2021 FIM Endurance World Championship

Turmoil at the start of the 6 Hours of Most initially saw BMW’s Ilya Mikhalchik drop back to sixth place, however he was soon able to work his way back towards the front of the field. After 15 minutes of racing, Mikhalchik was running second, behind Mike di Meglio on the F.C.C. TSR Honda, but the BMW man then moved to the head of the field on the M 1000 RR and set about opening up a lead.

The F.C.C. TSR Honda squad were looking strong but unfortunately a crash by Yuki Takahashi a couple of hours into the race put them behind the eight ball. Then an engine problem surfaced on lap 142 that forced Josh Hook to enter the pits where the team determined that it was not possible to continue the race.

Over the course of the six hour race, which included two lengthy safety car periods, Mikhalchik and Reiterberger only surrendered the lead briefly twice. 

Having said that, the closing stages were not for the faint-hearted. The #7 Yamaha from the YART team was closing all the time, however Reiterberger kept a cool head, paced the race perfectly and just managed to defend the lead and take the team’s maiden victory. After six hours of racing Reiterberger took the chequered flag by just 0.070 seconds ahead of YART’s Marvin Fritz.

Markus Reiterberger – Team BMW – P1

“I think that was a really breathtaking race to the chequered flag. Ilya was on the bike at the start. He overtook everyone in the first stint and we took the lead. We fancied a five-stop strategy, but for that to work you need a safety car. That is very probable at this track, and that is exactly what happened. We managed to make one stop fewer than YART, for example. I think fuel consumption was the key to success today, and the fact that we rode flawlessly. I gave it everything in my last stint and rode against the clock. That was very tough, because Marvin Fritz was really pushing behind me. It was really very close, but I did it. I am grateful that we have finally won, as the whole team has more than earned it. This is the reward for the huge amount of hard work. Thank you to the team, BMW and everyone who has supported us. This is a really nice way to end the season.”

Marvin Fritz – YART – P2

“We’re happy for second place because the team really deserved a good result. For sure I’m angry and disappointed in myself for losing by such a small gap because we really wanted to win here in Most. We had a tough start, an issue which, with the unfortunate timing of the safety car, saw us lose over two minutes in total. We worked hard as a team and my team-mates rode brilliantly to recover the gap. But despite those issues we ended the race 0.070 seconds behind them, so this shows the speed we had. We need to be positive because we were only a second behind Toprak’s World Superbike time here. Looking back it was a good weekend because we were fast in practice, had an incredible qualifying and we ended the race with the fastest lap and so close to victory so we need to take this motivation, work on the areas we are struggling in the most and come back stronger in 2022.”

2021 was the second season in the FIM EWC for the BMW Motorrad World Endurance Team. The new BMW M 1000 RR was used for the first time this year. The team finished third in the first two races, at Le Mans (FRA) and Estoril (POR). In race three, the Bol d’Or at Le Castellet (FRA), they were forced to retire with a technical issue but the team bounced back at the Most finale to secure the win and second place in the championship.

Marc Bongers – BMW Motorrad Motorsport Director

“Congratulations to the team, Werner Daemen and the riders on their fantastic victory in Most. The race was a thriller, just as the whole season has been extremely exciting. We have experienced impressive fightbacks, podiums and setbacks this year. After the Bol d’Or, we were no longer in contention for the title, however it was clear that the team would give it their all in the final race here in Most. We looked very good in the test and backed that form up in the race. We knew that we had the pace to finish on the podium. To take victory at the end of such a close race is simply fantastic. It was a fantastic job from Ilya and Reiti, who was so impressive in bringing home the win, and the whole team, which worked perfectly in the garage. That is a great way to end the season. We will keep working and know that we still have a lot of challenges ahead of us. However, this is a great basis, we have a superb team, and we now head into the winter and preparations for 2022 with great motivation.”

The winners of the 2021 FIM Endurance World Championship were the Yoshimura SERT Motul Suzuki squad.  The title holders rode a controlled race for third place at Most to secure the title.

Yohei Kato – Yoshimura SERT Motul Suzuki Team Director

“I am very pleased and honoured to win the championship in the first year of participation as the Yoshimura SERT Motul team. We vowed to fight in this Endurance World Championship on behalf of the Suzuki Factory Team. This season has proved to be a dream come true by winning two of the world’s most famous 24-hour races, namely, the 24 Heures of Le Mans and the Bol d’Or. This world championship title is the first for this new team and the 20th for Suzuki. Suzuki, Yoshimura and SERT will keep working together to improve the Suzuki GSX-R1000R into an even better package. The whole team will respect each other in the spirit of one for all, all for one. I think this is the best possible result to mark the continuation of our efforts! Thank you to all the Yoshimura, SERT and Suzuki fans who warmly supported the new Yoshimura SERT Motul team. We pledge to attract fans to an even better championship next year and Yoshimura SERT Motul will go all out to defend its title.”

That fight for third place on the podium between Yoshimura SERT Motul and Webike SRC Kawasaki France Trickstar was almost as exciting as the nail biting fight for victory between BMW and YART. The Franco-Japanese Suzuki team (Gregg Black, Xavier Simeon and Sylvain Guintoli) fended off the attacks of the Webike SRC Kawasaki France Trickstar (Jérémy Guarnoni, Erwan Nigon and David Checa) squad to the very end. The factory Kawasaki team wound up the third in the championship.

Wójcik Racing Team (Gino Rea, Sheridan Morais and Dan Linfoot), who ran strongly nearly the front of the field throughout, finished 5th at Most. It was their best result following a tough season.

ERC Endurance-Ducati (Etienne Masson, Lorenzo Zanetti and Mathieu Gines) made progress at every race this season and were 6th at the finish ahead of the first Superstock machine, the No Limits Motor Team Suzuki (Luca Scassa, Kevin Calia and Alexis Masbou).

The Czech team TME Racing took 2nd place in the Superstock class after a superb race among the Superstock front-runners. Energie Endurance 91, 3rd in the Superstock class, climbed on to the podium in class for the first time.

BMRT 3D Maxxess Nevers, the winners of the FIM Superstock World Cup at the Bol d’Or, were forced to withdraw from the season finale. Thanks to their category win at Most, No Limits Motor Team claimed the runner-up spot in the FIM Endurance World Cup.

Anthony West joined the MACO Racing squad for the event and qualified well but ultimately the team finished 20-laps behind the leaders, in 17th place, but West demonstrated enough pace to have potentially put in a top ten result and acquitted himself well. Westy did go down on oil after a competitor’s bike blew an engine but no oil flags were displayed, which sent Westy down the road at over 250 km/h but the team repaired the bike in order to finish the race and secure tenth place in the championship.

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2021 6 Hours of Most Race Results

2021 FIM Endurance World Championship Points (Final)

2021 FIM Endurance Superstock World Cup (Final)

Source: MCNews.com.au