Pirelli wins at the Bol d’Or for the fourth year in a row with Team Kawasaki SRC and also wins the Endurance Superstock World Cup with the Traqueur Louit Moto 33 team

The team made up of riders Fabien Foret, Gregory Leblanc and Matthieu Lagrive rides the number 11 Kawasaki ZX10R to victory in the prestigious endurance competition on Pirelli DIABLO™ Superbike tyres, crossing the wire with a two lap advantage over the second place team

For the fourth year in a row the winning duo of Pirelli and Team Kawasaki SRC have won the Bol D’Or, the prestigious 24 hour endurance competition that is part of the FIM endurance World Championship and which this year, after fourteen year absence, returned to the renowned Paul Ricard di Le Castellet circuit after having been hosted in recent years on another French circuit, the Nevers Magny-Cours.

Kawasaki SRC team on the podium

In this 79th edition of the Bol d’Or, riders Fabien Foret, Gregory Leblanc and Matthieu Lagrive of Team Kawasaki SRC won the race on the number 11 ZX10R with Pirelli DIABLO™ Superbike tyres a full 2 laps ahead of the second place team.

Pit stop

But this was not the only satisfaction of the weekend for Pirelli and the Akashi-based manufacturer: team Traqueur Louit moto 33, with a final fifth place on the Paul Ricard circuit, clinched the Endurance Superstock World Cup title.

The Kawasaki SRC team rode a perfect, but certainly not easy race. In fact, due to various problems typical of endurance races, several teams alternated in the lead, but in the end, once again it was the Akashi-based manufacturer's team that triumphed.

Kawasaki SRC team celebrating

During the race the Kawasaki SRC team made 27 pit stops using various Pirelli tyres in the DIABLO™ Superbike slick range. In particular, while on the front the only solution used was the standard SC2, on the rear two difference solutions were used that have already been tested in the FIM World Superbike Championship. The U0544 development solution was by far the most used during the race because of how versatile and suited it is to cooler temperatures typical of night racing, whereas for the hottest times riders opted for the T0611 solution, which was used several times by riders in the FIM World Superbike Championship. It was also the race tyre in the factory derivative races held today at Jerez de la Frontera where another Kawasaki rider, Jonathan Rea, was crowned World Champion and the Akashi-based manufacturer won its first Manufacturer Championship. The endurance Superstock category in which Pirelli won the endurance World Cup is a sub-category within the FIM endurance World Championship where teams may participate that use bikes similar to factory models and which, among other characteristics, do not have a quick release for the tyres and for this reason tend to make less pit stops during the races. The Italian tyre manufacturer's efforts for this Bol d’Or, which hosted more than 70000 spectators on site, was significant: Pirelli brought an impressive 300 tyres to the track to equip the 20 teams (out of a total of 55 teams registered) which chose to use the DIABLO™ Superbike range tyres. For Pirelli and Team Kawasaki SRC this is not only the fourth consecutive win in this competition but also the eighth win in the last 4 years of the FIM endurance World Championship if you also consider the four victories taken at the Le Mans 24-Hour from 2010 to the present.