A thrilling season finale in the Czech Republic rewarded the heroic battle of YART Yamaha's Marvin Fritz, Karel Hanika and Niccolò Canepa with a second-place finish, missing out on victory by 0,070 seconds after a thrilling event.
Starting from pole position after an impressive performance in qualifying on Thursday, Marvin Fritz kicked off the final FIM World Endurance Championship race of the year, but an unfortunate start for the German relegated him to the team at the back of the pack at the first corner.
Despite this, Fritz kept his head down and the number 7 Yamaha quickly found itself in the top 15. Knocking on the door of the top 10 in the fifth minute, it continued its climb to appear in second position before stopping for his first save in the 53rd minute.
A problem in the pits saw local hero Karel Hanika emerge in sixth with work to do. Undaunted, Hanika immediately set about bringing the team back into the podium race with a solid relay.
Passing the handlebars to a convalescing Niccolò Canepa, the Italian immediately engaged in battle with Sylvain Guintoli and overtook the Suzuki for second place, before another incredible stint from Fritz allowed the YART to reduce the gap to 23 seconds at the halfway mark.
Closing the gap lap by lap on the R1, equipped with Bridgestone tires, the German brought the YART within shooting range of the leaders before Hanika made a decisive attack. A clear overtake from the outside at turn 19 allowed the Austrian Yamaha team to take the lead of the race.
While the YART held a comfortable advantage, the race took another turn when the VRD IGOL EXPÉRIENCES, one of the contenders for the championship, was the victim of a technical failure which resulted in the installation of a car of safety while the runway was cleared. After waiting during the security period, Hanika dove into the pits for a splash and dash before returning to the R1 for a double stint.
Once again, his race was stopped by a second safety car. As the race resumed with just over an hour to go, Hanika inherited the lead after a pit stop for the leaders. Determined to bring the R1 back to first place, the former Moto3 rider continued to attack, widening a gap of 36,806 seconds before his final stop.
With Marvin Fritz at the helm for this third and final stint, the Yamaha returned to the track in second position, 14,448 seconds behind the BMW.
Setting a new race best lap on lap 193 at Most, he continued to put pressure on his rival up front, but it wasn't enough. Knowing he had to increase the pace, Fritz pushed hard, setting another fastest lap in the race. Closing the gap to 2,713 seconds with ten minutes to go, the 2014 IDM Supersport 600 class champion broke the 1'33 barrier, setting two more fastest laps in the final moments of the race.
Closing the gap to less than a second, Fritz began his final lap, but a small slip as he opened the throttle cost him valuable time. Not giving up, a sensational intermediate sector put him back in the race, and the Yamaha rider looked to get ahead of the BMW over the line, which he was unable to do by just 0,070 seconds, the smallest gap never seen in the category!
The YART Yamaha nevertheless obtained its first podium of the year with this second place.
With 41 points, YART Yamaha climbs to sixth place in the general classification with a total of 88 points. Yamaha wins the manufacturers' title with a total of 202,5 points.
The YART Yamaha team will now begin a busy winter period before returning for another title run with Marvin Fritz, Karel Hanika and Niccolò Canepa in 2022.
Marvin Fritz :
“We are happy with second place because the team really deserved a good result. I'm obviously angry and disappointed to have lost by such a small margin because we really wanted to win here in Most. We had a difficult start, a problem which, along with the unfortunate timing of the safety car, cost us more than two minutes in total. We worked hard as a team and my teammates rode brilliantly to close the gap. But despite these problems, we finished the race 0,070 seconds behind, which shows the speed we had. We have to be positive because we were only a second off Toprak's time in World Superbike here. Looking back, it was a good weekend because we were fast in practice, we had an incredible qualifying and we finished the race with the fastest lap and so close to victory. We need to take this motivation, work on the areas where we struggle the most and come back stronger in 2022.”
Karel Hanika :
“It's a bit of a mixed feeling after the final in Most. On the one hand, I'm happy because we finished on the podium, but it's a shame to miss the victory at home. Our goal was to win and it's hard to miss it by the smallest of margins. We had a problem at the start and lost a lot of time, but we were able to solve it for the rest of the race with a different strategy and above all regain the lost time. It was difficult to complete the double stint but I tried to stay focused and in the second part of the stint I was able to close the gap to the BMW. Marvin did a great job filling in the last 15 seconds, it's just a bit of a shame we missed out on the win! The team did an incredible job, so I want to thank them for their hard work this weekend and throughout the year. I hope we have a little better luck next year because this year has been difficult. We are the fastest team with the fastest riders, so we have to come back stronger next year and fight for the EWC crown. Thanks to Mandy Kainz and the YART family for this opportunity and we will come back stronger in 2022.”
Niccolò Canepa
“We are happy with our performance here in Most. Normally when you miss out on victory like we did, it's not a good feeling, but today it was the opposite. The three of us were the fastest riders and the bike was perfect. I was incredibly happy with my stint because this week I didn't do more than five laps in a row due to my illness. We managed to do 33 laps in a row and we were fast until the last lap, so for that I'm happy! In the end, Marvin did an impressive job of making up for the difficulties we encountered early in the race. We also lost some time with the extra stop for fuel and for this reason we were not able to close the gap to the leaders. But we leave here with no regrets because we were really strong and we can go into winter mentally strong and ready to fight again in 2022. Now as a team we have to prepare and come back stronger next season, because the problems we had this year cost us the title. I want to say thank you to the YART team because everyone has done an amazing job, the pit stops have been amazing all year so I'm happy that we can finish this season with a podium to reward their work relentless. »
Mandy Kainz – YART Yamaha Official EWC Team, team owner
“Missing the victory with such a small gap is difficult because we were by far the fastest team on the track today. As protagonists of the championship, we must be proud of today's race because, for the promotion for Endurance and for us at YART, we offered a fantastic show to the fans. Our three drivers were consistently the fastest on the track and we beat our opponents in terms of pace, we just lost too much time where we didn't need to. We had a problem starting the bike which cost us at the start and then another 25 seconds during our first pit stop. We then made another pit stop between the safety cars due to fuel consumption, which put us one stop behind the BMW, but despite all this we came back to fight for the victory until the very end. We take the positives from this race, that we are the fastest, but we have to work hard throughout the winter. We need to work on our weaknesses and come back in 2022 stronger and fight for the EWC world title. »
