Josh Hook takes second World Championship crown
F.C.C. TSR Honda France became the FIM World Endurance Champion for the second time in its history after finishing in fourth place at the 100th-anniversary of the Bol d’Or at Paul Ricard circuit in Le Castellet (France).
To win the title, the Honda team had to stay and finish at the front of this final round of the season. The three Honda riders, Josh Hook, Mike Di Meglio and Alan Techer set an extremely fast and regular pace during most of the race.
F.C.C. TSR Honda France started the 24-hour race from fourth place on the starting grid, and an excellent start by French rider Mike Di Meglio immediately put the Honda CBR1000RR-R Fireblade SP in the lead of the race during the first hours.
However, the Honda #5 equipped with Bridgestone tyres, suffered some issues that temporarily compromised all chances for the title. At the third hour of the race, Techer had to enter the box to fix some issues with the oil cooler radiator that put the team back to 27th position.
The Honda endurance specialists showed a high level of determination and the team began an incredible comeback, placing the Honda Fireblade in fifth place after the first quarter of the race.
A little over halfway in to the race, Techer had to enter again into the box for a second replacement of the exhaust but thanks to an excellent work from the team, the bike rejoined the race in the same position.
With very solid lap times and the remarkable economy of the Fireblade, the team gained another position in the last quarter of the race to finish in fourth place.
That was enough to give F.C.C. TSR Honda France its second World Endurance Championship title with a total of 154 points by finishing 4th in this 85th edition of the Bol d’Or.
Yoshimura Suzuki Endurance Racing Team Motul had led the 2022 EWC series since the season opener at Le Mans in April, where it won the first 24-hour of 2022 in emphatic style. SERT arrived at the Paul Ricard circuit with a 23-point lead over its nearest rival, hopes were high for another back-to-back championship win, but ultimately an engine failure cost them their chance.
Likewise Yamalube YART Yamaha Official EWC Team’s valiant bid for the 2022 FIM Endurance World Championship ended prematurely when an engine issue three hours into the race forced them to retire. They lost three hours in the pits before rejoining the race but ultimately then had to retire following more problems.
It was not all doom and gloom for the Yamaha brand though, as the Viltais Racing Igol and Wojcik Racing EWC Teams secured a sensational 1-2 for Yamaha at the Bol d’Or event.
The BMW Motorrad World Endurance Team had taken pole position ahead of YART, SERT and F.C.C TSR Honda, but the German effort also succumbed to engine failure.
ERC Endurance Ducati actually led the race at both the eight and 16 hour marks, and retained that lead until the final 90 minutes of the Bol d’Or. The Ducati squad was seemingly on course for victory only to stop with a mechanical failure while comfortably in front.
Honda privateer RAC 41 Chromeburner with Chris Leesh, Wayne Tessels and Jonathan Hardt took the victory in the Superstock class and 7th overall, having started the race from 17th on the grid.
National Motos Honda was forced to abandon the race due to an accident of the Swiss rider Valentin Suchet after the first quarter of the race. Suchet had a fall in turn 4 and needed medical assistance.
Josh Hook – F.C.C. TSR Honda France
“I have learned from the past to never take a result for granted before the chequered flag. We have come back from complicated situations in the past and nothing is ever certain. Like everyone else, we did our race and never gave up. We did very well, all three of us were fast, especially at night. We were quickly no longer in a position to fight for victory, so we focused on the championship, which was clearly the priority goal. We chose to take care of the engine as much as possible to avoid the problems that most of our competitors have. And it’s done!”
Mike Di Meglio – F.C.C. TSR Honda France
“I’m very happy to finally be World Endurance Champion! I came so close with GMT94 and I’m really proud of this title after so many years of fighting for it. It was a really tough race. We had some problems and our opponents were forced to stop one after the other. When Tati Team #4 was fighting at the front, we decided to build up enough of a gap to our chaser to get out of trouble. But when they dropped down the rankings, we changed our strategy to preserve the engine as much as possible by shifting earlier on the straight. It was the best thing to do because the world championship was more important than a podium finish.”
Alan Techer – F.C.C. TSR Honda France
“It was a complicated race for everyone, we also had some mechanical problems. The team worked hard to reduce the time spent in the pits and, with my teammates, we did our best to respect the race plan. The objective was clearly the title, and after the Suzuki’s retirement, we battled with the Tati Team, my former team. This is a special emotion for me, because I win this title with the team that had already given me the chance to be champion in 2018. We also have a big thought for Gino to whom we dedicate this title.”
Chris Leesch – RAC 41 CHROMEBURNER
“It is very nice to get this victory at the 100th anniversary of Bol d’Or. We have been fighting for this for a long time, we scored some podiums and finally, we managed to get a victory. As usual, the Honda Fireblade works very well around the year, we knew from last year. We were lucky to have a good bike that was up to the task and let us push until the end because the gap was very close when we got into the last stint. The bike was running the whole time, which is the most important thing in the endurance racing and very happy with the performance of the Fireblade this weekend.”
2022 FIM World Endurance Championship Points
- F.C.C. TSR Honda France Honda 154
- YOSHIMURA SERT MOTUL Suzuki 127
- VILTAIS RACING IGOL Yamaha 114
- Wójcik Racing Team Yamaha 97.5
- YART – Yamaha Official Team EWC Yamaha 94
- WEBIKE SRC KAWASAKI France Kawasaki 78
- TATI TEAM BERINGER RACING Kawasaki 75
- ERC ENDURANCE-DUCATI Ducati 74.5
- BMW MOTORRAD WORLD ENDURANCE TEAM BMW 64
- MACO RACING Team Yamaha 60.5
- Team Bolliger Switzerland Kawasaki 56
- Team LRP Poland BMW 42
- Team HRC Honda 35
- Kawasaki Racing Team Suzuka 8H Kawasaki 27
- MOTO AIN Yamaha 21
- S-PULSE DREAM RACING・ITEC Suzuki 19
- TOHO Racing Honda 17
- Honda Dream RT SAKURAI HONDA Honda 15
- GT endurance Yamaha 15
- Team ATJ with JAPAN POST Honda 13
- TEAM KODAMA Yamaha 12
- MOTOBOX KREMER RACING Yamaha 12
- Honda Asia-Dream Racing with SHOWA Honda 10
- GOSHI Racing Honda 9
- SANMEI Team TARO PLUSONE BMW 8
- Honda Hamamatsu ESCARGOT RT Honda 6
- KRP SANYOUKOGYO＆ RS-ITOH Kawasaki 5
- ADVANCEMC&FOCCLAYMORE EDGE with DOGHOUSE Suzuki 4
- TransMapRacing with ACE CAFE Suzuki 3
- Honda Blue Helmets MSC Kumamoto&Asaka Honda 2
- Astemo Honda Dream SI Racing Honda 2
- Murayama.Honda Dream.RT Honda 1
