BMW’s technical director is convinced: in dry conditions, they could have beaten Honda

BMW’s historic third place at the Suzuka 8 Hours was far more than just a podium finish. It was the first time a European manufacturer had stood on the podium since the endurance classic made its debut in 1978. For Technical Director Chris Gonschor, this is both a vindication of the development work carried out on the BMW M1000RR – and a sign of things to come in the battle for the Endurance World Championship title.

This year’s Suzuka race was marred by bad weather. Under normal conditions, BMW could have achieved even more. In the dry sessions, Markus Reiterberger, Michael van der Mark and Steven Odendaal were on a par with the Honda works team and were faster than the Yamaha teams.

A proud moment for Chris Gonschor: two BMW teams performed strongly!

“It fills me with pride that we are the first European manufacturer to get a bike onto the podium at Suzuka,” said Gonschor after the race. “The fact that two BMW M1000RRs – with start numbers 37 and 76 – finished in the top five also underlines the bike’s enormous potential.”

In fact, BMW had been among the fastest teams throughout the entire race week. The works team qualified in second place, whilst the AutoRace Ube Racing Team was also consistently among the frontrunners and fought for a podium place for a long time.

Michael van der Mark leistete sich im Suzuka-Regen keine Fehler

Foto: BMW

“It was an incredible joy to see how the bike had the potential to win in dry conditions throughout the entire practice week,” emphasised Gonschor. “The persistent rain during the race distorted the conditions somewhat. On wet tyres, we weren’t quite able to get the most out of it, as we would have done on slicks.”

Nevertheless, the Technical Director was impressed by the riders’ performance. “Under these difficult conditions, Steven Odendaal, Markus Reiterberger and Michael van der Mark did an incredible job and absolutely deserved their podium finish as the best permanent EWC team.”

Everything is still to play for at the EWC finale

For Gonschor, the success was therefore the result of a united team effort. “They embody the whole team spirit: never giving up and sticking together as a team. That’s what sets us apart. I’d like to thank the riders, Werner Daemen, our crew chief Romain LaMonica, the team managers in Munich and the whole team for that.”

With this third-place finish, BMW made up valuable ground in the World Championship. As Honda and Yamaha – with works teams put together specifically for Suzuka – are not in contention for the World Championship title, the BMW works team, as the best permanently entered team, secured vital points in the title race.

BMW schaffte es erstmals aufs Suzuka-Podium

Foto: FIM EWC

Consequently, attention is already turning to the season finale at the Bol d’Or in Le Castellet. BMW heads there trailing defending champions YART by 19 points. “Now we all share a common goal. We’re heading to the Bol d’Or 19 points behind. It’s a difficult but achievable task. We believe we can win the world championship title!” said Gonschor.

The final standings of the 2026 Suzuka 8 Hours:

1. Honda HRC (Rea, Takahashi, Chantra), Honda CBR1000RR-R, 188 laps

2. Yamaha Factory Racing (Nakasuga, Miller, Locatelli), Yamaha R1, +1:34.280 minutes

3. BMW Endurance (Reiterberger, Odendaal, van der Mark), BMW M1000RR, +1:44.087

4. YART (Hanika, Fritz, Mercado), Yamaha R1, +3:44.444

5. AutoRace Ube Racing (Uramoto, Guintoli, Ponsson), BMW M1000RR, +3:46.113

6. SERT (Black, Linfoot, Atsumi), Suzuki GSX-R1000R, +2 laps

7. Suzuki CN Challenge (Tsuda, Mizuno, Masson), Suzuki GSX-R1000R, +2 laps

8. SDG Team HARC-PRO Honda (Kunii, Nagoe, Abe), Honda CBR1000RR-R, +3 laps

9. Honda Asia-Dream Racing (Atiratphuvapat, Pawi, Putra), Honda CBR1000RR-R, +4 laps

10. Team ATJ (Iwata, Suzuki, Kunimine), Suzuki GSX-R1000R, +4 laps