Yoshimura SERT Motul have clinched victory in their first outing at the 24 Heures Motos. Suzuki came in ahead of Webike SRC Kawasaki France Trickstar and BMW Motorrad World Endurance Team at Le Mans, the first round of the 2021 FIM EWC. The first Honda and Superstock winner National Motos finished in fifth place.

After 819 laps in the lead out of a total of 855, Yoshimura SERT Motul clinched a superb victory at the 44th edition of the 24 Heures Motos. The factory Suzuki ridden by Gregg Black, Xavier Simeon and Sylvain Guintoli finished 8 laps ahead of Webike SRC Kawasaki France Trickstar’s Jérémy Guarnoni, Erwan Nigon and David Checa, who came roaring back after some issues with their brakes early in the race.

BMW Motorrad World Endurance Team had more of a struggle but finished in 3rd place 13 laps from the leader. After a crash at the beginning of the race, Markus Reiterberger, Ilya Mikhalchik and Javier Forés had to ride flat out to return to the podium.

For Bolliger Team Switzerland, their 4th place finish is as good as a win. The privateer team on Kawasaki has just been taken over by Kevin Bolliger, the son of the founder. They started from 19th on the grid with an all-new rider line-up. Jan Bühn, Jesper Pellijeff and Ondřej Ježek ran a flawless 24-hour race to finish at the foot of the podium.

The Superstock teams contributed substantially to the excitement of the 24 Heures Motos with the first Superstock bike finishing 5th. National Motos, the first Honda in the classification and winner of the EWC Dunlop Independent Trophy, won in the Superstock class with riders Stéphane Egéa, Guillaume Antiga and Kevin Trueb. National Motos warded off attacks by BMRT 3D Maxxess Nevers (Anthony Loiseau, Jonathan Hardt and Julien Pilot) and No Limits Motor Team (Luca Scassa, Alexis Masbou and Kevin Calia). Team 33 Louit April Moto, who were still in the leading trio 2 hours from the finish, lost out on a Superstock podium because of overheating due to a damaged radiator. They finished 21st overall and the 12th Superstock.

In 8th place at the finish after a problematic start to the race, VRD Igol Experiences (Florian Alt, Florian Marino and Nico Terol) manged to rack up some important points. After being slowed down by a faulty oil hose joint, the 333 – the first Yamaha in the classification – also suffered a crash and some problems with the shifter.

Despite a crash, ERC Endurance-Ducati gave no quarter. Mathieu Gines, Louis Rossi and Etienne Masson took the Panigale to 9th place, ahead of F.C.C. TSR Honda France. Josh Hook, Yuki Takahashi and Mike di Meglio were in 2nd place overall but an electrical problem followed by a crash in the small hours pushed them back to 10th at the finish.

The 44th edition of the 24 Heures Motos – the first race of the 2021 FIM EWC – lived up to its promise to be an exciting, action-packed race. The drama started almost immediately on the Dunlop turn with a crash involving three teams, Wójcik Racing Team, Team 18 Sapeurs-Pompiers CMS Motostore and RAC41 ChromeBurner.

The action taken by Hugo Clère, a rider of the Yamaha 18, to help Sylvain Barrier, stuck underneath the Wojcik bike which had caught fire, won him the Anthony Delhalle EWC Spirit Trophy.
Wójcik Racing Team continued the race with two riders, Balint Kovacs and Artur Wielebski, and finished 30th.

After that crash and a battle for the lead between Yoshimura SERT Motul and Tati Team Beringer Racing, an amazing duel took place all the way until early in the night between Yoshimura SERT Motul and YART–Yamaha Official EWC Team. The face-off ended when a valve broke on the Yamaha.

Three challengers expected to be among the front runners – Tati Team Beringer Racing, Moto Ain and 3ART Best of Bike – all featured in the Top 5, but were forced to withdraw. Tati Team Beringer Racing deserve credit for their fight in the lead early in the race before several crashes forced them to withdraw. Alan Techer of Tati Team Beringer Racing was the race’s fastest rider with a 1:36.743 lap.

