Suzuki Castrol have won the Assen 500 opening round of the 2004 World Endurance Championship by just 28 seconds after three hours of closely fought racing. Second place was taken by Yamaha GMT94 after a long battle which saw many changes of lead and last year's lap record beaten by almost two seconds. Yamaha Endurance Moto 38 took third place, finishing three laps behind the leading pair, and the WRT Honda Austria Fireblade finished in fourth place. Suzuki Bridgestone Bikers Profi were fifth, and Suzuki Jet Team sixth.

Five Manufacturers finished in the top eight places after a final hour battle between Kawasaki Diablo and Ducati Spring Team saw Kawasaki Diablo move up to seventh place, just ahead of Ducati Spring Team and Suzuki Team Innodrom.

The race got off to a very fast start, with Suzuki Castrol breaking away from the pack and then being reeled in by Yamaha GMT94. Both teams were lapping consistently at lap record pace, with GMT94's Sebastien Gimbert recording the fastest lap of the race with a time of 1:21.925. After the final round of pitstops Suzuki Castrol's Vincent Phillipe was able to stretch out a lead of just over twenty seconds which he held until the end of the race.

Yamaha Endurance Moto 38 ran a comfortable race to finish third, and WRT Honda Austria were very pleased with their fourth place on a brand new bike which the riders had not seen before this weekend. Local wildcard entry Suzuki Verboven Racing were forced to pit with tyre problems while in third place, and last year's World Endurance Champion Yamaha Phase One Endurance had to push in with an electrical problem that effectively put them out of contention. Yamaha Austria were running in the top five before a dropped valve led to their retirement, and Pajic Kawasaki had brake pad problems at their final stop which cost them a top ten finish.

The championship move on to China in three weeks time, for the Zhuhai 6 Hour race on May 2nd.

Rider Quotes:

Vincent Phillipe, Suzuki Castrol, first place: "This race was very difficult for us because it's a very physical circuit, and to fight with Yamaha GMT94 is always hard. The Suzuki is easy to make fast, and Dunlop did a good job for us. I am very happy to win here and it's a good start to the championship."

William Costes, Yamaha GMT94, second place: "We are very close to the Suzuki bike but we know after practice there are many things we can improve. The main thing with the engine is to get better fuel consumption, and we have a lot of different setting to try with the chassis and geometry.We can find good solutions before China, I am sure."

Gwen Giabbani, Yamaha Endurance Moto 38, third place: "The race was pretty hard for us at the beginning because we wanted to stay with the leaders; our bike is still a SuperProduction bike so we have to improve it with more testing. At the end of the race it was easier because we had two laps advantage over the WRT Honda."

Top Ten Finishers