SERT win FIM EWC crown as both YART and F.C.C. TSR falter at Bol d’Or 24 Hour finale

Yoshimura SERT Motul banked a win double in the FIM Endurance World Championship on Sunday at the season finale, 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.

“Of course when you join a team like Yoshimura SERT Motul you expect to have the results to fight for the championship but to win the championship in the first year is a dream for me,” said Linfoot, the only Yoshimura SERT Motul rider to have finished on the podium in all four EWC races this season. “To win Le Mans, second in Spa, third in Suzuka and finally winning the Bol d’Or to take the championship is an incredible experience. To work with this fantastic team and my incredible team-mates, all the staff, it’s been a fantastic year. It’s an amazing moment.”

Black, who recovered from injury to race in the Bol d’Or, said: “Injuring my wrist was a pretty difficult moment after winning Le Mans and getting a podium at Spa. The injury in the Suzuka test was quite a complicated break and put me out for the race. But Cocoro, Dan and Albert [Arenas] did a great job and got some important points for the championship. It’s been two complicated months for me, getting my wrist back into condition and trying to have the mental and physical strength to get back on the bike. A lot of strength goes through the wrist on a bike, and I wasn’t sure 100 per cent if I would be back, but I did all my 10 stints in the race, tried to keep up the pace and be as fast as possible.”

Gregg Black – “It’s been two complicated months for me, getting my wrist back into condition and trying to have the mental and physical strength to get back on the bike. I wasn’t sure 100 per cent if I would be back, but I did all my 10 stints in the race, tried to keep up the pace and be as fast as possible”

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.

“It was a really good race for us,” ex-MotoGP racer de Puniet said. “In the beginning of the year we made some mistakes but after Suzuka we didn’t make any more. We had some luck during this race, SERT was too fast, the pace was incredible, the BMW too, but they had some trouble at the end of the race and that’s why we finished second. For the team it’s a perfect result, for me too, even if one day I would like to win an endurance race.”

Yamalube YART Yamaha EWC Official Team began the Bol d’Or title decider leading the standings as one of four 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.

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.

“This is not exactly the race we were hoping for, we were hoping to battle a bit more with SERT and make their life a bit more difficult,” said Canepa. “Unfortunately, we had a problem in the first stint and we never fight for the victory in this race. Because of the problem we had in the first stint we kept having problems through the race. But we never expected to be on the podium today, so we must be happy for this third place because it’s been a tough race for us.”

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. That was 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. Outgoing champion squad Team 33 Louit April Moto placed fourth with 3ART Best of Bike in fifth and JMA Racing Action Bike completing the top-six Superstock finishers.

BMW Motorrad World Endurance Team started the Bol d’Or on pole position for the third year running as one of four overall title chasers. 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.

There was also frustration for Tati Team Beringer Racing and F.C.C. TSR Honda France, which both failed to go the distance due to engine failures having led early in the race. Honda Viltaïs Racing was on course to complete the podium after a lengthy battle with KM99 but dropped out of contention with an engine issue.

Maco Racing Team, Wójcik Racing Team and Mana-au Competition took season-best finishes of fifth, sixth and seventh respectively in Formula EWC but Motobox Kremer Racing retired.

Kawasaki Webike Trickstar, which had been in the top 10, stopped with a broken engine after 18h15. Meanwhile, ADSS 97 withdrew its Kawasaki due an overheating issue, while BMRT3D maxxwss Nevers, Honda No Limits, Tati Team Beringer Racing, Team Bolliger Switzerland and Uniserv Moto82 Team all dropped out during the night.

Having impressed throughout qualifying and having also led the Superstock category in the early stages, EWC newcomer Hungarian Endurance Racing Team by Moto-Jungle suffered Bol d’Or heartbreak when engine failure put it out shortly before 17h45. Superstock qualifying pacesetter Tecmas MRP BMW Racing Team and Team Aviobike by M2 Revo were firmly in the top-three battle when they hit trouble. Team Étoile was leading its class when it retired on Sunday morning.

Superstock squads Junior Team Le Mans Sud Suzuki, Slider Endurance, Pitlane Endurance – JP3, Team Players, Team Racing 85 by Soleane all finished but Honda No Limits, Team TCP Racing and Team 202 were less fortunate.