EWC Bol d’Or (Q1): BMW teams strong, YART struggling to keep up

The decisive race week of the World Endurance Championship has so far taken place in summery conditions. At the Bol d’Or, the fourth and final round of the 2026 EWC season, the title race will be decided: YART heads to Le Castellet as championship leaders, with BMW lying in wait 19 points behind and on course to become Endurance World Champions for the first time. Defending champions SERT, trailing by 28 points, also still have a chance of winning the title.

A maximum of 65 points are up for grabs at the season finale. The first opportunity to boost the championship tally comes as early as qualifying: 5 points are awarded for pole position.

The characteristics of the Circuit Paul Ricard suit BMW well. The powerful M1000RR really comes into its own on the 1.8-kilometre-long Mistral straight in particular. Compared to the Yamaha R1, Suzuki GSX-R1000, Kawasaki ZX-10RR and Honda CBR1000RR-R Fireblade, it is also the most modern superbike in the leading pack.

Just how well the BMW performs on this fast circuit was already evident during free practice on Thursday morning. The BMW works team, comprising Markus Reiterberger, Steven Odendaal and Michael van der Mark, took a clear lead with a time of 1:50.704 minutes. This time was not matched in Q1, partly due to the numerous incidents.

Behind the works BMW in free practice were two further BMW teams: ERC Endurance (Marcel Schrötter, Loris Baz, Jan-Ole Jähnig) and AutoRace Ube (Naomichi Uramoto, Sylvain Guintoli, Kenny Foray). YART, with Karel Hanika, Marvin Fritz and Leandro Mercado, was in fourth place, the closest challenger to the BMW trio.

Blue Group: BMW quartet in the lead – YART without a time!

The first 20-minute qualifying session saw Markus Reiterberger, Karel Hanika, Loris Baz and Naomichi Uramoto, amongst others, go head-to-head. However, a normal session was hardly on the cards. The session was interrupted for the first time after just five minutes. Alex Toledo had crashed in Turn 10 on the Bolliger Kawasaki, whilst Mathis Labarthe also crashed on the Grillini Kawasaki. Qualifying did not resume until 25 minutes later.

After the restart, ERC Endurance rider Loris Baz took the lead. The former MotoGP rider lapped the Circuit Paul Ricard in 1:51.756 on his Dunlop-shod BMW. Surprisingly, Hikari Okubo from Team Etoile followed in second place. The Japanese rider, on his BMW from the Stock class, was just 0.622 seconds behind.

But even after that, things remained hectic. YART rider Karel Hanika crashed his R1 in Turn 1, whilst Loic Arbel from Team 3Art Best of Bike Hamaguchi lost control of his Yamaha in Turn 13. Shortly afterwards, there was a pile-up involving four motorbikes at Turn 7. Roman Ramos (Kawasaki Webike Trickstar), Thomas Ward (TRT27 AZ Moto), Miquel Pons (Honda No Limits) and Frederic Albas (Focus Endurance) all went down. Race control suspended the session once again.

Naomichi Uramoto fuhr die Bestzeit in der blauen Gruppe

Foto: BMW

At this point, of all people, top favourite Markus Reiterberger on the factory BMW had not yet set a lap time. Naomichi Uramoto and Hanika, who had crashed earlier, were also still without a time.

After the second restart, it didn’t take long for Reiterberger to restore the balance of power. The Bavarian initially stormed to the top with a time of 1:51.475 mins and then improved on that to 1:51.143 mins. However, that wasn’t enough for the fastest time. Uramoto initially moved into third place and then improved further on his second timed lap. With a time of 1:51.050 minutes, the Japanese rider took the lead on his AutoRace Ube BMW.

World Championship leader YART, on the other hand, suffered a bitter setback. Hanika was unable to return to the track after his crash and finished the first qualifying session without setting a lap time.

Yellow group: Marcel Schrötter sets fastest time

The yellow group also did not get through their session entirely without incident. Guillaume Raymond crashed in Turn 3 whilst riding the National Motos Honda. Unlike in the blue group, however, qualifying did not have to be interrupted.

Marcel Schrötter fuhr Bestzeit in der gelben Gruppe

Foto: FM EWC

Marcel Schrötter was in top form. The ERC Endurance rider took the lead with a lap time of 1:51.616 mins, confirming the strong impressions made during testing. At the same time, the former Grand Prix rider underlined just how well the Dunlop tyres perform at the Circuit Paul Ricard.

Behind Schrötter, Sylvain Guintoli set the second-fastest time in the AutoRace Ube BMW. Steven Odendaal rounded off the top three in the works BMW. Championship leaders YART, on the other hand, had to settle for seventh place with Marvin Fritz.

Marvin Fritz

Foto: YART

Red Group: Van der Mark on top, Jähnig a strong second

The third group featured, amongst others, Michael van der Mark, Jan-Ole Jähnig, Kenny Foray and Leandro Mercado. The lap times were slightly slower than in the two previous sessions, but once again a BMW topped the timesheets.

Michael van der Mark

Foto: BMW

Michael van der Mark lapped the Circuit Paul Ricard in 1:51.621 minutes, securing the fastest time for the BMW works team. The Dutchman was a good six-tenths of a second faster than Jan-Ole Jähnig on the ERC BMW.

Team Etoile once again put in a strong performance with its BMW in the Stock class. Kaito Toba finished in third place, leaving Leandro Mercado behind him. The YART rider ended the session in fourth position on his R1.

Green Group: Another BMW fastest time

In the final qualifying group, it was the turn of the reserve riders. The BMW works team is relying on experienced endurance specialist Jeremy Guarnoni for the Bol d’Or, whilst at ERC Endurance, Sasha de Vits is listed as the fourth rider. World Supersport Championship rider Lucas Mahias is supporting Marc VDS.

Not all top teams have nominated a reserve rider for the 24-hour race. YART, SERT and F.C.C. TSR Honda are doing without a fourth rider for the season finale. Soma Görbe secured the fastest time in the final session in the stock BMW from Team Tecmas.

After the four groups had completed their sessions, it became clear that the BMW teams had lived up to their status as favourites in the first qualifying session. Team AutoRace Ube set the fastest lap time, whilst the BMW works team currently leads on combined times. Q2 on Friday morning will then determine the final starting grid for the Bol d’Or and the points for the top five. The times of each team’s two fastest riders will be added together.

The fastest lap times in Q1:

1. Naomichi Uramoto (AutoRace Ube) – 1:51.050 min

2. Markus Reiterberger (BMW) – 1:51.143

3. 
Marcel Schrötter (ERC Endurance) – 1:51.616


4. Michael van der Mark (BMW) – 1:51.621

5. Loris Baz (ERC Endurance) – 1:51.756

6. Sylvain Guintoli (AutoRace Ube) – 1:52.058

7. 
Steven Odendaal (BMW) – 1:52.128

8. 
Christian Gamarino (Webike Kawasaki) – 1:52.207


9. Hikari Okubo (Team Etoile) – 1:52.378 (STK)


10. Gregg Black (SERT) – 1:52.414