Bol d’Or (16h): BMW in control overnight – engine failure for Bolliger!

At the first intermediate mark after eight hours, BMW was in control of the race. By this point, F.C.C. TSR had already made one more pit stop than the others and had consequently lost touch with the leading car, number 37. Shortly after the first third of the race, the second-placed Honda lost further time, allowing SERT to suddenly close the gap. Gregg Black, on the Suzuki, put Corentin Perolari under pressure.

As the night wore on, the BMW works team confidently held onto the lead. Behind them, F.C.C. TSR and SERT continued to battle it out for second place. YART, in fourth place, was already a lap behind but had built up a comfortable cushion over the teams behind.

Engine failure on the Kawasaki: Bolliger forced to retire

Up to the halfway point of the race, the Bol d’Or had gone almost perfectly for Team Bolliger Switzerland. Alex Toledo, Xavier Artigas and Kylian Nestola had worked their way up into the top eight before a technical fault brought their strong performance to an abrupt end. A connecting rod bearing failure forced Kevin Bolliger’s team to retire after just over twelve hours.

Ein Pleuellager-Schaden zwang das Team Bolliger zur Aufgabe

Foto: Team Bolliger Switzerland

The World Championship leaders in the Stock class also struggled with technical problems. The engine on the BMW M1000RR ridden by Champion-MRP by MRP (Kovacs, Bühn, Cresson) overheated. This resulted in extensive repairs lasting more than an hour, setting the team back significantly. Wojcik Racing (Torres, Pawelec, Molik), by contrast, remained the highest-placed Stock team in the top 10 and were therefore on course to turn the championship around.

F.C.C. TSR loses ground to BMW Endurance overnight

The F.C.C. TSR Honda Fireblade had been able to keep up with the pace of the leading works BMW in the first third of the race and had looked extremely competitive. Overnight, however, the gap widened. John McPhee reported that the Honda was becoming increasingly difficult to ride as the race progressed.

Kawasaki Webike was not spared problems either. Work on the bike cost valuable time. As a result, Roman Ramos, Christian Gamarino and Gregory Leblanc lost 5th place to Marc VDS, with Randy de Puniet, Florian Marino and Bo Bendsneyder.

ERC Endurance stages a strong comeback

Meanwhile, ERC Endurance fought its way back into the top 10. After several problems in the first third of the race, the German BMW team – comprising Marcel Schrötter, Loris Baz and Jan-Ole Jähnig – found their rhythm during the night. At the halfway point, the number 6 car was in 8th place, though it was already 16 laps down.

Marcel Schrötter auf der BMW von ERC Endurance

Foto: BMW

At the second intermediate classification after 16 hours, BMW once again picked up the maximum ten points. YART was in fourth place at that point and received seven points for it. This reduced the defending champions’ lead in the World Championship to just eight points. The situation was therefore clear: if there were no significant changes to the order by the finish, BMW would win the Endurance World Championship title for the first time.

Die Yamaha R1 von YART beim Tankstopp

Foto: YART

The interim standings after 16 hours of racing:

To follow shortly.