World titles up for grabs in Endurance World Championship Bol d’Or showdown
It’s all to play for in the FIM Endurance World Championship when the legendary Bol d’Or 24-hour race hosts what’s building up to be an epic title showdown from 18-21 September.
It’s all to play for in the FIM Endurance World Championship when the legendary Bol d’Or 24-hour race hosts what’s building up to be an epic title showdown from 18-21 September.
All FIM EWC titles are up for grabs at Circuit Paul Ricard in southern France, including the new-for-2025 Production-based FIM Endurance World Trophy for Teams, the FIM Endurance World Cup for Superstock motorcycles and the headlining FIM Endurance World Championship. With a maximum of 65 points on offer to a team winning its category from pole position and leading after eight and 16 hours, all titles are finely balanced.
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| In the race to win the FIM Endurance World Championship for Teams, 2023 winner Yamalube YART Yamaha EWC Official Team heads the standings by a slender one-point margin over BMW Motorrad World Endurance Team with Kawasaki Webike Trickstar five points behind the leader. Yoshimura SERT Motul is 15 points down on first place as it bids for back-to-back crowns, while ERC Endurance is just five points further back in fifth and also in contention after a strong campaign with BMW power. |
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| Team Étoile heads the pursuit of FIM Endurance World Cup title gold having demoted National Motos Honda FMA, last year’s winner, for first place in the standings by winning the Dunlop-supplied Superstock category at Suzuka last month. The two teams are five points apart with Kaedear-Dafy-RAC 41-Honda, Team 18 Pompiers Igol CMS Motostore and 3ART Best of Bike completing the top five. |
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| Current pacesetter Team Super Moto Racing will aim to make history by winning the inaugural FIM Endurance World Trophy for Dunlop-equipped Production motorcycles. However, ARTEC #199 is just 18 points adrift. Although Green Team 42 Lycée Sainte Claire is no longer in mathematical contention, the Kawasaki-powered squad will be intent on rounding out the 2025 season on a high with the race win. |
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| Double EWC champion Niccolò Canepa said: “We are in for an incredible final round of the EWC season at the Bol d’Or. It should be an amazing showdown.” Click HERE to view the provisional standings of all categories ahead of the EWC season finale and click HERE to find out how points are scored in the EWC. |
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| MIGHTY MISTRAL AWAITS EWC STARS Featuring a combination of slow-, medium- and high-speed corners, the Circuit Paul Ricard layout used for the Bol d’Or includes the 1.8-kilometre Mistral Straight. A place to pass and be passed, the Mistral requires bikes to run for 20 seconds at more than 300kph and places an onus on reliability and mechanical sympathy. Changeable weather and windy conditions can also be a factor during the event. |
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| PAGÈS AND PHILIPPE JOIN THE EWC BOL D’OR PRODUCTION CATEGORY RANKS Multiple X-Games and Red Bull X-Fighters Freestyle Motocross winner Tom Pagès will make his FIM Endurance World Championship debut in the Bol d’Or when EWC legend Vincent Philippe will return to the series as part of an exciting Honda-powered Production category entry. While Pagès, 40, will be new to the EWC when Circuit Paul Ricard hosts the 88th Bol d’Or from 18-21 September, 47-year-old Philippe needs no introduction having claimed the coveted FIM Endurance World Championship 10 times and triumphed in the Bol d’Or on nine occasions. CLICK FOR FULL STORY. |
-large.jpg "World Titles Up For Grabs In Endurance World Championship Bol D'Or Showdown 9") The Moto Revue/Moto Journal team line-up for the EWC season decider with Pagès (right) |
| WÓJCIK GOES FOR THREE IN EWC WITH HISTORY-MAKING PRODUCTION ENTRY Wójcik Racing Team is preparing to make FIM Endurance World Championship history during the Bol d’Or. The leading Polish squad has added a Production category entry to its Formula EWC and Superstock line-ups in what marks an exciting EWC first. While Dunlop-equipped Wójcik Racing Team’s Formula EWC and Superstock pedigree is renowned, it will make its FIM Endurance World Trophy debut in France with a quartet of Polish EWC newcomers. CLICK FOR FULL STORY. |
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| STANDOUT ENTRY FOR EWC BOL D’OR SEASON FINALE Registrations from 16 Formula EWC squads, 28 Superstock outfits, eight Production teams and two Expérimental class contenders have assured a combined entry of 54 motorcycles for the Bol d’Or. The standout entry figure is just one shy of the total number of teams that contested the 46th Coca-Cola Suzuka 8 Hours Endurance Race in Japan last month and is nine more than the Bol d’Or attracted in 2024 when 45 squads competed. It also ensures that all four races appearing on the EWC schedule in 2025 have achieved entry increases after the 24 Heures Motos attracted 53 registrations compared to 48 last season and entries for the 8 Hours of Spa Motos rose from 37 in 2024 to 44 when the Belgian race ran back in June. The team line-up is available HERE with the full entry list to be published next week. |
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| EWC RIDERS SAID WHAT Quotes from a selection of EWC riders follow: |
Mike Di Meglio (Kawasaki Webike Trickstar): “Until the chequered flag we will never know what will happen but sure it will be difficult. We miss some power but the most important is the reliability, especially with the long straight. We need to stay focused like we have been since the start of the season, trying to improve the bike in every race because it’s the first season with the Bridgestone tyres for the team and we have been trying to develop and improve. It’s looking great but you never know. I know how to fight for a championship and the team has been world champion before although people have changed in the team. If you start the season and think you will lose you will not win so you have to try to do your best.”
