Bol d'Or 24H: BMW, Honda and Yamaha on a knife-edge; the Endurance World Championship is an all-out battle

The Endurance World Championship has now gotten us used to thrilling finales, and this time is no exception. With six teams theoretically still in the hunt for the overall win, it was inevitable that the 89th Bol d’Or would be a fierce battle. BMW is putting pressure on Yamaha Yart, but only on Sunday at 3 p.m. will we know who’s laughing and who’s crying.

BMW Motorrad showed up by setting a masterpiece pole, worth five extra points that reduced Yamaha Yart’s starting advantage: 98 for the chasers versus 112 for the leading crew. The start was at GP pace, as if there weren’t 24 hours and roughly 4,000 kilometers to go—more or less the distance between Madrid and Moscow! The German battleship, led by Michael van der Mark increasingly embodying the role of Captain Endurance, ran a frantic first stint in tandem with the sister M1000RR of AutoRace Ube ridden by Noamichi Uramoto. But already by the second stint, Honda FCC TSR had closed in, propelled by the talent of Corentin Parolari, becoming dangerously close.

At sunset, that is after five hours of racing, Honda FCC TSR and BMW Motorrad were still nose-to-tail, as if it were a GP! The Germans, however, have a big advantage in fuel consumption, despite the extraordinary power of the inline-four that equips the M1000RR: the fifth pit stop came ten laps after that of the Japanese rival, so from here to the finish BMW could play the bonus of two fewer stops, against a Honda that has always counted reduced consumption among its best weapons. Yamaha Yart with Fritz, Mercado and the battered Hanika—who suffered a nasty crash in testing—follows in third place, one lap adrift. There’s still a very long way to go until the finish.

Yamaha Yart started with just a 14-point lead over BMW Motorrad in a 24-hour race that will ultimately award the following points: 40 for first, 33 for second, 28 for third, 24 for fourth, 21 for fifth, etc. But we must also consider the intermediate bonuses, at the eighth and sixteenth hours of racing: 10 for first, 9 for second, 8 for third, and decreasing down to one point for tenth. Behind the two favorites are Suzuki Sert with 83 points, Kawasaki Tristar 73, BMW Autorace 60, and BMW ERC 53.

Unfortunately, Aprilia Revo M2’s Bol d’Or started uphill. The Noale satellite squad sensationally triumphed this season at the Spa-Francorchamps 8 Hours in the Superstock class. On Corsedimoto we told the team’s behind-the-scenes story on the eve of the start, here are the details. Starting with a real chance to attack BMW Champion Hert MRP for first place, Aprilia paid dearly for Kevin Calia’s crash in the opening stint. Dropping to 50th position (out of 56 starting teams), Revo M2—with the same Calia, Saltarelli, Ferroni and support from the Frenchman Gines—mounted a frenzied comeback. By nightfall they were already back up to twentieth, five laps off the lead. Without that incident...

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