FIM Endurance World Championship
The Endurance World Championship is the premier worldwide endurance championship in motorcycle road racing. The championship season consists of a series of endurance races held on permanent racing facilities. The results of each race are combined to determine three World Championships – riders, teams and manufacturers.
Until 2016, the championship was held on a yearly basis, but in order to take advantage of the winter break in MotoGP and WorldSBK season, since September 2016 it runs from September to July, with the European races held in September, and then spring and summer of the next year. Scheduling arrangements for the 2020 and 2021 COVID-19 years were different.
History
The long-distance races appeared almost at the same time of the invention of the internal combustion engine at the end of the 19th century, with races being held between major cities such as Paris-Rouen in 1894, Paris-Bordeaux, Paris-Madrid and others. In those years cars and motos raced together, competing for speed or regularity. These races on open roads were very dangerous, and the successive fatal tragedies move the race to roads closed to normal traffic led to the separation of cars and motos, and the long-distance races turning into rallies.The Bol d'Or was held for the first time in 1922 on the circuit of Vaujours, near Paris.
Other endurance races were created after World War II, such as 24 Hour Race in Warsage in 1951, the 500 Miles of Thruxton in 1955, the 24 Hours of Montjuich in Barcelona in 1957, and the 24 hours of Monza in 1959.. At the beginning, most races were held over 24 Hours, but soon shorter races were introduced, defined in terms either of distance or of time.
The series was founded in 1960 as the FIM Endurance Cup. Initially it was made up of four races: Thruxton 500, 24 hours of Montjuïc, 24 hours of Warsage and the Bol d'Or.
The Bol d'Or was not held between 1961 and 1968, while the 1000 km of Paris was held twice on the circuit of Montlhéry. In the first decade, the FIM EC races were held essentially in Great Britain, Italy and Spain – the three countries with more riders
In 1976 the FIM Endurance Cup became the European Championship and in 1980 a World Championship. During the 1980s the Endurance World Championship calendar numbered up to ten events. The championship's popularity gradually declined and the calendar was gradually reduced to just the four so-called "classics": 24 Hours of Le Mans, 24 Hours of Liège, 8 Hours Of Suzuka, and the Bol d'Or.
In 1989 and 1990 the Championship went back to a World Cup status, as the number of events required by the FIM Sporting Code was not reached.
The 4 events championship in the same year was maintained until 2016. In 2015 FIM and the pan-European television sports network, Eurosport signed a deal for the promotion and coverage of the competition. With this, the organization re-ordered the events, in order to the new championship starting in September and finishing in July, with the European races being held during the winter avoiding the MotoGP and Superbikes schedules.
Circuits
Current circuits
Former circuits
World champions
| Year | Winning riders | Winning bike | 2nd place riders | 2nd place bike | 3rd place riders | 3rd place bike | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1980 |  Points systems;Points systems
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