The BMW Motorrad World Endurance Team has had an excellent start to the season finale of the FIM Endurance World Championship at Le Castellet. In the thrilling two-part qualifying for the 24-hour Bol d’Or race, the team secured pole position with the #37 BMW M 1000 RR, setting a new lap record. This is a crucial achievement for the team as they aim for the championship title. In the Superstock class, the Tecmas-MRP-BMW Racing Team will also start from pole position with the #9 BMW M 1000 RR, giving them a chance at the title in their category.

The BMW Motorrad World Endurance Team entered Le Castellet in third place in the overall standings, trailing the leaders by 38 points. Their primary objective was to secure pole position, which not only provides the best starting position for the race but also earns them five additional points. In the two-part qualification held on Thursday and Friday, they accomplished this with the best average time from the individual sessions. The team’s fastest lap times were set by Markus Reiterberger (1:51.596 minutes) and Ilya 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 in fourth place overall with a 16-point deficit. In the qualifying session, Kenny Foray was the fastest rider for the team, ensuring the unbeatable performance of the #9 BMW M 1000 RR.

The 86th edition of the Bol d’Or will commence on Saturday, September 16th, at 15:00. The points awarded in the race will be multiplied by a factor of 1.5. This means that the winning team will receive 60 points, with 49.5 points for second place and 42 points for third place. Additional points will be given to the best teams in the interim standings after eight and 16 hours.

Here are some quotes from the teams and riders after the qualifying:

Markus Reiterberger (#37 BMW M 1000 RR, BMW Motorrad World Endurance Team): “Already yesterday, my lap time was very good. I did that alone and today I tried to find the slipstream, which helped me to gain a few more tenths. I want to thank the team. Our bike is incredibly fast, and I believe we are ready for the race. Our plan for the 24-hour race is to go full throttle. Our goal was to secure pole position and win the race. This is what we need to do to have a chance at the title.”

Werner Daemen, Team Manager BMW Motorrad World Endurance Team: “Our plan was to secure pole position because we are quite far behind the two teams ahead of us in the standings. The only way to keep the championship open for us was to take pole position and earn as many points as possible after eight, 16, and 24 hours. In our position, we have to give everything and maybe take a bit more risk than the other teams to try to win. The teams ahead can focus on managing the points, but as we saw last year, this is a long race, not just for the riders but also for the bikes. Anything can happen. We will see on Sunday at 15:00 if we are still in the running, and I hope we will be on the top step of the podium and see what the others do.”

Kenny Foray (#9 BMW M 1000 RR, Tecmas-MRP-BMW Racing Team): “Our target is the same as the #37 BMW M 1000 RR, we just need to win to take the title. It’s a 24-hour race, so it’s really long. But the only objective is to win the race.”