BMW Motorrad Motorsport had the perfect start to the season finale of the 2023 FIM Endurance World Championship (FIM EWC) at Le Castellet (FRA). In the extremely exciting two-part qualifying for the 24-hour Bol d’Or race, the BMW Motorrad World Endurance Team secured pole position with the #37 BMW M 1000 RR, setting a new lap record.
This marked an important first step for the team with riders Markus Reiterberger (GER), Ilya Mikhalchik (UKR), and Jérémy Guarnoni (FRA) in their quest for the championship title. In the Superstock class, the Tecmas-MRP-BMW Racing Team will start from pole position with the #9 BMW M 1000 RR. This team also has a chance at the title in its category.
The BMW Motorrad World Endurance Team arrived at Le Castellet as third in the overall standings, 38 points behind the leaders. Accordingly, their first goal was to secure pole position, as it not only provides the best starting position for the race but also earns an additional five points. In the two-part qualification held on Thursday and Friday, they achieved this with the best average time from the individual sessions. The team’s fastest lap times were set by Reiterberger (1:51.596 minutes) and Mikhalchik (1:51.721 minutes) in the second part of qualifying on Friday morning.
In the Superstock class, the Tecmas-MRP-Racing Team entered the finale as fourth overall with a 16-point deficit. In the qualifying session, Kenny Foray (FRA) was the team’s fastest rider, ensuring that the #9 BMW M 1000 RR was unbeatable.
The 86th edition of the Bol d’Or will kick off on Saturday, September 16th, at 15:00. The number of points awarded in the race will by multiplied by a factor of 1.5. This means that the winning team will receive 60 points, and there will be 49.5 points for second place and 42 points for third place. In addition, further points will be awarded to the best teams in the interim standings after eight and 16 hours.