Marvin Fritz set a sensational sub-record lap time to help Yamalube YART Yamaha EWC Official Team bag pole position for the FIM Endurance World Championship season-opening 24 Heures Motos at Le Mans.
The German’s 1m34.489s charge during Second Qualifying this morning broke the new benchmark recorded by Yoshimura SERT Motul’s Gregg Black less than 30 minutes earlier, when the Suzuki-powered rider lowered Niccolò Canepa’s standard of 1m34.708s from 12 months ago with a 1m34.551s effort around the 4.185-kilometre Circuit Bugatti.
“It’s amazing of course, first race of the year and first pole position of the year,” said Fritz after Yamalube YART Yamaha EWC Official Team claimed back-to-back pole positions at Le Mans and its sixth in seven attempts. “The team did an amazing job, the bike worked great, the Bridgestone tyres were amazing. And all of us could make this lap time or even faster. But I’m super-happy about the feeling of the bike, this is the most important for the race tomorrow because the competition is strong and for sure it will not be easy. It looks like we’ll have some rain in the race, but it’s the same for everyone and we’re well prepared.”
Of his new lap record ahead of the 48th running of the 24 Heures Motos, Fritz, who is partnered by Czech Karel Hanika and team newcomer Jason O’Halloran from Australia, said: “I had a good lap, not the perfect one, but overall, I’m happy with the pole position and five points in the pocket. It’s amazing [to have this new lap record]. Every year it gets faster and faster, we improve the bike, and the package gets better and better.”
Black’s run ensured Yoshimura SERT Motul – the reigning world champion team and last year’s 24 Heures Motos winner – secured second place on the starting grid for the upcoming day and night endurance epic in an average time of 1m34.869s compared to YART Yamaha’s 1m34.634s. Tati Team AVA6 Racing impressed as the top independent outfit in third.
“It was a great qualifying for us,” said Black. “We didn’t get pole position but the last time we got pole position here it didn’t end well on the first turn and a lot of the time we’ve managed to win the race from this position. I had the lap record for a few minutes until Marvin managed to do a few thousands of a second better. The level of the competition is really high, and you can see the race pace out there is really fast, it’s incredible and it’s nice to see for endurance.”
Having been fifth in the provisional order after Thursday’s First Qualifying, BMW Motorrad World Endurance Team gained one place to secure fourth spot followed by ERC Endurance, which is returning to the EWC after one season away and with BMW power. F.C.C. TSR Honda France was next up followed by Kawasaki Webike Trickstar, ELF Marc VDS Racing/KM99, MAXXESS by BMRT Pirelli Motul and Hungarian Endurance Racing Team by Moto-Jungle, which set the pace in the Dunlop-supplied Superstock category.
“After our performance in the Bol d’Or last year many would have said it was a one-time thing that we were so competitive in qualifying, but we did it again, we’re starting from pole position and leading the FIM Endurance World Cup,” said HERT rider Bálint Kovács. “The team has been working incredibly well. The guys have done an outstanding job developing the bike, and as riders, we’ve been able to prepare properly for the season. Of course, it’s an endurance race so being on pole position doesn’t mean that we’re going to win the race easily. The main goal is to finish the race because we don’t have much experience but, deep down we wanted to have the pole position.”
Team Étoile and TRT27 AZ Moto completed the Superstock top three in 11th and 12th overall respectively as Team Bolliger Switzerland, Team LRP Poland and Honda No Limits rounded out the top 15 as a record 41 permanent EWC teams took to the track.
Green Team 42 Lycée Sainte Claire made history by claiming the first pole position in the new-for-2025 FIM Endurance World Trophy, which runs exclusively on Dunlop tyres and has been developed to provide a more affordable and accessible entry to the endurance racing. Team Super Moto Racing was second with ARTEC third.
“It’s very good,” said Green Team 42 Lycée St Claire rider Julien Bonnet. “We’ve had some problems with the electronic system but for this morning it was really better, and the satisfaction is there for all the riders in our team.”
WHAT’S NEXT?
Warm-Up provides the next track activity from 10h30-11h15 tomorrow (Saturday) with the 48th 24 Heures Motos opening the new EWC season from 15h00 CET.
RESULTS AND LIVE TIMING: www.its-results.com
WHERE TO WATCH: Click HERE soon to find out more.
For more info check out our dedicated Endurance World Championship News page Endurance World Championship
or visit the official Endurance World Championship website fimewc.com
©Words/Images are from official press release posted courtesy of Endurance World Championship
