BMW Motorrad World Endurance Team won the 89th Bol d’Or at Circuit Paul Ricard and, with it, the 2026 FIM Endurance World Championship. Michael van der Mark, Markus Reiterberger and Steven Odendaal took the #37 BMW M 1000 RR to victory, collecting the maximum 65 points available from qualifying and the 24-hour race. Motorcycle.com described the result as the first EWC world title for a European manufacturer.

The championship situation changed before the race had properly unfolded. Yamalube YART Yamaha EWC Official Team arrived at the finale with a 19-point advantage over BMW. BMW reduced that margin by taking pole position and the five points attached to it, leaving a 14-point gap. YART qualified seventh and therefore received no points from the top-five qualifying allocation.

BMW then added 10 points at the eight-hour checkpoint and another 10 at the 16-hour mark. The #37 machine maintained its advantage through the final stage, with Markus Reiterberger taking the chequered flag. BMW completed 742 laps, one more than Yoshimura SERT Motul and two more than YART. The race points were 65 for BMW, 53 for Yoshimura SERT Motul and 42 for YART.

Fuel efficiency and reliability

Motorcycle.com attributed part of BMW’s advantage to the M 1000 RR’s lower fuel consumption compared with its rivals. Fewer visits to pit lane helped the team protect time over the 24-hour distance, but that benefit only mattered because the motorcycle and crew sustained the pace through the entire event. The combination of qualifying points, checkpoint scores and race performance gave BMW the complete points haul.

The victory also reversed BMW’s outcome from the previous year’s race. A mechanical problem with less than 30 minutes remaining had cost the team the championship in 2025. Odendaal told Motorcycle.com that the earlier defeat had been “simply heartbreaking” and said that winning the title this time was especially significant. He also highlighted the strength of the three-rider line-up and the wider BMW team.

YART loses the team crown but keeps Yamaha on top

YART’s Marvin Fritz, Karel Hanika and Leandro Mercado finished third at the Bol d’Or after a difficult build-up. The team went through four crashes during practice and qualifying, then completed the 24-hour race without another crash or a technical problem. Team manager Mandy Kainz said that recovering from the damage and still reaching the podium demonstrated the character of the squad.

The podium was not enough to retain the EWC team championship. BMW finished the season first with 158 points, followed by YART on 154 and Yoshimura SERT Motul on 137. YART’s riders, Hanika, Fritz and Mercado, therefore ended the season four points behind BMW in the team classification.

Yamaha nevertheless secured the manufacturers’ championship for a third consecutive season. Its 179 points put the manufacturer 12 points ahead of BMW. That distinction gives the Bol d’Or a split outcome for the Yamaha organisation: its official YART entry was beaten to the team title, but Yamaha retained the manufacturers’ crown.

Yoshimura SERT finishes second

Yoshimura SERT Motul placed second at Paul Ricard after completing 741 laps. Gregg Black, Etienne Masson and Dan Linfoot were listed as the team’s riders; the result also secured third place in the final championship table with 137 points. Behind the leading trio in the race, F.C.C. TSR Honda France completed 734 laps and Kawasaki Webike Trickstar 718.

The headline result, however, belongs to BMW: a 742-lap Bol d’Or win, the maximum 65 points from the weekend and the 2026 EWC title. After the late mechanical failure that decided the previous season, the Paul Ricard finish delivered the reliability BMW needed to convert its speed into the championship.