At the season finale of the FIM Endurance World Championship 2024 (FIM EWC), the 24-hour race Bol d'Or in Le Castellet, Markus Reiterberger and the BMW Motorrad World Endurance Team experienced all the highs and setbacks that endurance racing can offer. Starting from pole position, Reiti and his teammates Ilya Mikhalchik and Hannes Soomer were running at the front for a long time and even took the lead at one point. In the difficult second half of the race, the entire team showed great fighting spirit. After 24 dramatic hours of racing, in which many teams faced difficulties, the #37 BMW M 1000 RR crossed the finish line in fifth place (fourth place in the EWC class). The BMW Motorrad World Endurance Team thus defended its place on the World Championship podium and finished the season in third place overall.
The speed of the #37 BMW M 1000 RR was evident from the first training session. With a perfect qualifying, the BMW Motorrad World Endurance Team secured pole position for the 87th running of the endurance classic. The race, which started at 3:00 pm on Saturday, also went according to plan until the early hours of Sunday morning. The team around Reiti was aiming for victory. At the closely fought top of the field, they consistently rode in second place and pushed forward. Reiterberger even set a new lap record with a time of 1:52.517 minutes. After eleven hours of racing, the #37 BMW M 1000 RR was finally in the lead.
The first moment of shock came early Sunday morning. Soomer suffered a fractured upper arm and dislocated shoulder in a heavy highside. But the Estonian gritted his teeth, picked up the bike and rode it back to the pits despite his injuries. From then on, Reiterberger and Mikhalchik set out to finish the race as a duo. They soon worked their way back up to second place, which they held until mid-morning. However, as a result of the crash, there was a problem with the fuel system and the bike had to be brought into the pits several times for repairs. But the entire team gave their all and got the #37 back on track. On the rider side, Reiti and Mikhalchik showed great fighting spirit, started a new chase and in the end finished in fifth place.
Markus Reiterberger:
"We had the potential to take the win. Unfortunately, we had a crash and later technical issues, and didn’t make it to the podium. But we gave it our all and finished the last twelve hours of the race with just two riders. Our focus then was to make it to the finish. I now feel every bone after the 15 stints I did. It’s a shame we’re not on the podium – but we’ll try again! A big thanks to the entire team."
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