Marvin Fritz (Yamalube YART Yamaha EWC Official Team): “We were quite unlucky at Suzuka, we lost many points but we’re still leading the championship. At the end when we won the championship two years ago we came to the Bol d’Or 13 points behind so everything is possible with sixty-five points to get. Everybody wants to be world champion but, for me, I take it like it comes because we cannot change anything that happens. I know we have a very strong team and we know what is important. We know also we have a bit more power than last year, which will help us a lot, because last year we had a big problem with that and also because the tyre issue left our bike really badly damaged in the first hour, so the race was quite difficult. Overall we are really confident, we know the potential of our bike and our team. I have two really fast team-mates and we’re going all-in to win.”
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| Dan Linfoot (Yoshimura SERT Motul): “The title is our main target and it’s the only reason why we go racing. After last year we want to try to make it back-to-back championships. We’re well in the hunt and there’s a lot of points available. Generally, the track is quite demanding mechanically, but the team seems to have a reliable package, and we’d like to consider we have a good a chance as anybody. Like any track, Paul Ricard has its quirks that you have to learn. The difficult side is the long straight for the reliability of the engine. It’s possibly the toughest race of all, so gruelling with that long straight for 24 hours and what the engines go through is incredible. I really like the track and have great memories from last year and I’m really excited to get back for the race week and to get on with it. I was nervous last year but while the desire is still the same, I feel calmer and much more aware of what’s going to come.” |
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| Florian Marino (ELF Marc VDS Racing Team/KM99): “This race will be very challenging because the championship is truly open so it will be really close racing. In our position we just need to take the opportunity and I feel in this race more opportunities will happen. If we stick to our pace with good pitstops and we don’t do any mistake I believe we can finish as strong as last year. Circuit Paul Ricard is 45 minutes from my home so I can say it’s like my home track and is very historical for me. The wind is playing a big game with how you have to approach the circuit and this is down to experience. If you know and understand how to ride depending on how the wind is blowing, if it’s in your face or if it’s in the back. Generally it’s a fast and flowing track and you need to be very precise and smooth.” |
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| Steven Odendaal (BMW Motorrad World Endurance Team): “I believe the team and the riders are all good enough to win this title. We will give it everything we’ve got, and our chances are quite high. I feel our trajectory throughout the whole season has been going up. Now we are in second position and our destiny is to finish on top. I’ve won the Bol d’Or before and I’ve also been on the podium. It’s a track I like and a track I know well. The experience of how to win the Bol d’Or is priceless but everyone in the team knows how to handle this race. But the Bol d’Or is a survival race, it’s really hard on the engine with the long straight, so it’s about being consistent and making no mistakes. Hopefully everything holds together and we can bring this title home for BMW.” Tom Pagès (Moto Revue/Moto Journal): “Doing the Bol d’Or is something important. I want to do it well, even if I don’t know what to expect in a 24-hour race. The weather can change, dealing with the night and the duration of the event. All of these are factors I can’t control, unlike what I did before. That’s why I say I’m a bit in the dark. I’m approaching the preparation itself calmly because there’s less stress than when I was preparing for my freestyle events or my video projects. During the race, I’ll be able to adapt my pace; I don’t have any particular challenges; it’s different from what I experienced at the X Games, for example, or even the jump at Avoriaz. There, you know everything has to be perfect, that you can’t improvise. So, for now, I’m under less pressure. We’ll see race week if I don’t change my mind!” |
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| PROVISIONAL KEY EWC TIMINGS (ALL TIMINGS CET, SUBJECT TO CHANGE) Thursday 18 September Friday 19 September Saturday 20 September Sunday 21 September |
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| BOL D’OR ESSENTIALS: Where: Circuit Paul Ricard Location: RDN8 – 2760 Route des Hauts du Camp 83330, Le Castellet, France When: 18-21 September 2025 Track length: 5.673 kilometres Race distance: 24 hours |
BEST LAPS:
Qualifying: BMW Motorrad World Endurance Team (Markus Reiterberger, 1m51.596s, 2023)
Race: BMW Motorrad World Endurance Team (Markus Reiterberger, 1m52.517s, 2024)
IN 100 WORDS:
After celebrating its 100th anniversary in 2022, the 88th edition of the world-famous Bol d’Or is the second of two 24-hour EWC races scheduled for 2025. Taking place at Circuit Paul Ricard in southern France for the 32nd time, the legendary event hosts the season decider from 18-21 September. Of the venue’s 5.673-kilometre layout, 1.8 kilometres are taken up by the imposing Mistral Straight. A place to pass and be passed, the Mistral requires motorcycles to run for 20 seconds at more than 300kph. Changeable weather and windy conditions can also be a factor during this epic and challenging event.
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| FAST FACTS: *The Bol d’Or was first held in 1922 on a five-kilometre circuit of dirt roads between Vaujours, Clichy-sous-Bois and Livry-Gargan. *Back then it was more a question of survival than an out-and-out race with one rider per motorcycle allowed and no stops except for refuelling. *Competitors had to wait until 1954 before they could count on a team-mate with a third rider not permitted until 1982. *While the Bol d’Or celebrated turning 100 in 2022, the event was actually the 85th running and the 29th edition to take place at Circuit Paul Ricard. *World War II, waning public interest and the COVID-19 pandemic respectively resulted in no Bol d’Or between 1940-46, 1961-68 and 2020. |
RECENT WINNERS:
2024: Yoshimura SERT Motul (Gregg Black, Dan Linfoot, Étienne Masson), 737 laps
2023: Yoshimura SERT Motul (Gregg Black, Sylvain Guintoli, Étienne Masson), 717 laps
2022: Viltaïs Racing Igol (Florian Alt, Erwan Nigon, Steven Odendaal) 718 laps
2021: Yoshimura SERT Motul (Gregg Black, Xavier Siméon, Sylvain Guintoli) 704 laps
2019: Suzuki Endurance Racing Team (Vincent Philippe, Étienne Masson, Gregg Black) 313 laps
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