Podium finish at dramatic Le Mans season opener.

Le Mans. The 2025 season opener of the FIM Endurance World
Championship (FIM EWC) will go down as one of the most dramatic
24-hour races in history. From start to finish, persistent rain
during the 24 Hours of Le Mans (FRA) created extremely treacherous
conditions. In this eventful endurance marathon, the BMW teams
demonstrated the potential of the BMW M 1000 RR. The private team
ERC Endurance #6 celebrated a podium finish with third place. The
factory team, the BMW Motorrad World Endurance Team (#37), was also
among the top favourites and crossed the line in fourth place after
24 turbulent hours.

After dry weather up until Friday, rain began right on schedule on
race day Saturday. The track became extremely slippery, resulting in
numerous crashes throughout the field. The BMW Motorrad World
Endurance Team with factory riders Sylvain Guintoli (FRA), Markus
Reiterberger (GER), Steven Odendaal (GER), and reserve rider Hannes
Soomer (EST) was not spared. The #37 BMW M 1000 RR led the field with
a solid advantage during the chaotic early stages but over the
following hours, the team – like nearly all others – suffered crashes
and had to take a lengthy repair break. Nevertheless, Guintoli,
Reiterberger, and Odendaal fought their way back, keeping their podium
hopes alive.

BMW Motorrad Motorsport was represented on the Le Mans podium by ERC
Endurance #6, with riders Kenny Foray (FRA), Ilya Mikhalchik (UKR),
and David Checa (ESP). The trio showed strong pace throughout race
week with their #6 BMW M 1000 RR and rewarded themselves with third place.

In addition to these teams, four other private BMW squads competed at
Le Mans. In the Superstock class, Team Étoile from Japan narrowly
missed the podium, finishing fourth. On the #25 BMW M 1000 RR, riders
Hikari Okubo, Kazuki Watanabe, and Motoharu Ito (all JPN) shared
duties. The Hungarian Endurance Racing Team by Moto Jungle claimed the
celebrated pole position in the Superstock class with the #713 BMW M
1000 RR. However, the race also proved to be eventful for this
Hungarian trio – Bálint Kovács, Máté Számado, and Soma Görbe. On
Sunday morning, the #713 had to head into the pits but returned to the
track for the final lap, crossing the finish line to the cheers of the
team. Team LRP Poland, with riders Danny Webb, Michael Dunlop (both
GBR), and Enzo Boulom (FRA) on the #90 BMW M 1000 RR, was forced to
retire late in the evening. The French team T2C Racing (#2 BMW S 1000
RR) also retired early in the evening.

The second race of the 2025 FIM Endurance World Championship, the 8
Hours of Spa Motos at Spa-Francorchamps (BEL), will take place on June 7.

Reactions after the 24h Le Mans:

Sven Blusch, Head of BMW Motorrad Motorsport:

“This 24-hour race is one we’ll all remember for a long time.
The challenge of riding a race like Le Mans under such conditions was
immense for everyone involved. That makes the strong performance of
the BMW teams and riders all the more impressive. Congratulations to
the entire ERC Endurance #6 team who managed to reach the podium in
their first race in this lineup. Our factory team also proved its
podium potential right to the very end. Many thanks to the team and
the riders for their hard work and strong performance. What we saw at
Le Mans gives us a lot of confidence for the rest of the FIM EWC season.”

Christian Gonschor, Technical Director BMW Motorrad
Motorsport: “It was an absolutely emotional experience all
around. Le Mans is always impressive, and endurance racing is full of
passion. I think that passion was evident from the first to the last
lap. The riders had to take big risks in extremely difficult
conditions. By hour 22, there had already been more than 145 crashes –
surely a record, but a sad one. Teams put in so much work and heart,
and only a few got the reward. It was a real sporting challenge, and
we’re very happy to have a BMW M 1000 RR on the podium.
Congratulations to Uwe Reinhardt and the ERC crew. Our Werner
Daemen-led factory team fought right to the last minute. We had
crashes with all three riders; it was just that tough out there. Plus,
we had a follow-up repair that cost us about 15 minutes, which was
likely the small margin that kept us from the podium. We were a bit
unlucky, but we’re happy with the many points we’re taking home. It’s
a solid foundation for the rest of the season, and we’re looking
forward to Spa, Werner Daemen’s home race. I think that track suits
our BMW M 1000 RR well. You could already see its potential here.”

