Plus: Wokka to Work with FIM...

The Suzuka 8 Hour round of the World Endurance Championship has been dropped from the Superstock “FIM Endurance World Cup”, presumably in an effort to reduce costs.

This further devalues the historic Japanese round, one of the toughest races on the world endurance calendar.

Earlier this year the Suzuka 8 Hour race was declared an optional event for the permanent teams competing in the full FIM Endurance World Championship, and with the event now dropped from the Superstock cup concerns are being raised about how many non-Japanese teams will take part in the event and its future status in the world championship.

The Suzuka 8 Hour race has been held annually for 30 years and has been a part of the full FIM championship for the last 28 of those years. It is the only race which has been part of the world endurance championship every year since 1980. It stands alongside the Le Mans 24 Hour race as one of the two great races that define motorcycle endurance racing, and is one of the landmark events in the motorcycling calendar.

We've lost Spa, the Bol d'Or is a shadow of its former glory, and now Suzuka's status as a world championship seems to be under threat. It'll be a sad day for the series if Suzuka is dropped in favour of the only other non-European round in the calendar, the one which just happens to take place in the home country of the championship's headline sponsor.

Other News

Double World Endurance Champion Warwick Nowland has just returned from Geneva, where he took part in an FIM Strategic Plan workshop. “Basically my involvement is with the sporting commission. We look at all aspects of the sport in each discipline and there are 49 motorcycle world championship disciplines. I'm involved with all disciplines, which is great. Seeing how all the other classes work is really interesting.” said Warwick.

“Additionally, due to my love of Endurance racing, I will work with the FIM's new marketing manager, Olivier Godallier, on restructuring the entire image and concept of Endurance racing. I will also work with Paul du Parc on the technical regulations for the class.”

Good luck Warwick; we all hope you can inject some vigour where it seems to be badly needed.

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