Bizarre YART pit stop: Why Karel Hanika set off with the stand still down

It was one of the most bizarre scenes of the 2026 Bol d’Or: Karel Hanika left the YART pit after a pit stop, but the rear stand was still attached to the Yamaha R1. The Czech rider had to stop just before exiting the pit lane to remove the stand.

What looked like an unusual mistake by the pit crew during the race had a backstory. YART crew chief Max Neukirchner explained to SPEEDWEEK.com that a mechanic had already been injured during the first pit stop.

“During the first pit stop, our rear-wheel mechanic, Miha, injured his calf,” reported Neukirchner. Although the mechanic was still able to carry out the actual tyre change, his role in a YART pit stop was not normally over at that point.

Well-rehearsed procedure had to be changed

“Normally, he fits or removes the rear wheel and then gives the rider a firm push as they set off,” explained Neukirchner. It was precisely this push that was no longer possible due to the injury.

YART therefore had to change a procedure in the middle of the 24-hour race that the team had practised countless times. “Markus, who normally slots the rear wheel in, also took on the task of giving the rider a push. This naturally meant that the roles within the team shifted automatically,” said Neukirchner, describing the change.

Vizeweltmeister: Fünf Punkte fehlten YART zur Titelverteidigung

Foto: YART

And it was precisely during this altered procedure that the incident occurred which caused a stir during the race. “During a pit stop, the rear wheel stand got stuck whilst Karel had already started to drive off,” reported the crew chief. “Karel therefore had to stop again at the pit exit so that the stand could be removed.” According to Neukirchner, this cost YART around 35 seconds.

YART subsequently stopped pushing the bike

The team reacted immediately. “After that, we said: we’re not taking that risk a second time,” explained Neukirchner. During the subsequent pit stops, YART therefore completely stopped giving the rider a push as he set off. However, the safer option also came at a cost.

“As a result, we lost around two to five seconds at the subsequent stops compared to our normal procedure,” Neukirchner calculated. Whilst this may sound like a small amount, it adds up over the course of a 24-hour race. According to Neukirchner, YART completed around 28 pit stops. If a few seconds are lost at each of numerous stops, this quickly adds up to a considerable loss of time.

YART-Crewchief Max Neukirchner

Foto: YART

“If you make around 28 pit stops and lose just two, three or perhaps five seconds at many of them, that quickly adds up to a minute or even considerably more,” explained the German. Added to this were the roughly 35 seconds lost due to the incident with the rear stand.

An example of what makes endurance racing what it is

For Neukirchner, this story perfectly illustrates why even seemingly minor details play a major role in a 24-hour race. “No single situation on its own decides a 24-hour race. But in the end, the result is made up of precisely these small things,” noted the YART crew chief.

It was particularly bitter: after 24 hours, YART were just one lap behind the second-placed Suzuki from Yoshimura SERT Motul. Second place would have been enough for the Yamaha team to defend their World Championship title had BMW won.

Neukirchner therefore has no intention of attributing the lost title solely to the incident in the pits. Yet the story of the injured mechanic illustrates just how fragile the perfectly rehearsed teamwork of an endurance team can be.

YART muss die Startnummer 1 wieder abgeben

Foto: YART

“If a mechanic no longer carries out the exact position and task that has been practised hundreds of times, the entire sequence of a pit stop automatically changes,” explained Neukirchner.

An injured mechanic, a reassigned task, a rear stand that got stuck and a few lost seconds at subsequent stops: the Bol d’Or demonstrated once again that, in endurance racing, it is not just the rider and the motorbike that determine success or failure.