BMW Motorrad World Endurance Team will lead the field away at the 89th Bol d’Or after putting its #37 BMW M 1000 RR on pole. The qualifying result earned BMW five points and reduced YART Yamaha’s championship margin to 14 points ahead of the season’s final round.

Markus Reiterberger, Steven Odendaal, Michael van der Mark and Jérémy Guarnoni combined for a 1:50.837 average, calculated from each rider’s two fastest laps in Friday’s second qualifying session. Track conditions were better than on the opening day. Van der Mark led the BMW line-up with a 1:50.744, following a 1:50.704 lap in Thursday morning practice that set a new outright Circuit Paul Ricard record. It was his first time riding at the circuit, according to Motorcycle.com.

The #76 AutoRace Ube Racing Team BMW, ridden by Naomichi Uramoto, Sylvain Guintoli and Kenny Foray, qualified second on 1:51.445, 0.608 seconds off pole. The #12 Yoshimura SERT Motul Suzuki of Gregg Black, Etienne Masson and Dan Linfoot was third with 1:51.448, just three thousandths behind. ERC Endurance’s #6 BMW and the #5 F.C.C. TSR Honda France entry completed the top five on 1:51.570 and 1:51.731 respectively.

YART remains in control of the title fight

Defending champion YART Yamaha will start seventh after recording a 1:51.885 average. It arrived at the event with a 19-point cushion, but the build-up included several setbacks. Karel Hanika crashed during Tuesday’s private practice and again in qualifying after encountering oil left by a separate incident. Marvin Fritz and Leandro Mercado also went down in free practice.

Fritz described the week as the toughest and worst he has experienced during his time with the team, while also stressing that YART remains united and will not give up. Seventh on the grid does not settle the championship: the 24-hour race carries 60 points, with 40 for victory and 10 each for leading after eight and 16 hours. The race is scheduled to start on Saturday at 3:00 p.m. local time.