After a challenging 24 Heures Motos, the Yamalube YART Yamaha EWC Official Team (Niccolo Canepa, Marvin Fritz and Karel Hanika) secured its second consecutive victory in the FIM Endurance World Championship at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps.
The 8 Hours of Spa Motos turned into a strategic showdown. Despite YART’s superior pace after qualifying on pole, its higher fuel consumption necessitated an extra pit stop.
Yoshimura SERT Motul (Gregg Black, Etienne Masson and Dan Linfoot), April’s Le Mans winner, was in contention for the win but had to relinquish the lead to reigning EWC title holders YART, coming second by the relatively narrow margin of 40.145 seconds. Third place went to the Tati Team Beringer Racing Honda team of Corentin Perolari, Hugo Clere and Randy Krummenacher.
“When we came here for the testing on Thursday, we saw it would be tough, because we knew we would need a bit more fuel and one more pit stop in the race than our competitors,” Fritz explained. “For sure in qualifying, we were super-fast, and to have the new lap record at Spa is amazing. But we knew the race would be tough, and our only chance was from the beginning to put the pressure on all the others. Niccolo started amazingly, and Karel and I continued like Niccolo, started and pushed every lap; we had to, but we made it perfect.”
As the teams prepare for the 45th Coca-Cola Suzuka 8 Hours in Japan next month, YART trails Yoshimura SERT Motul by just one point in the title race, 88-87.
In the Dunlop-supplied Superstock category, Aviobike by M2 Revo and Aprilia celebrated their first victory. However, National Motos Honda’s second-place finish extended their lead in the FIM Endurance World Cup standings, now on 91 points to 3ART Best of Bike Yamaha’s 55. Team 33 Louit April Moto rounded out the Superstock podium.
America had something to cheer about as well, with Jason Pridmore, Andrew Lee and Michael Gilbert all teaming up in a one-off race with the Maco Yamaha outfit. Despite having little pre-race preparation, the trio acquitted themselves well to the task and came home 23rd outright and 12th in the Superstock category on their Yamaha YZF-R1M. CN
2024 FIM Endurance World Championship Round 2 Results
OVERALL (Top 5)
- Yamalube YART Yamaha
- Yoshimura SERT Motul
- Tati Team Beringer Racing
- Honda Viltais Racing
- F.C.C. TSR Honda France
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