A race of the Endurance World Championship, the FIM EWC – Endurance World Championship, will take place for the first time in Portugal, at the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve.
The race has the final date set for 11 and 12 June, in order to take advantage of the national holiday and the fact that, on that weekend, there will be no races for the Superbike and Moto GP World Championship.
Paulo Pinheiro, CEO of Parkalgar, the company that owns the Algarve circuit, points out that this is a «spectacular 12-hour race, which starts during the day and ends at night» and that it is part of the same world championship where mythical races such as the 24 hours from Le Mans, the Bol d'Or or 8 hours from Suzuka.
Another novelty is that the Algarve team of Parkalgar Racing Team will return, especially for this race, and promising a “dream team”, which will headline a major name in national and world motorcycling. Parkalgar will be the official Honda team, with factory bikes from Japan. «Let's go back to our roots and let's try to win». The tip of the veil will be lifted at the BTL – International Tourism Fair, in Lisbon, where the Parkalgar Racing Team will make its official presentation.
Adding to all these ingredients is the fact that the 12h event of the World Endurance Championship has the Eurosport TV channel as media partner official, ensuring the international broadcast of the race, which has the participation of great names in motorcycling.
In an interview with Sul Informação, Paulo Pinheiro admitted that bringing this event to the Algarve has a «reasonable cost», but added that «this cost more than money. There was a vacancy in the Championship, which was created by us», since «there is the interest of the championship in coming here, the drivers and brands love the circuit» in the Algarve.
At the end of 2015, it became known that the Autódromo do Algarve had lost, this year, the most emblematic event on the circuit, which even marked its official opening in 2008: the Superbike World Championship. Paulo Pinheiro admits that it was an "important loss", since, "after Moto GP and F1, it is the motorsports competition that has more viewers".
But the truth is that, despite everything that the World Cup moved in the Algarve, the Autódromo never got «support from the regional economy or public entities», although, as the CEO of Parkalgar guarantees, showing official figures, «the regional economy – the hoteliers, restaurants, rent-a-cars, stores – benefit directly and indirectly” from the circuit's activity.
"Without that support, we couldn't continue to be the only ones to invest and this year we stayed out of the Superbike World Championship." But there is other evidence to make up for this loss, with the debut of the spectacular World of Endurance to the head.
“Who supports us? Conrad, Vila Vita, Solverde, Pestana…these are the ones who have some vision and enjoy what the Autodromo has to offer. The others come here, have lunch, pat themselves on the back, then leave here and promote their sales, but they don't even say water go…»
Paulo Pinheiro explains that what makes the Autodromo money is not the races, but the remaining occupation of the track throughout the year, such as brand presentations and tests.
«The races are a standard that is used, they help to give a strong image of the Autodromo. In 2015, the occupation of the circuit was fantastic, as we had seven world presentations, an extraordinary number for a single track». In fact, there were worldwide presentations of Audi, AMG, BMW, Porsche, McLaren, Ducati and Kawasaki, bringing to the Algarve not only drivers and technical teams, but journalists and dealers from all over the world.
«In 2015, we had 320 days of real occupation of the track, as the circuit has a very strong image out there». For 2016, after having started to receive tests of the Superbikes, there are already two world presentations «confirmed» and others are «under negotiation», two of them already almost concluded.
“We attract 6% of the global presentation market, which is a lot! Neighboring Spain alone has 22 circuits. In other words, this is one of the business areas with great potential. Portugal would have a lot to gain if it did more to attract these presentations. You can ask: what does a circuit bring to the country? It brings people to spend money. That's what matters!”
Races that last year brought thousands of people to the region, including riders, teams, family members, fans of sports, were the Algarve Classic Festival and the Rotax finals. As for the latter, which took place in November, during the low tourist season, Paulo Pinheiro recalls that, for example, «Alvor Baía was only open for the Rotax World Finals, which brought 5000 people to the Algarve».
As for the Algarve Classic Festival, it returns in 2016, between 28 and 30 October. Referred to as one of the biggest events of its kind taking place in Europe, every year the Portimão circuit gathers the best drivers and cars of the specialty for a weekend. With more than 400 drivers and cars participating in the race in 2015, this year the Autodromo hopes to «register a new milestone».
For now, in terms of major international competitions, attention is focused on the World of Endurance, in mid-June. Parkalgar is preparing its own team, which will be led by a big name, world class.
The Parkalgar team arrived in 2007 to the Supersport World Championship. At the time, the team was the smallest in the paddock and had only one driver: Miguel Praia. However, over five years, the structure of the Algarve has evolved in such a way that, in 2009, she was discussing the title of World Champion until the last race, a feat never before achieved by a Portuguese team. Between 2007 and 2012, the team also managed to climb the podium 22 times, achieving a total of 12 victories.
The FIM EWC continues to be one of the great symbols of the factory motorcycle racing sector, and therefore continues to invest more and more in promoting it to a new generation of endurance racing fans. By betting on a 12-hour race, Portimão was chosen to host the biggest motorcycling race taking place this year in the country, turning the June weekend into a party, where great moments will not be lacking.
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