The 86th Bol d’Or at the Paul-Ricard circuit in Le Castellet (Var) was won on Sunday by the number 12 Suzuki, driven by the French trio (Sylvain Guintoli – Gregg Black – Ettienne Masson). Yamaha n°7 with Italian Niccolo Kanepa, German Marvin Fritz and Czech Karel Hanik won the world championship title in the endurance race.

The three tricolors that won on Sunday had already won the Bol d’Or during their careers, each time with a Suzuki. Mason, 34, won in 2016 and 2019. Gintoli (41 years old) added his name to the list in 2021. And Black crossed the finish line as a winner during the stable’s last two successes.

Honda retires and loses the world title

On Saturday, at 15:00, while the #37 BMW (Markus Reiterberger – Illya Mykhalchyk – Jérémy Guarnoni) was in pole position, Suzuki took the lead at the start of the race. Then the #6 Ducati (Chaz Davies – David Checa – Xavi Fores) took the lead before falling victim to a crash.

The Bol d’Or was then dominated by the Honda n°1 (Alan Teher – Josh Hook – Mike Di Meglio), the leader of the World Endurance Championship (EWC), which ended this Sunday, and the Yamaha n°7, his rival. for the title. The #12 Suzuki then arrived to join the fray. And early in the morning, Sunday, the latter had made a nice crack. Honda, on the other hand, had to retire in the middle of the night, ending its chances of winning the championship.

Suzuki won the Bol d’Or award for the 19th time

Nothing could stop Suzuki from securing victory, his 19th in the Bol d’Or record. Not his fall at the end of the morning, along with five other competitors, nor the health problems of Sylvain Guintoli (sick), who had to allow Etienne Masson and Greg Black to finish the race.

Rounding out the podium was #333 Honda (Florian Alt – Leandro Mercado – Steven Odendaal) and #37 BMW. The Yamaha n°7 finished fourth but left Castellet with his first world title in 14 years. The No. 12 Suzuki finished second in the championship thanks to Sunday’s victory.