The 85th edition of the Bol d’Or sees the legendary 24-hour endurance race mark the 100th anniversary of its first running in 1922 and represents a superb chance for the YART team to bounce back from two DNFs in the last two races to get their title ambitions back on track. Heading into the final round of the season, the Austrian squad are currently third in the overall standings, 34 points behind the leaders. Due to the unique way the EWC awards x1.5 points at the season's final round, there are 96.5 up for grabs in France, and with all five EWC trophies on the line, everything is still to play for.
The team took advantage of two days of testing at the 5.673km Le Castellet circuit to find a good setup with the YART Yamaha #7 R1. Niccolò Canepa, Karel Hanika, Marvin Fritz and reserve rider Robin Mulhauser were all on hand as the team focused on longer runs to work on race pace and allow them to understand the different Bridgestone tyre compounds and when best to use them.
The two days of testing were split into two sessions per day, with the YART Yamaha team ending Tuesday in third overall with a 1m53.503s before smashing the EWC lap record by almost 0.5s after setting a 1m51.921s on Wednesday afternoon. This record-breaking pace was made even more remarkable by the fact it was set on a race tyre, and yet they were over a second faster than their best time from last year on a qualifying tyre. After ending the two days on top of the combined timesheets, YART’s target for the race is simple; win and score as many points as possible to give them the best chance of being crowned 2022 EWC champions.
The final round of the 2022 FIM Endurance World Championship, the Bol d’Or, takes place between the 15th-18th of September at Circuit Paul Ricard, France.
