Finally. Last weekend’s spectacular victory in the EURO MOTO Superbike series, and now a win for the BMW factory team at the 8-Hour Race in Spa, Belgium. Markus Reiterberger just can’t stop celebrating. Things are going great…
At 9 p.m. on Saturday evening, the BMW Motorrad World Endurance Team’s pit at Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium erupted in celebration: a triumphant victory at their home race in the FIM Endurance World Championship. Starting from pole position, Markus Reiterberger, Steven Odendaal, and Michael van der Mark were unbeatable on the BMW M 1000 RR in the 8-hour race on the Ardennes roller coaster. The trio completed 192 laps on the 6.985-kilometer track.
The weather in the Ardennes had at times completely turned the 8-hour race on its head. After a dry first stint, heavy rain showers swept across the track and caught several drivers by surprise in the third sector between turns 14 and 15. Nearly the entire field pulled into the pit lane to switch to rain tires. The BMW with start number “37” took the risk of staying out on slicks for another lap—a decision that paid off as the track constantly shifted between wet and drying conditions. This time there was no bad luck, no breakdowns, just pure joy and relief.
With a pole position and a victory, the team earned the maximum number of points at the Spa weekend, moving up to third place in the World Championship standings after the second of four races this season and now has 68 points. Defending champion YART Yamaha Official EWC Team leads the standings with 91 points. Yoshimura SERT Motul follows with 69 World Championship points.
Lennox Lehmann (pictured above) finished sixth with his teammates Max Stauffer and Dirk Geiger on the Yamaha Motobox Kremer Racing 321 team.
The ERC Endurance team, with start number "6" (Marcel Schrötter, Kenny Foray, and Jan-Ole Jähnig), finished the race in tenth place.
The third round of the 2026 FIM EWC, the 8-hour race in Suzuka, Japan, will take place in early July.