release:

24 Hores de Motociclisme
Circuit de Catalunya
Montmelo, Cataluynya

First report 24 Hours

The Race that Refused to Die is Underway at the Circuit of Catalunya

And they are off and running at the Circuit of Catalunya in the Forty-first edition of the “24 Hours of Barcelona” (which includes the races held from 1955 through 1986 in Montjuic Park and the last ten held at the Circuit of Catalunya) Spain’s classic marathon and the only surviving endurance classic outside of the French Bol d’or and the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Today’s race began at 1:00 PM (Saturday, July 3) instead of the traditional 6:00 PM start. The change was made in order to avoid TV conflicts on Sunday with the French Formula 1 round and the MotoGP event from Brazil.

With a crowd of just over 30,000 fans, the race looks like being a shoot-out between three teams, three marques of motorcycle and three brands of tires. Starting first and fourth are the Dunlop-shod Catalá Suzukis (machine number 1 ridden by Javier Forés, Salvador Cabana and Josep Monje) and number 3, ridden by American Kenny Noyes and the Spanish pairing of Diego Lozano and Jose Ramon Delgado). Starting second and fifth are the always competitive Folch Yamahas, running Michelin this year. Folch’s lead bike, carrying number 2 is a 2004 R1 ridden by David Tomas, Alex Hervas

And Dani Rebalta, while the number four bike, starting fifth, is a hybrid Yamaha with an R7 superbike frame and a 2004 engine, ridden by Arnau Sanchez, Jordi Arche and Bernat Martinez. The fourth qualified machine is Pirelli-shod Honda CBR1000RR with French endurance specialists Bernard Stey and Sebastian Legrelle teaming up with Spanish former winner Guim Roda.

In all 57 teams qualified for the start, all running three riders except the Yamaha R1 of the Ibanez brothers.

The original 24 Hours of Montjuic ran for the last time in 1986 amid growing safety concerns. Consecutive fatal accidents in the 1985 and the 1986 edition brought about the end to Spain’s longest standing international motorcycle racing event.

But in 1994 the Royal Auto Club of Cataluyna, whose president, Sebastia Salvado, who rode the race as a young man under an assumed name so his parents wouldn’t know, resurrected the race using the short circuit variant of the Barcelona track and still calling the event “The 24 Hours of Montjuic” out of nostalgia and respect.

In 1998 the new name “24 Hours of the Circuit of Catalunya” was used for the first time and in 2001 the race was run on the full GP track.

After the first hour the running order was:

Catalá 1, Suzuki (Fores-Cabana-Monge)
Folch 2, Yamaha (Tomas-Hervas-Ribalta)-0.3
Folch 1, Yamaha (Sanchez-Arque-Martinez) -38
Catala 1, Suzuki (Lozano-Noyes-Delgado) -43
Pons Yamaha (Casas-Tizon-Perez)-1.
Procurve Honda (Stey-Lagrille-Roda)
Prolimit Suzuki (Gomez-Olmos-Delgado)
Chalán Yamaha, (Boquet-Baker-Giles)
Encuentros Yamaha, (Theler-Martinez-Lluis)
Procurve Honda (Rojas-Carrau-Guiteres)