Yoshimura SERT Motul takes EWC title glory with Bol d’Or victory
Yoshimura SERT Motul has banked a win double in the FIM Endurance World Championship, coming out on top of an epic EWC title showdown by landing back-to-back Bol d’Or victories at Circuit Paul Ricard.
The Suzuki-powered outfit’s riding trio of Gregg Black, Dan Linfoot and Étienne Masson performed without error to secure Yoshimura SERT Motul’s second EWC crown – the first since 2021 – to go with the 11 titles won when the France-based squad ran under the Suzuki Endurance Racing Team banner.
By finishing first, Suzuki has now triumphed in the legendary Bol d’Or 24-hour race 20 times with Black and Masson becoming four-time winners of the long-standing EWC event.
“It’s amazing, I can’t thank everybody enough, Gregg [Black], Étienne [Masson], Coco [Atsumi], everybody who has contributed, the team has been amazing. To win the championship in my first year, to win Le Mans, win the Bol d’Or, second at Spa, third at Suzuka I can’t ask for anything more. Incredible, it’s an amazing moment” Dan Linfoot, Yoshimura SERT Motul
Yamaha-powered KM 99 scored its first EWC podium in only its second year in the championship with second place for Randy de Puniet, Jérémy Guarnoni and Florian Marino to end 2024 as the top independent EWC team.
Yamalube YART Yamaha EWC Official Team began the Bol d’Or title decider leading the standings as one of five teams in championship contention. Although it completed the Formula EWC podium in third, it fell short in its efforts to defend the EWC title it won in 2023 after two time-consuming unscheduled pitstops dropped it back.
The result meant YART rider Niccolò Canepa, who was partnered by Marvin Fritz and Karel Hanika, will retire from racing without the third world title he craved but he’ll nevertheless go down in history as one of the all-time EWC greats.
Despite being held back by technical issues, National Motos Honda FMA won the FIM Endurance World Cup for Teams with riders Guillaume Raymond, Sébastien Suchet and Valentin Suchet after Team 18 Sapeurs Pompiers CMS Motostore took Bol d’Or honours in the Dunlop-supplied category in a fine fourth overall with a line-up consisting of Enzo De La Vega, Baptiste Guittet, Maxim Pellizotti and Mathieu Gines, the 2014 EWC champion.
Chromeburner-RAC 41-Honda finished second to secure the runner-up spot in the title table as TRT27 AZ Moto took the chequered flag in third place.
BMW Motorrad World Endurance Team started the Bol d’Or on pole position for the third year running as one of five overall title contenders. After a new race lap record from Markus Reiterberger – a 1m52.517s – helped BMW move into the lead in the early hours of Sunday morning, a crash for squad newcomer Hannes Soomer put Yoshimura SERT Motul back ahead. It also left the Estonian sidelined with a shoulder injury and forced Reiterberger and Illya Mykhalchyk to complete the race as a duo, albeit substantially delayed due to mechanical issues.
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©Words/Images are from official press release posted courtesy of Endurance World Championship
