Six teams vie for the Endurance World Championship: the 24-hour Bol d'Or is a title decider

Since 2010, a pleasant tradition: the overall Motorcycle Endurance World Championship title is decided at the final round on the calendar.

It will be the same this weekend with the 89th edition of the Bol d’Or, the grand classic of French motorcycle racing, taking place for the 33rd distinct occasion at the Circuit Paul Ricard in Le Castellet, and for the 20th time proving decisive in awarding the EWC top-class title. Between Saturday 19 and Sunday 20 September, a total of 56 teams will battle in the most demanding 24-hour race on the schedule, 6 of which are in contention for the EWC title, with everything wide open in the Superstock class as well.

For the first time since the pandemic emergency, the Bol d’Or has sold out: 56 teams entered across the 4 classes (17 in Formula EWC, 24 Superstock, 13 Production, and 2 Experimental), the maximum allowed by current regulations. In total, 7 manufacturers will be represented with 16 Hondas, 15 Yamahas, 10 Kawasakis, 8 BMWs, 4 Suzukis, 2 Aprilias and the original Metiss, in an Endurance World Championship that this year has seen wins for Yamaha (at the 24 Hours of Le Mans), BMW (at the 8 Hours of Spa) and, last July, Honda (at the 8 Hours of Suzuka). Not least, noting the incredible fact of 6 manufacturers represented in the top 6 positions at the 8 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, a sign that endurance motorcycle racing offers opportunities to hyper-sport machines of newer and not-so-new generations alike.

While the Bol d’Or, given its history and tradition, is a story unto itself, from a championship perspective the focus will be on the race for the EWC title with a maximum of 65 points up for grabs (40 for the win, 10 additional for whoever leads at the end of the first 8 and 16 hours of the race down to 1 point for the 10th-placed team at those moments, plus 5 extra points for the team starting from pole). YART Yamaha, reigning World Champion, is aiming for the fourth title in its history, arriving as championship leader with the crew of Marvin Fritz, Leandro ‘Tati’ Mercado and Karel Hanika, the latter involved in a heavy crash on Tuesday’s Test day, colliding at 200 km/h with a Honda that had stopped ahead of him. Chasing the first world title in its history instead is the BMW Motorrad World Endurance Team (Markus Reiterberger, Michael van der Mark and Steven Odendaal), an honor that slipped away last year just 29 minutes from the end of the Bol d’Or and the 2025 season. Also in the mix are the “Queen” of the discipline Yoshimura SERT Motul Suzuki (Gregg Black, Etienne Masson and Dan Linfoot), AutoRace Ube Racing Team BMW (Naomichi Uramoto, Sylvain Guintoli and Kenny Foray), with only the math keeping the privateer ERC Endurance BMW (Loris Baz, Marcel Schrotter and Jan-Ole Jahnig) in play as well.

Among the 6 teams vying for the EWC title is also Kawasaki Webike TRICKSTAR, Akashi’s official squad in the category featuring our Christian Gamarino, alongside Gregory Leblanc and Roman Ramos, ready to give it all after podiums at Le Mans and Spa (3rd on both occasions). Italy fields 10 riders at the start of the Bol d’Or and 2 teams (plus the Monegasque Grillini team), both in contention for the Superstock World Cup: REVO-M2 Aprilia (Kevin Calia, Simone Saltarelli, Flavio Ferroni and Mathieu Gines) and Honda No Limits (Doriano Vietti Ramus, Ricardo Brink and Miquel Pons). For the two tricolor outfits, missing the 8 Hours of Suzuka weighs heavily, compounded by rules that, for Stock, allow the “discard” of the worst result achieved. Fully in the fight for the FIM Endurance World Cup with full merit and title credentials is Kevin Manfredi (Dafy Kaedear RAC41 Honda), with the Italian contingent at the Bol d’Or completed by Roberto Tamburini (BMRT 3D Kawasaki), Christian Napoli (Team Racing 85 Kawasaki), Fausto Mincione (PMS99 Yamaha) and rookie Cristian Lolli (Grillini Kawasaki).

As per tradition, the Bol d’Or will start at 3:00 PM on Saturday, with riders ready to blast past 330 km/h on the Mistral’s 1,800-meter straight, holding the throttle wide open for up to 21 consecutive seconds. Exclusive and complete live coverage of the event will be provided by Eurosport, available on the subscription platforms HBO Max, discovery+, DAZN and TIM VISION, with live broadcast from 2:30 PM on Saturday until 3:30 PM on Sunday, half an hour after the end of the 24 hours to take in the entire podium ceremony.

-> Follow us on Instagram: @Corsedimoto