Kenny Foray, ERC Endurance #6: “The feeling is just
incredible. It was an absolutely crazy race. I think it is not
possible to imagine how we feel on the bike when you watch so many
crashes like this. And when you go to your hospitality to take some
rest and you see more crashes on TV, and you know that you soon have
to be back on the bike again – this was really, really difficult. We
had some problems but we did not crash, we stayed on the bike, and I
think that was the key of the race. It is just an incredible moment.
This is the first race for the team with the BMW M 1000 RR and we
start with a podium. That is fantastic!”

Ilya Mikhalchik, ERC Endurance #6: “It feels nice
because when you change the team you also want to have good results.
Despite the fact that we did not ride or test a lot this winter we
showed immediately, without any track time, our performance. It was
great to be so competitive during the weekend and in the end, we were
on the podium. I want to say a big thank you to BMW for the support
and to Uwe Reinhardt, the Team Principal. It was a nice present for
him and also for David, who has his birthday today.”

David Checa, ERC Endurance #6: “First of all, I am so
happy to ride with BMW. It was my first experience with them and I was
so excited because the engine is incredible. It has a lot of power
from first to sixth gear and the bike is so easy to ride compared to
the others I rode before. I just need to understand how to manage it
but Ilya and Kenny have a lot of experience. They help me a lot to
learn this bike. Step by step I will get to their rhythm because at
the moment I am not yet on the level of Kenny and Ilya but I did my
best. We did not expect to be on the podium as we did not test, but
sometimes it happens! I am so happy to be back with Kenny and to be on
the Le Mans podium with him.”

Markus Reiterberger, BMW Motorrad World Endurance
Team: “I’ve done a lot of 24-hour races, but I’ve never
experienced one as chaotic and slippery as today. There were so many
crashes, and unfortunately, we went down three times as well. My
teammates did a fantastic job. They were both really fast at the
beginning but each had a crash. I then tried to bring it home but also
slipped once. We were definitely in the fight, but it just wasn’t
meant to be. Finishing fourth is a bit frustrating because we really
wanted and deserved that podium. But it’s clear we have the potential
and we can fight for wins. Big thanks to my teammates and the entire
team. It was an amazing week!”

Sylvain Guintoli, BMW Motorrad World Endurance Team:
“It was mad. It was really frantic from the very start because the
track was very, very slippery. The 24 hours started really well. In
the first one and a half hours, I felt really good and was leading.
Then I got caught up with a backmarker and unfortunately crashed. The
team did a fantastic job to repair the bike – and then again after
Steven’s crash. They were really, really on point. Unfortunately we
lost a bit too much time with the damage on the bike but I think
everybody can be really proud of what we did today. It just wasn’t to
be but we had speed, we were leading for quite a while and we were
strong. There are still a lot of positives to take from this weekend
and I think we are all very much looking forward to the next rounds.”

Steven Odendaal, BMW Motorrad World Endurance Team:
“To be honest, it has definitely been the most difficult race of my
life. I’ve never had to experience such terrible conditions during the
night and during the day. A wet track drying and a dry track getting
wet again, but I think the team did really well. We had some really
big crashes and the team prepared the bike phenomenally well to get it
back to working order. I am really happy, it was just unfortunate. It
would have been nice to end up on the podium after all the troubles we had.”

Facts and figures.

Qualifying (combined).

Race.

Current World Championship standings (R01/04).