Yoshimura SERT Motul has completed a double in the FIM Endurance World Championship, winning the Bol d'Or at the Paul Ricard circuit, after an epic duel for the title. E.W.C..
The trio of riders from the Suzuki team, Greg Black, Dan Linfoot and Étienne Masson, delivered a flawless performance to ensure Yoshimura SERT Motul his second crown E.W.C., the first since 2021, which adds to the 11 titles won when the France-based team raced under the Suzuki Endurance Racing Team banner.
By finishing first, Suzuki has now triumphed 20 times in the legendary Bol d'Or 24-hour race, with Black and Masson becoming four-time winners of the long-running EWC event.
Dan Linfoot, Yoshimura SERT Motul: “It’s incredible, I can’t thank everyone enough, Gregg [Black], Etienne [Masson], Coco [Atsumi], everyone who contributed, the team was amazing. Winning the championship in my first year, winning Le Mans, winning the Bol d’Or, being second at Spa, third at Suzuka, I can’t ask for anything more. It’s incredible, it’s an extraordinary moment.”
Team KM 99, powered by Yamaha, claimed its first EWC podium in just its second year in the championship, with second place in Randy de Puniet, Jérémy Guarnoni and Florian Marino, to finish the year 2024 as the best independent team in EWC.
The official team Yamalube YART Yamaha EWC began the Bol d'Or title race leading the standings as one of five teams in contention for the championship. Although they finished on the Formula EWC podium in third place, they failed to defend the EWC title they won in 2023 after two unplanned pit stops took up a lot of time and set them back.
The YART pilot Niccolò Canepa, which was associated with Marvin Fritz et Karel Hanika, will therefore retire from the competition without having won the third world title to which he aspired, but he will nevertheless remain in history as one of the greatest EWC riders of all time.
Despite technical problems, National Motorcycles Honda FMA won the FIM Endurance World Cup Team Championship with the riders Guillaume Raymond, Sébastien Suchet and Valentin Suchet. THE Team 18 Firefighters CMS Motostore won the Bol d'Or in the Dunlop category with a fine fourth place overall thanks to a team made up ofEnzo De La Vega, Baptiste Guittet, Maxim Pellizotti and Mathieu Gines, the 2014 EWC champion.
Chromeburner-RAC 41-Honda finished second to secure second place in the title table, while TRT27 AZ Moto took the checkered flag in third place.
Team BMW Motorrad World Endurance Team started the Bol d'Or in pole position for the third consecutive year, being one of five contenders for the title. After Markus Reiterberger set a new race lap record (1m52.517s), which allowed BMW to take the lead in the early hours of Sunday morning, a fall of Hannes Soomer, a newcomer to the team, allowed Yoshimura SERT Motul to regain the advantage. The Estonian also injured his shoulder and Reiterberger et Ilya Mykhalchyk had to finish the race as a duo, but with a considerable delay due to mechanical problems.
More soon…
Credit rankings: its-live.net