The 12 teams that threw in the towel include LRP Poland with a clutch problem and, among the Superstock challengers, Team 18 Sapeurs-Pompiers CMS Motostore, RAC41 ChromeBurner, Aviobike and Slider Endurance.

2021 Le Mans 24-Hour race result

1 YOSHIMURA SERT MOTUL Suzuki 1 EWC 855 24:00:26.817 - - 1:36.828 298 24 32:59.940
2 WEBIKE SRC KAWASAKI FRANCE TRICKSTAR Kawasaki 2 EWC 847 24:00:54.471 8 Lp. 8 Lp. 1:37.365 228 27 41:57.440
3 BMW MOTORRAD WORLD ENDURANCE TEAM BMW 3 EWC 842 24:00:27.345 13 Lp. 5 Lp. 1:36.855 632 25 46:52.683
4 Team Bolliger Switzerland #8 Kawasaki 4 EWC 831 24:00:59.297 24 Lp. 11 Lp. 1:39.676 10 25 34:15.842
5 National Motos Honda 1 SST DIT 830 24:00:39.303 25 Lp. 1 Lp. 1:39.172 294 26 41:17.933
6 BMRT 3D MAXXESS NEVERS Kawasaki 2 SST 828 24:00:39.792 27 Lp. 2 Lp. 1:38.415 20 29 50:07.443
7 No Limits Motor Team Suzuki 3 SST DIT 827 24:00:33.427 28 Lp. 1 Lp. 1:39.213 693 24 1:01:19.256
8 VRD IGOL EXP RIENCES Yamaha 5 EWC 826 24:01:31.592 29 Lp. 1 Lp. 1:37.961 302 28 1:02:28.409
9 ERC Endurance Ducati Ducati 6 EWC 819 24:01:56.577 36 Lp. 7 Lp. 1:37.389 631 28 1:11:00.130
10 F.C.C. TSR Honda France Honda 7 EWC 816 24:01:27.232 39 Lp. 3 Lp. 1:37.444 689 24 1:24:45.117
11 PITLANE ENDURANCE - JP3 Yamaha 4 SST DIT 812 24:00:54.551 43 Lp. 4 Lp. 1:40.271 229 27 45:00.483
12 MACO RACING Team Yamaha 8 EWC DIT 812 24:01:03.793 43 Lp. 9.242 1:38.529 206 27 1:09:34.864
13 Motobox Kremer Racing #65 Yamaha 9 EWC DIT 810 24:00:59.792 45 Lp. 2 Lp. 1:40.516 104 27 41:45.448
14 PLAYERS Kawasaki 5 SST DIT 810 24:01:35.167 45 Lp. 35.375 1:41.074 405 26 45:38.686
15 team space moto Suzuki 6 SST DIT 808 24:01:33.812 47 Lp. 2 Lp. 1:41.521 23 27 45:42.290
16 TEAM LH RACING Yamaha 7 SST 806 24:01:42.722 49 Lp. 2 Lp. 1:40.630 544 26 1:01:30.932
17 JUNIOR TEAM LMS SUZUKI Suzuki 8 SST 805 24:00:45.248 50 Lp. 1 Lp. 1:39.961 609 29 1:12:07.436
18 TEAM LE MANS 2 ROUES Aprilia 9 SST DIT 803 24:00:27.056 52 Lp. 2 Lp. 1:40.794 288 29 56:01.856
19 FALCON RACING Yamaha 10 SST 797 24:01:23.079 58 Lp. 6 Lp. 1:40.174 661 26 1:15:57.314
20 ENERGIE ENDURANCE 91 Kawasaki 11 SST DIT 795 24:02:29.502 60 Lp. 2 Lp. 1:40.664 411 26 57:15.107
21 TEAM 33 LOUIT APRIL MOTO Kawasaki 12 SST DIT 789 24:02:33.992 66 Lp. 6 Lp. 1:38.891 769 28 1:46:11.511
22 gt endurance Yamaha 10 EWC 786 24:01:38.855 69 Lp. 3 Lp. 1:41.565 12 29 1:07:59.166
