Northwest 200 bosses have revealed that plans to turn the 2012 event into a two-day event with racing on the Thursday night have been given the green light with an extra day's practice also on the cards.

The new proposals include the introduction of a new daytime practice session on Tuesday as well as Thursday during race week and it is anticipated that roads would close on both days from 9.30am until 2.30pm. The plans have been backed by the local authorities and now residents will be consulted.

Officials have also outlined a proposal for a new concept in evening racing on Thursday with roads closing at 5.30pm and re-opening at 9.30pm to promote a number of races on Thursday evening in addition to the traditional Saturday Race Day programme in a bid to ensure fans and visitors experience an extensive and full racing portfolio.

“Unlike the TT the North West 200’s racing programme has always focussed solely on Saturday’s Race Day and as everyone will recall last May we experienced an unprecedented series of incidents and had no choice but to cut short our Race Day programme," said technical director Mervyn Whyte.

"Following ongoing consultation with teams, managers and riders as well as feedback from the public, we believe an additional set of races on Thursday evening would inject a new vibrancy to our Race Week Festival. The new two-day format would ensure fans get the opportunity to watch a substantial number of races even if we are unlucky enough to experience challenging conditions at any stage.

"Safety for competitors and spectators is always top of our agenda and the new proposed daytime practice session on Tuesday would provide riders with increased and valuable extra practice time prior to racing."