Fantastic fourth for F.C.C. TSR Honda France and a Honda Superstock victory at the Bol d’Or
Paul Ricard CircuitHonda celebrates Superstock success at the Bol d’Or, with Wójcik Racing Team #77 taking victory and Honda No Limits securing third place, while F.C.C. TSR Honda France claimed their best finish of the season in fourth.
The final round of the FIM Endurance World Championship (EWC) has been a rollercoaster of emotions for F.C.C. TSR Honda France at the 89th Bol d’Or with Alan Techer, Corentin Perolari and John McPhee battling hard until the end of the 24-hour race aboard the Honda CBR1000RR-R Fireblade SP.
With sunny skies and warm temperatures at Circuit Paul Ricard, the race got underway at 15:00hrs local time on Saturday (19 September) and it was Techer making the Le Mans-style start from the teams’ fifth place grid position. Showing strong pace from the beginning the #5 Fireblade started working up the order as the first pit stops took place, and by the third rider change, the team had moved up into the top three.
As day turned to night, the F.C.C. TSR Honda France team continued to show their speed, ticking off pit stops and rider changes while the clock counted down, and at the eight-hour mark the team were up into third, swapping places on-track with second placed Yoshimura SERT Motul as each team came in for their scheduled stops.
With temperatures still warm throughout the night and into Sunday morning, McPhee, Perolari and Techer kept producing fast lap times at the 5.673-km circuit, keeping the podium dream in-sight. However the YART Yamaha Official EWC Team had started to make a charge, and they too had their eyes on the podium.
Running in third, F.C.C. TSR Honda France now faced a new battle with the chasing YART trio and place swapping began between third and fourth for the two endurance rivals. An unplanned and heroic double-stint from Perolari, saw the Fireblade back in third place. However, a crash for McPhee during a strong stint saw #5 return to the garage.
Once back in the garage, the team got to work making the necessary repairs to return to the race, and after ten minutes, Techer was back on-track in fifth place. With just under four hours remaining the Honda riders got their heads down and made their way back into fourth, just six laps behind YART.
After completing 734 laps, 4,164kms across 24 hours of racing, F.C.C. TSR Honda France crossed the line in a well-fought fourth place, in what was not an easy race for McPhee, Perolari and Techer, with challenges throughout including a fuelling issue hampering podium progress.
Today’s fourth place marked the Honda team’s best finish of the year, bringing a positive end to what has been a challenging season. Despite consistently showing strong pace, reliability and Honda-powered performance, with the potential to fight for victories and podium finishes, bad luck and a series of issues across the season prevented the team from converting that speed into the results it deserved.
Meanwhile in the Superstock category, it was victory for Wójcik Racing Team #77, who capped off a successful season by not only taking the CBR1000RR-R Fireblade SP to the top step at the Bol d’Or, but also securing the FIM Endurance World Cup. Finishing sixth overall, the #77 delivered an impressive performance across the 24 hours to bring their championship campaign to a winning conclusion.
Starting the race from 11th on the grid, Hector Garzo, Jordi Torres Fernandez, Mateusz Molik and Milan Pawelec remained inside the overall top ten throughout the race and, by the halfway point, had taken the lead in the Superstock category. Despite an unscheduled visit to the garage due to an issue, the team maintained its advantage and crossed the line to claim the Superstock victory.
Honda No Limits also completed a strong season for Honda in the category, taking third place at the Bol d’Or and securing third overall in the FIM Endurance World Cup standings. Starting from 26th on the grid and as the 11th Superstock machine, Miquel Pons Payeras, Ricardo Brink and Doriano Vietti-Ramus steadily worked their way through the field, breaking into the top ten in class before going on to secure the final place on the podium.
“The race is over and with that, the 2026 season is over. We’ve finished, and for us that was important because it has been three years since we hadn’t finished the Bol d’Or. We showed that we were fast once again, we were battling it out with the BMW. With John and Coco, we had a pace that put us in contention for the win, but there were a few minor mistakes and we couldn’t quite put it all together. Still, after this season, it’s a pleasure. Now we know what we need to work on for next year and we’ll try to get back on the podium as soon as possible."
“The race is over and with that, the 2026 season is over. We’ve finished, and for us that was important because it has been three years since we hadn’t finished the Bol d’Or. We showed that we were fast once again, we were battling it out with the BMW. With John and Coco, we had a pace that put us in contention for the win, but there were a few minor mistakes and we couldn’t quite put it all together. Still, after this season, it’s a pleasure. Now we know what we need to work on for next year and we’ll try to get back on the podium as soon as possible."
“It was a brilliant race from start to finish. We were battling it out in the top three at the start of the race. And it all came down to the smallest of details. But that happens in every team. John and Alan really put in the work. John’s crash wasn’t serious, he was pushing hard as we all would have done with the YART bike right behind us. We missed out on the podium, which is a shame, but at least we finished the Bol d’Or – that’s what matters to me.”
“It was a brilliant race from start to finish. We were battling it out in the top three at the start of the race. And it all came down to the smallest of details. But that happens in every team. John and Alan really put in the work. John’s crash wasn’t serious, he was pushing hard as we all would have done with the YART bike right behind us. We missed out on the podium, which is a shame, but at least we finished the Bol d’Or – that’s what matters to me.”
“Honestly, I'm glad that’s over! It was a long, long 24 hours, we did have some incredible pace at times during the race, but then we struggled to bring it all together. A couple of key points made it difficult for us to be consistent at times, but the Fireblade itself worked really well, the feeling of the bike was good. We once again showed we have the speed in certain stints to fight for victory and podiums. It’s frustrating of course not to stand on the podium when we were so close, everyone from the riders, to the team will feel it. We will learn from it and hope to come back stronger, bring everything together and get the podiums and wins we know we deserve.”
“Honestly, I'm glad that’s over! It was a long, long 24 hours, we did have some incredible pace at times during the race, but then we struggled to bring it all together. A couple of key points made it difficult for us to be consistent at times, but the Fireblade itself worked really well, the feeling of the bike was good. We once again showed we have the speed in certain stints to fight for victory and podiums. It’s frustrating of course not to stand on the podium when we were so close, everyone from the riders, to the team will feel it. We will learn from it and hope to come back stronger, bring everything together and get the podiums and wins we know we deserve.”