23 JMA MOTOS ACTION BIKE Suzuki 13 SST DIT 783 24:01:13.829 72 Lp. 3 Lp. 1:40.255 610 30 1:51:46.383
24 Moto sport endurance #20 Yamaha 14 SST DIT 776 24:02:06.726 79 Lp. 7 Lp. 1:42.037 27 27 1:11:52.179
25 METISS JBB Metiss 1 EXP DIT 774 24:00:51.543 81 Lp. 2 Lp. 1:39.384 578 27 1:50:01.995
26 MOTOSTAND ENDURANCE Kawasaki 15 SST DIT 774 24:01:01.559 81 Lp. 10.016 1:42.782 224 27 1:15:47.789
27 TEAM 202 Yamaha 16 SST DIT 756 24:01:56.294 99 Lp. 18 Lp. 1:42.164 264 27 1:36:52.142
28 Kingtyre Fullgas Racing Team Kawasaki 17 SST 755 24:00:46.184 100 Lp. 1 Lp. 1:45.573 561 26 1:17:38.961
29 Mana-au Competition Suzuki 18 SST DIT 743 23:59:55.981 112 Lp. 12 Lp. 1:42.179 22 26 2:38:30.328
30 W jcik Racing Team Yamaha 11 EWC 657 24:01:15.357 198 Lp. 86 Lp. 1:39.099 21 21 4:49:47.042
31 W jcik Racing Team 2 Yamaha 19 SST DIT 637 24:00:56.927 218 Lp. 20 Lp. 1:40.043 83 22 5:53:31.461
32 TRT27 BAZAR 2 LA BECANE Suzuki 20 SST DIT 631 24:01:16.764 224 Lp. 6 Lp. 1:42.083 527 31 5:04:30.136
33 TMC 35 Yamaha 21 SST DIT 446 24:00:56.024 409 Lp. 185 Lp. 1:40.534 237 18 11:57:21.432
34 TEAM RACING 85 Kawasaki 22 SST DIT 446 24:01:13.604 409 Lp. 17.580 1:40.782 376 19 11:50:16.630
35 OG MOTORSPORT BY SARAZIN Yamaha 23 SST DIT 706 20:58:49.405 149 Lp. - 1:39.402 39 25 1:50:24.788
36 Slider Endurance Yamaha 24 SST DIT 624 18:43:46.422 231 Lp. 82 Lp. 1:39.528 282 20 41:35.894
37 YART - Yamaha Official Team EWC Yamaha 12 EWC 356 09:55:30.563 499 Lp. 268 Lp. 1:36.994 179 11 12:55.956
38 TATI TEAM BERINGER RACING Kawasaki 13 EWC 339 10:27:52.942 516 Lp. 17 Lp. 1:36.743 273 15 56:16.930
39 TEAM Univers racing/ACRacing BMW 25 SST DIT 323 12:04:15.105 532 Lp. 16 Lp. 1:39.545 21 15 2:42:18.345
40 Team Aviobike Yamaha 26 SST DIT 212 06:43:34.745 643 Lp. 111 Lp. 1:40.225 60 7 53:07.691
41 3ART BEST OF BIKE Yamaha 14 EWC 196 06:10:38.696 659 Lp. 16 Lp. 1:38.958 24 6 1:26:00.775
42 MOTO AIN Yamaha 15 EWC 190 05:23:45.714 665 Lp. 6 Lp. 1:38.117 111 5 6:32.909
43 TEAM 18 SAPEURS POMPIERS CMS MOTOST… Yamaha 27 SST DIT 174 05:47:05.880 681 Lp. 16 Lp. 1:39.208 69 10 52:44.717
44 Team LRP Poland BMW 16 EWC 97 03:45:15.593 758 Lp. 77 Lp. 1:38.857 78 6 52:31.381
45 FAST TEAM RACING Kawasaki 28 SST 94 03:32:58.677 761 Lp. 3 Lp. 1:41.714 92 3 1:04:50.981
46 RAC41-CHROMEBURNER Honda 29 SST 14 01:42:37.669 841 Lp. 80 Lp. 1:40.186 10 5 58:00.180