Federation refuses to sanction proposed breakaway
( 2002-02-26 09:55 ) (7 )

A proposed breakaway of three events in the masters of endurance series will not be sanctioned by the International Motorcycling Federation (FIM), the sport's world governing body said on Monday.

Organisers of the three events -- the Le Mans 24 Hours, the Liege 24 Hours and the Bol d'Or -- want to join forces for their own series after they failed to reach an agreement with promoters Octagon Motorsports.

But FIM said at its two-day conference meeting in Geneva that it would not issue any riders' licences, approve circuits, or assign officials if the series went ahead.

"We do not want to get involved as this is a political situation for the FIA (International Automobile Federation)," said endurance world championship press officer Vittorio Gargiulo on Monday.

"We held long discussions with representatives from the three events and they made it clear that they would prefer to stay out of the championship.

"We haven't had any further talks with them since November."

FIM president Francesco Zerbi also stated his official intention to apply for re-election, which will take place at the next federation congress in Prague between October 13-19.

The SuperMoto and Supercross world championship calendars were also announced as the commissions, panels, working groups and FIM's management council met to discuss the future of world motorcycling.