The third round of the FIM Endurance World Championship (EWC) saw Yoshimura SERT Motul come out on top after an exciting race at Paul Ricard circuit in the south of France this weekend. The team are currently the leading champions racing on Bridgestone tyres, after their second win of the season, with only one race to go.
The 24 hour race got off to an exhilarating start where Gregg Black, Xavier Simeon and Sylvain Guintoli fended off the favourites in the early laps before rapidly taking control of the race. As the night drew on, the team had to battle with the rain which is when we saw many teams having to withdraw due to various technical issues.
Unfortunately YART, Yamaha’s Official EWC Team who were also racing on Bridgestone tyres, were in a position to challenge their rivals and win before they had to withdraw due to a technical fault. There was a issue for former champions and Bridgestone supported team TSR/Technical Sports Racing, who were also racing, where they had to withdraw due to an engine fault.
Yoshimura SERT Motul led the race for 615 of the 704 laps completed. This broke the previous record of 698 laps completed in 2018, which just goes to show what Bridgestone tyres can do. It highlights the outright performance and durability of the Battlax V02 range in particular, which the manufacturer has been making big improvements to over the last few years by using this championship as a key development ground.
The podium of the 84th Bol d’Or was also noteworthy for its diversity. It featured three manufacturers, Suzuki, Yamaha and Kawasaki, and three tyre manufacturers, Bridgestone, Dunlop and Michelin – but all three races this season have been won by teams on Bridgestone, with the Japanese tyre maker clearly in the ascendency.
Regrettably the Suzuka 8 hour race had to be cancelled due to the public health crisis that has worsened in recent weeks due to COVID-19. Therefore, the final race will take place on 9th October at Most in the Czech Republic.
