World Endurance: ERC Returns With Fores, BMW
Today at 07:39 PM
Xavi Forés will swap chasing FIM Endurance World Championship success on track to off it as Uwe Reinhardt's ERC Endurance squad returns to the EWC in 2025.
Ex-World Superbike racer Forés, who rode for ERC Endurance in the EWC between 2022 and 2023, has been appointed Team Manager for the Germany-based outfit, which is making its comeback to the championship following a one-year break.
After almost four full seasons running Ducati motorcycles, ERC will count on BMW power once again. It will compete under the ERC BMW Endurance Team banner and use Dunlop tyres.
Long-term ERC rider David Checa, from Spain, will be joined on the #6 BMW M 1000 RR by Kenny Foray (France) and Illya Mykhalchyk (Ukraine). Germany's Julian Puffe has been named as the team's reserve rider.
Although Checa, 44, a four-time EWC champion, is new to BMW power, Mykhalchyk, 28, joins ERC from the BMW Motorrad World Endurance Team, which he helped to two EWC race wins.
Foray, 40, steps up from the Superstock-based FIM Endurance World Cup having competed for Tecmas MRP BMW Racing Team for the past two seasons. A French Superbike champion on four occasions, