After a spectacular season launch at Le Mans, the FIM Endurance World Championship (EWC) continues its momentum and is preparing to write a new page of history at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit, during the 8 Hours of Spa. This Friday afternoon, the record-breaking field of 44 teams took to the Ardennes toboggan run for the weekend's two qualifying sessions.
This Friday, June 6th, the Spa-Francorchamps circuit hosted the two qualifying sessions for the 8 Hours race on the 6,985-kilometer Belgian track. Twenty minutes for each driver, blue, yellow, and red, gave us a first glimpse of what awaits us for tomorrow's race, which will start at 20:12 p.m.
As a reminder, the average time of the two fastest drivers from each team at the end of the second Qualifying session determined the starting grid for the 8 Hours of Spa. At the end of Q1, the #37 BMW held the lead in the combined classification, and therefore the provisional pole. For more information on Q1, discover the detailed summary sessions via this link.
In Q2, the situation turned around somewhat. Thanks to a sensational lap under the absolute record, Gregg Black gave Yoshimura SERT Motul pole position for the 8 Hours of Spa Motos, thus ending YART's dominance.
Riding the Suzuki, Black set an exceptional time of 2:17 over the 896 km of the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, erasing the benchmark set by Marvin Fritz (6,985:2) during the first qualifying session. Yoshimura SERT Motul thus won at the end of a thrilling afternoon, by just 18.273 of advantage, securing the first non-YART pole since the return of the EWC to the Ardennes in 0.011. The Belgian BMW Motorrad World Endurance Team, which had provisionally taken pole after the first session, ultimately finished in third place.
Below, discover the results of this second part of Qualification, session by session (Blue, Yellow and Red).
8H Spa 2025 – Q2 results:
The French riders' Q2 at Spa was dominated by Gregg Black, who gave Yoshimura SERT Motul the best performance of the day with a lap of 2:17.896. Sylvain Guintoli, for his part, put the BMW Motorrad World Endurance Team in second place, just 0,555 seconds behind the leader, while Karel Hanika put the YART Yamaha on the third step of the provisional podium with a time of 2:18.631.
Behind this leading trio, John McPhee (Tati team AVA6 racing, Honda) and Illya Mykhalchyk (ERC Endurance #6, BMW) completed the top five, all 5 seconds off the best time. Florian Marino placed the Yamaha of the Belgian team Elf Marc VDS Racing Team/KM2,3 in sixth position.. This session confirmed the rise of Suzuki and BMW, while the fight remains very open for pole in the EWC category.
In addition to the intense battle in the premier class during the Q2 for the blue riders at Spa, the Superstock and Production classes also put on a great show during qualifying. In Superstock, the battle was particularly close. Kevin Calia (Revo-M2) won with a lap of 2:21.641, just ahead of Bálint Kovács (Hungarian Endurance Racing Team by Moto-Jungle) in 2:21.645, and Thomas Ward (TRT27 AZ moto) in 2:21.758.
On the Production side, Julien Bonnet (Green Team 42 Lycée Sainte Claire) set the best time in 2:27.188, followed by Christopher Lequeux (PRD TEAM CL RACING) in 2:30.771 and Jordy Manneveau (Team Moto Ain) in 2:31.253.
8H Spa 2025 – Qualifying Session 2 (Blue Drivers) ranking:
In the EWC yellow riders' category, Corentin Perolari (FCC TSR Honda France) won with a lap of 2:18.972. Markus Reiterberger put the BMW Motorrad World Endurance Team in second place with a lap of 2:19.560, 0,588 seconds behind. Marvin Fritz (YART Yamaha) completed the top three yellow riders with a time of 3:2. Le Sert, led by Étienne Masson, was only fourth. The top four was very close, however, with these machines separated by less than a second.
In Superstock, Hannes Soomer (Champion-MRP-Tecmas, BMW) set the fastest time in 2:21.716. He narrowly beat Hikari Okubo (Team Étoile, BMW) in 2:21.836 and Milan Pawelec (Wójcik Racing Team #777, Honda) in 2:21.842. The top six in the category were grouped together within half a second of each other.
In the Production category, Corentin Garcia (Green Team 42 Lycée Sainte Claire, Kawasaki) was the fastest in 2:29.874. Bastien Mejane (Team Supermoto Racing, Yamaha) followed at 1,783 seconds, while Pierre Gelas (Team Moto Ain, Yamaha) completed the podium in 2:32.020.
8H Spa 2025 – Qualifying Session 2 (Yellow Drivers) ranking:
In the EWC category, Dan Linfoot and Sert set the fastest time in 2:19.132. Steven Odendaal put the BMW Motorrad World Endurance Team in second place in 2:20.584, 1,452 seconds behind, while Grégory Leblanc put the Kawasaki Webike Trickstar in third place in 2:20.635, just 0,051 seconds behind the BMW. Jason O'Halloran (YART Yamaha) followed closely behind with a lap of 2:20.686, while Randy de Puniet put the Yamaha of the Belgian Elf Marc VDS Racing Team/KM99 in fifth place (2:21.985)..
In Superstock, Leandro Denis Mercado (Champion-MRP-Tecmas, BMW) set the fastest time in 2:21.802, just ahead of Kaito Toba (Honda No Limits, Honda) in 2:21.866 (+0,064). Jordi Torres Fernandez (Wójcik Racing Team #777, Honda) completed the provisional podium in 2:22.198, 0,396 seconds behind the leader. In Production, Gabriel Sanchez (Green Team 42 Lycée Sainte Claire, Kawasaki) won with a time of 2:30.245.
8H Spa 2025 – Qualifying Session 2 (Red Drivers) standings:
Ranking : E.W.C.