Kawasaki, Suzuki, Honda, Yamaha or BMW? / World Endurance Championship

Looking back over the last 15 years, Kawasaki (SRC Kawasaki France or GSR Kawasaki) dominated with six wins at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Suzuki Endurance won four times, Honda had the best finish three times with FCC TSR Honda France, and Yamaha (GMT94 Yamaha and YART Yamaha) had the upper hand twice.

With the BMW World Endurance team, BMW can ensure that it does not have to remain a four-way battle between Japanese motorcycle manufacturers for a long time. Twice, namely 2021 and 2023, they were already hot on the heels of the competition in third place.

But on the Circuit Bugatti with a length of 4.185 km it is not about winning, the teams want above all to get a good starting position in the fight for the World Cup title or the World Cup title in the Superstock class, as in the best case. you can get 65 points There are five points for the pole position, ten each for the lead after eight hours or 16 and 40 for the win.

Promising teams

As last year’s winner, FCC TSR Honda France has a lot to defend. Although the team managed only sixth place in the previous attempt to start the World Cup, Josh Hook, Mike die Meglio and Alan Techer are among the closest favourites. Your machine is proven to be reliable and fast, as its success in recent years shows.

YART Yamaha enters the endurance level as defending champions, who won in 2009. Two years ago the Austrian team had to settle for second place. It is no wonder that Marvin Fritz, Karel Hanika – the holder of the course record in the World Endurance Championship – and Niccolò Canepa finally want to give their team boss a second victory.

When you have won the World Cup title 17 times, obviously the demands you place on yourself are very high. The runner-up titles in 2022 and 2023 hurt more For Yoshimura SERT Motul and Gregg Black, Etienne Masson and Dan Linfoot, their home track is not about reclaiming what they believe is the rightful title.

BMW World Endurance has been working steadily for years to take the title from established teams in the World Endurance Championship. It almost happened in 2021, but in the end Suzuki had the best finish again. If Markus Reiterberger, Ilya Mikhalchik and Sylvain Guintoli have their way, that should change this season.

The winning streak of the Webike Kawasaki Trickstar started several years ago, but the trio of Gregory Leblanc, Christian Gamarino and Roman Ramos are still hopeful that they can continue the previous success. Jérémy Guarnoni, David Checa and Erwan Nigon won the last Le Mans in 2019 – the year they were also world champions.

Since winning the Bol d’Or 2022 and third place in the World Championship of the same year, Viltaïs Racing has been without its role as a guest. Florian Alt, Steven Odendaal and Leandro Mercado, who are now on Honda, have established themselves at the top for a long time, which is also strongly emphasized by the best time in the previous test at Le Mans.