Austria Outlasts Them In Spa 24-Hour
T
he Yamaha Austria Racing
Team (Marvin Fritz, Karel
Hanika, Nicolo Canepa) has
taken victory in the 2023 24-
Hour Spa EWC Motos, the first
time the squad has taken a EWC
24-Hour win in 14 years.
Despite a sluggish start for
team rider Marvin Fritz, YART
Yamaha got into gear and took
the fight to title rivals around the
iconic Circuit de Spa-Francor
-
champs.
F.C.C. TSR Honda (Josh Hook,
Alan Techer, Mike Di Meglio) led
the Spa order after eight hours,
with YART repaying the compli
-
ment after 16. But while YART
largely stayed out of trouble,
exhaust problems forced F.C.C.
TSR Honda into the pits for five
minutes just after the 16-hour
mark.
The costly stoppage allowed
YART to steal a lead they would
not surrender, finishing one lap
up on F.C.C TSR Honda with the
BMW Motorrad World Endurance
Team of Markus Reiterberger,
Illya Mykhalchyk and Jeremy
Guarnoni taking third.
"It has been a few years that
we have been chasing this vic
-
tory and I think it's the first of
many. We all deserve it, and I
am so happy about that," said
YART's Canepa. "It has been an
amazing race. To be honest, it
was really, really tough. It was
not easy from the beginning to
the end. Up until the last laps,
there was a question mark.
"The team did an amazing job
in every pit stop and my team
-
mates, too. We pushed from the
first lap to the last one. We never
stopped believing. It's a long time
since we won a 24-hour race. But
in our minds, there was only one
goal—to win—no matter what."
The next round of the FIM
Endurance World Championship
will be the Suzuka 8 Hours on
August 4-6.
CN
WIND
IN THE
P46
The EWC field rush to
their waiting bikes for the
start of the 24-Hour Spa.
It would be AYRT (7) that
would come out on top.
