Final Fight for Endurance Championship Honour - Second and Third Up for Grabs - European and Italian Women Champions Head to Head...

The final round of the 2005 FIM World Endurance Championship will take place this Sunday, September 25th, at Vallelunga, just outside Rome.

The 200 mile race will see teams from Switzerland, Great Britain, Austria and Italy fighting for final championship honours behind French squad Suzuki Castrol, who already have an unassailable 45 point lead. Kawasaki Bolliger (SUI), Kawasaki Diablo (GBR) and Yamaha Austria (AUT) could all claim second place in the championship.

Only two points separates the next three teams; the Shell Endurance Academy (GBR) junior team, Yamaha Phase One Endurance (GBR) and Suzuki No Limits & RT Racing Team (ITA) are all within reach of third place in the championship.

As this is the Italian round of the championship, Aprilia and Ducati and MV Agusta will all be chasing a good home round result. The Aprilia Motociclismo Test Team will field Federico Alverti, Daniele Veghini, and Samuela De Nardi; the same rider line up that they ran at Suzuka 8 Hours race.

But European Women's championship winning De Nardi won't be the only female competitor at Valleunga. An SBK class Factory Ducati 999 will be ridden by Italian Women's championship winner Paola Cazzola, Chara Valentini (third in the Italian Women's championship) and male rider Gian Maria Liverani.

The Vallelunga 200 will be the first international event to be held on the redesigned circuit. It will also be the last chance this year for the rest of the permanent championship teams to prove that they can better Suzuki Castrol on track. It's not all over yet…

21st September 2005