EWC (Endurance World Championship): The 49th edition of the 24 Heures Motos at Le Mans has concluded at the Bugatti Circuit.
The YART Yamaha Official EWC Team claimed a strong victory under the Sarthe sun, securing a second win in a row following their 2025 success.
Yet, it was far from easy for YZF-R1 #1 (Karel Hanika, Marvin Fritz, Tati Mercado). Starting from pole position, the Austrian team completely missed their start, finding themselves kicked out of the top five in the opening laps. It was a long, hard night of racing to get back to the front.
The turning point came at dawn. The BMW #37 of the BMW Motorrad World Endurance Team (Markus Reiterberger, Steven Odendaal, Michael Van der Mark), which had led for the first 16 hours despite a freezing night at 4°C, eventually dropped down. A series of bad luck ruined hopes for a first European victory at Le Mans: a crash by Van Der Mark in the morning, a penalty following a collision at Turn 7, and then a mechanical issue late in the race that sent the M1000RR sliding down the standings. With its rival defeated, YART settled for managing a lead of four to six laps to give Yamaha its sixth victory at Le Mans.
SERT performs well, Kawasaki focuses on reliability
Behind the winners, Yoshimura SERT Motul secured second place on the podium with their Suzuki #12. The trio of Gregg Black, Etienne Masson, and Dan Linfoot managed to overcome electronic cutouts early in the race and a shifter issue later on to secure valuable points.
Third place went to the Kawasaki Webike Trickstar (Cristian Gamarino, Roman Ramos, Gregory Leblanc). The Kawasaki #11 bike proved reliable, avoiding every pitfall to capitalize on the failures of their rivals.
The race also saw other notable retirements. The Elf Marc VDS Racing Team/KM99’s Yamaha, brilliant at the start of the race, finished with an engine failure. It was also a tough race for the Honda F.C.C. TSR Honda France, which crashed in the early hours. After returning to the track following more than 15 minutes of mechanical work, it ultimately secured 12th place overall.
Superstock: Champion-Hert MRP takes the win
Superstock win went to the BMW of Champion-Hert Powered by MRP, which is the Hungarian team’s first-ever victory. It finished ahead of the No Limits Honda, which took second place. Third place went to the TRT27 AZ Moto team, which hadn’t stood on the podium since the 2024 Bol d’Or.
Legacy Competition Wins in the Production Class
In Production, Legacy Competition team riding the Yamaha #96 to the victory, edging out the GreenTeam 42 Lycée Saint Claire 42 Kawasaki. Special mention goes to Mana-au Competition, which, in its very first appearance in the category, claimed third place on the podium.
This opening round has logically put the YART Yamaha in the lead of the FIM EWC championship ahead of the next round in June (5-6): the 8 Hours of Spa Motos at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit (ticketing).
EWC – Winner: YART Yamaha Official EWC Team (#1)
Marvin Fritz: “Amazing way to start the year with the number one on our bike. To take back-to-back wins here at Le Mans is incredible. Last year it happened on my birthday, and this year it came just before, so maybe I gave myself an early present. The team did an amazing job. We struggled at the start of the week, and I started the weekend with a crash in the gravel, but we sat down together, worked through it, and turned the bike into a winning package. In the race, it felt unbelievable, and even at the end, when I wanted to ride a bit slower, the pace was still there. A huge thank you to the whole YART team, especially my teammates. They did a fantastic job, made no mistakes, and that is how you win Le Mans.”
Karel Hanika: “It is an amazing start to the season, and with even more points than last year, it is a great way to begin. It wasn’t a perfect weekend because we had some issues in practice. We were trying to find the right way because a few things weren’t working as usual, so we had to make a few modifications to the bike and adapt our riding. But we did a great job, moved forward, and the bike felt amazing in the race. We had no technical problems and no issues in the pit stops, so overall it was a great weekend. We got the lap record, pole position, and the race win, so we could not ask for much more. Now we look ahead to the next race.”
Leandro Mercado: “It feels like a dream. To join this team for my first race and come away with pole position and the win is incredible. The race was perfect, so it was an amazing feeling. I want to thank the whole team for a fantastic job. My teammates were also really fast, and together we made no mistakes. There were no mistakes in the pit stops; it was a clean race, and I am so happy. It is an amazing feeling.”
Mandy Kainz (Team Manager): “This is one of those rare endurance races where almost everything went perfectly. We made virtually no mistakes, the bike worked incredibly well, and the whole team performed at a very high level. Nothing came loose, nothing went wrong, and after all those laps the bike was still running as it had at the start. It was simply a perfect performance. I have not calculated everything yet, but if you win the race and take all the points from qualifying, you can be very happy with how the championship has started.”
STK – Winner: Champion-Hert Powered by MRP (#38)
Loris Cresson: “It means a lot to me. I have been watching this race since I was a child. The team did an incredible job this weekend. We had no issues and no technical problems. It was a dream race, and it ended perfectly.”
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