YART win Spa 24 Hours to take FIM EWC points lead

2023 FIM Endurance World Championship
Round Two – 24H Spa EWC Motos
Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps

Despite a sluggish start for Marvin Fritz, YART Yamaha quickly kicked into gear and took the fight to its title rivals in an epic early showdown at the iconic Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps.

F.C.C. TSR Honda led the Spa order after eight hours and bagged important points for doing so.

YART led at the 16 hour mark to add to their tally and then stayed out of trouble to clinch victory while exhaust problems forced F.C.C. TSR Honda into the pits for five minutes just after the 16-hour mark.

This costly stoppage allowed YART to steal a march, and even a damaged rear tyre just before 19 hours was swiftly changed in the pits, allowing the team to continue its victory charge for its first win over 24 hours since it triumphed at Le Mans in 2009.

A delighted Niccolò Canepa, who joined Fritz and Karel Hanika on the Bridgestone-equipped YZF-R1M, believes it is just the beginning for YART.

Niccolò Canepa

“It has been a few years that we have been chasing this victory and I think it’s the first of many. We all deserve it, and I am so happy about that. Thanks to all the people involved in this project and it’s just the beginning. It has been an amazing race. To be honest, it was really, really tough. It was not easy from the beginning to the end. Up until the last laps, there was a question mark. The team did an amazing job in every pit stop and my team-mates too. We pushed from the first lap to the last one. We never stopped believing. It’s a long time since we won a 24-hour race. But in our minds, there was only one goal – to win – no matter what. The championship lead is one thing; the biggest boost is the motivation for all the staff and the riders. We ride and push so hard at every race and then in every race, something happens at the last moment. The biggest bonus is the motivation to show YART can’t just win qualifying – we can win over 24 hours. I don’t know how many times we have been close. I didn’t come here with too many hopes because I know pole position never brings me luck. When we have pole position, I think ‘this is probably not a good omen.’ But finally, we took it all.”

Belgian based BMW Motorrad World Endurance Team took full advantage of a series of Yoshimura SERT Motul Suzuki misfortunes to take third place in its home event.

BMW Motorrad was slowed by some mechanical issues in the first eight hours, but Yoshimura SERT Motul endured a luckless race after starting firmly in contention for the lead. Sylvain Guintoli attempted to pit at the wrong garage in the first hour. The team was then hit by a costly stop-go penalty for contact by Étienne Masson with the Holland Motorstore Racing bike in turn seven just after the five-hour mark.

The Japanese team’s misfortune continued when its bike was forced into the pits for three-minutes to rectify a technical issue after six hours. Its chances of a top-three finish were then ended for good when its bike required a water pump change with three and a half hours remaining.

Marc Bongers – BMW Motorrad Motorsport Director

“We are very happy with third place. At the beginning of the race, there were unfortunate situations with the safety car periods, which caused us to lose several positions without having any influence on it. But the team fought back every time, and we deserve this third place. All three riders and the pit crew did an outstanding job, and the motorcycle ran almost like a clockwork. We only had to change the exhaustonce, and the team did it super quickly and precisely. Towards the end, the conditions became very tricky with the onset of rain, and we handled that superbly as well. We celebrate this result; we gladly take it home. It was also important that we solidified our third place in the championship. Now, our entire focus is on the next race in Suzuka. However, there is also some homework that we need to complete to reach the top because we weren’t fast enough for that today. At the same time, it’s a pity that the Tecmas-MRP-BMW Racing Team couldn’t bring their excellent performance to the finish due to a technical problem. But the team worked well and tried to fix the problem. They were able to return to the track and set very strong lap times, but unfortunately, the problem recurred.”

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Team Kawasaki Webike Trickstar claimed fifth place, overcoming an early crash for Kazuki Watanabe, who was taken to hospital for checks, but returned to the track to resume what was then a pretty smooth race.

Belgian outfit KM99 fought its way back into sixth after a fine night with its Yamaha, blazing from 14th place overall after eight hours to sixth spot after 16. This came after Bastian Mackels crashed at Eau Rouge in the opening hour, before his team-mate Lucas Mahias slipped off near the pit entrance at the seven-and-a-half-hour mark.

Honda Viltaïs Racing took seventh place, with Motobox Kremer Racing eighth, MANA-AU Competition ninth and TATI Team Beringer Racing taking the 10th and final scoring position in a race hit by light rain in the closing stages.

ERC Endurance Ducati was unable to follow up its fourth place at the EWC opener in Le Mans, retiring after nearly four hours. Wójcik Racing Team EWC followed suit after seven and a half hours, with Team Bolliger Switzerland forced out when its bike was beached in the gravel after 18 hours.

National Motos Honda revived its FIM Endurance World Cup title hopes after topping the podium in the Dunlop Superstock Trophy category.

The French team, a Honda motorcycle dealership and an EWC stalwart entrant, moved up to third place in the standings with victory in Belgium, as Team 33 Louit April Moto took second following a close battle.

Honda No Limits, fourth in the Le Mans season opener, took third to climb to second in the provisional title order, finishing three laps behind the winners and edging out Chromeburner-RAC41-Honda, the new points leader, for the last podium spot.

The EWC next heads from Belgium to Japan for the 44th Coca-Cola Suzuka 8 Hours Endurance Race from 4-6 August.

2023 24H Spa EWC Motos Results

2023 Endurance World Championship Standings

2023 Endurance Teams Superstock Standings