This weekend the final round of the 2015 Endurance World Championship takes place as the Bol d’Or returns to the legendary 5.861km Paul Ricard circuit in southern France. Honda’s trio of endurance specialists Julien Da Costa, Freddy Foray and Sébastien Gimbert will be looking to finish the season on a high aboard the Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade SP.
After an eventful race at the previous round at Oschersleben in Germany, the team took a solid fifth place finish and go to the rider’s home round hoping for another solid finish, aided by the extra motivation the strong home support will bring.
The Paul Ricard circuit was the home of the Bol d’Or for 22 years before the race was moved to Magny-Cours in 2000. All the teams will race for the first time on the entirely modernised and renovated track of the legendary Paul Ricard circuit, made famous by its internationally renowned 1.8 km Mistral straight.
Qualifying for the 79th Bol d’Or takes place on Thursday and Friday, with the race starting at 15:00 (GMT+1) on Saturday 19 September.
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Bol d’Or schedule
Thursday 17 September
12:20-14:20 Free Practice
17:40-19:30 Qualifying 1 (20 minutes per rider)
21:30-22:30 Night Practice
Friday 18 September
11:00-12:50 Qualifying 2 (20 minutes per rider)
16:50-18:20 Pit walk
Saturday 19 September
11:35-12:20 Warm Up
15:00 Race start
Neil Tuxworth
We’ve had two very good tests already at the Paul Ricard circuit this year with the team and we’ve collected a lot of very useful data and information. From the tests we now know that we are very competitive for this event. We are certainly one of the teams that is capable of winning the Bol d’Or and we now hope that this time we have luck on our side, and can win one of the endurance races this year.
Julien Da Costa
We discovered the track in May with a first pre-Bol d’Or test and then again at the beginning of this month, it’s a good track for a 24-hour race because it’s not too physical. We are really looking forward to the Bol d’Or race because it will be the first time for most of the riders racing at the Paul Ricard circuit and it will probably be a very eventful race. Le Castellet is sunny, warm and in the past it was a very popular race in France so we are all happy and proud to be back there. It will not be an easy race for sure, it’s a new circuit, but we have some good data from the tests. So now we just hope that everything will go well so that we can win the race.
Freddy Foray
I keep very good memories of the Bol d’Or at Magny-Cours where I’ve been successful, but I think it’s definitely a good change to move to the Paul Ricard circuit that has a great historical value, so I’m really looking forward to the race. Being at home is great because we’ll have our family and friends around to support us. We have worked a lot to improve race after race and now we are ready, so our goal is definitely to win the last race of the season. If we win it’ll taste even better because it’s something that we can share with all our family and relatives.
Sébastien Gimbert
It’s getting better and better, we improved a lot on the CBR and within the team during the season, although we were a bit unlucky in some races. We completed a good pre-Bol d’Or test at the beginning of the month. For me the Bol d’Or will be even more important this year because it’s my home race and I really want to win this one. Julien, Freddy and myself always give our best aboard the CBR and we always push hard during a 24-hours race. We have worked hard throughout the year and we want to end the season on a positive note, so we definitely want to win the Bol d’Or.
