From a press release issued by Octagon Motorsports, organizers of the FIM Endurance World Championship:

Endurance Means Innovation

Racing Through the Night

The World Endurance Championship is rapidly becoming recognised as a development arena for production-based racing. We saw 1000cc four cylinder bikes competing on equal terms with WSB-spec twins in the 2001 championship – a year ahead of British Superbikes, and laying the ground for this year’s revised World Superbike regulations.

This year the championship sees the development of two new race formats. The Albacete 12 Hour round of the series will be run from nine o’clock on Saturday evening through to nine o’clock on Sunday morning. The race will run through the darkness of the Spanish night, with a massive Fiesta Espanola running in parallel to fuel the spectators.

The Brno 6 Hour and A1-Ring 6 Hour races are also revised for this year. They will both be run in two 3-hour stages, on Saturday evening and Sunday. Between the two the crowds will party into the night with music and entertainments laid on at the circuit.

Step Up to World Level

The championship is also seen as a chance to further a career in world-level motorcycle racing. Two of this year’s permanent teams have announced “junior” squads aimed specifically at developing the skills of younger riders alongside their more experienced peers, and the competition for places is fierce. With over 64 hours of racing on some of the world’s finest tracks this year, what better opportunity could there be?