EWC Bol d'Or Thursday: BMW fires first, Yamaha responds!

This Thursday marked the start of the official action for the 87th edition ofThe 24 Hours of the Bol d'Or at the Paul Ricard circuit, which will determine thes four titles FIM EWC of stamina.

While a six-point gap separates the Yamalube YART Yamaha EWC Official Team and Yoshimura SERT Motul In the fight for the world crown, it is the BMW Motorrad World Endurance Team who was the fastest during the first free practice session, setting a benchmark of 1'52.543 ahead of the official Yamaha and Honda.

This good start from the German manufacturer continued during the first qualifying,es pilots Illya Mykhalchyk et Markus Reiterberger having custom trip their efforts for establish le The best time way not official de 1'52.049, thus taking the advantage over Yamalube YART extension Yamaha E.W.C. Official Team with Yoshimura SERT Motul en troisième position. Tati Team Beringer Racing and Kawaski Webike Trickstar respectively set the fourth and fifth fastest times in the provisional order.

The first qualifying session was divided into four groups of drivers according to a colour code (blue, yellow, red and green), with each group benefiting from 20 minutes of racing on the 5,771 km of the Circuit Paul Ricard. With the final order of qualifying being based on the average time of the two fastest drivers of each team, it is only after the second qualifying session tomorrow morning (Friday) that the starting grid for the 87th edition of the Bol d'Or will be known.

In the group of blue pilots, Illya Mykhalchyk picked up where he left off in free practice by beating Niccolò Canepa du Yamalube YART Yamaha EWC Official Team for first place with an advantage of 1.190s and a time of 1'51.810s. Greg Black left the track late to snatch third place for Yoshimura SERT Motul, the winner of the Bol d'Or in 2023. Corentin Perolari, Tati Team Beringer Racing, also moved up from seventh to fourth place, while Florian Alt completed the top 5 for Honda Viltaïs Racing. Christian Gamarino completed the top 6 for Kawasaki Webike Trickstar, Florian Marino ranked seventh for the KM99 et Josh Hook eighth for FCC TSR Honda France. BMW rider Kazuki Watanabe took the lead in the Dunlop-equipped Superstock standings for Team Étoile, who make their Bol d'Or debut this weekend, in ninth, followed by TRT27's Tom Ward, Loris Cresson (BMRT3D maxxess Nevers) and Tecmas MRP BMW Racing Team rider Kenny Foray.

Le BMW Motorrad World Endurance Team again performed well in the yellow drivers' session, Markus Reiterberger winning with a best effort of 1'52.288s. Marvin Fritz was the second fastest for the team Yamalube YART Yamaha EWC Official Team, 1,424 seconds behind his German colleague, while Hugo Clère was the third fastest for the team Tati Team Beringer Racing. Roman Ramos (Kawasaki Webike Trickstar) achieved the fourth fastest time whileEtienne Masson achieved the fifth time for Yoshimura SERT Motul, a place in front Steven Odendaal de Honda Viltaïs Racing. Randy de Puniet (KM99) and Mike Di Meglio (FCC TSR Honda France) were seventh and eighth respectively, followed by Hungarian Endurance Racing Team’s Máté Számadó, who beat Team Étoile’s Yudai Kamei to set the fastest time in the Dunlop Superstock class on a BMW 1-2. Maco Racing Team’s Christoffer Bergman took over, followed by National Motos Honda FMA’s Valentin Suchet. Uniserv Moto82 newcomer Adrien Lapine crashed at Turn 5 but was able to continue.

Karel Hanika (Yamalube YART Yamaha EWC Official Team) prevented the BMW Motorrad World Endurance Team to secure all the fastest times by clocking 1'54.321s to complete the Red Riders group at the head of the peloton. The Dunlop-equipped Superstock rider, Martin Renaudin, impressed by setting the second fastest time for Chromeburner-RAC 41 Honda.
Alan Techer du FCC TSR Honda France ranked third, followed by Leandro Mercado du Honda Viltaïs Racing and the new recruit of BMW, Hannes Soomer. Jeremy Guarnoni ranked sixth for KM99, Soma Gorbe seventh in the BMW Superstock Hungarian Endurance Racing Team et Randy Krummenacher eighth for the Tati Team Beringer Racing. Recent Finnish Superbike champion Eemeli Lahti was ninth on his return to TRT27 AZ Moto, while Guillaume Raymond completed the top 10 for National Motos Honda FMA, who are in contention for the Superstock title. Hikari Okubo, who had stopped at Turn 13 on Team Étoile’s BMW Superstock earlier in the session, crashed in the final minute and the session was red-flagged after Florian Reaux also crashed for Team VIP Moto/Dynoperf.

The Green Rider session saw the Formula EWC reserve drivers take to the 5,771km Circuit Paul Ricard, and the fourth-placed Superstock drivers impress. For the Formula EWC reserve drivers, the final 20-minute session also provided an opportunity to work on race set-up. Robin Mulhauser was the fastest for the Yamalube YART Yamaha EWC Official Team in 1'54.890s, with Peter Sebestyen the best Dunlop-equipped Superstock in second for the Hungarian Endurance Racing Team. James Westmoreland (Honda Viltaïs Racing) was third, followed by Kevin Denis (BMRT3D maxxess Nevers) in fourth. Anthony Loiseau was fifth for Kawasaki Webike Trickstar and Mathieu Gines, the 2014 EWC champion, was sixth for Team 18 Sapeurs Pompiers CMS Motostore in Superstock. BMW Motorrad World Endurance Team's new reserve Jan-Ole Jähnig was seventh, while Chromeburner-RAC 41-Honda's new signing Diego Poncet was eighth and Twan Smits ninth for Pitlane Endurance – JP3. Dylan Mille set the 10th fastest time for Junior Team Le Mans Sud Suzuki, one place ahead of Kevin Manfredi, in his first outing as a reserve rider for FCC TSR Honda France. Cocoro Atsumi set the 12th fastest time for Yoshimura SERT Motul.

The EWC stars took to the track at 20:40 p.m. local time for night practice, where the duel Yamalube YART Yamaha EWC Official Team / BMW Motorrad World Endurance Team seems to be confirmed…