After releasing initially a five-round provisional calendar, with a sixth round yet to be confirmed, the FIM Endurance World Championship will actually go back to a four-round schedule for 2015.
The announcement coincides with Eurosport Events being named as the series’ promoter, and presumably Eurosport Events didn’t see the advantage of adding a 24-Hour Magny-Cours round to the schedule, along with one of three possibilities in Portual (Estoril), Belgium (Zolder), or Slovakia (Slovakia Ring).
The Endurance World Championship is very popular in Western Europe, especially in France and Germany, which at least explains the venues that the FIM was considering to add for 2015.
How the EWC will grow in the future remains to be seen though. A stop in the USA could be interesting, especially if the format was more like the Suzuka 8-Hours, where one-event local heroes rule the roost over season-long entries.
The fear is that a continued push in Europe will only pull fans from existing venues, and the endurance series will slowly collapse on itself. Hopefully that won’t occur as its some of the hardest racing in the sport, and the only true venue where tire manufacturers can still compete head-to-head.
The 2015 FIM Endurance World Championship Calendar:
April 18th & 19th — 24 heures Moto Le Mans (FRA)
July 25th & 26th — Suzuka 8 Hours Suzuka (JAP)
August 22nd — Oschersleben 8 Hours Oschersleben (GER)
September 19th & 20th — Bol d’Or (24 heures) Le Castellet (FRA)
Source: FIM
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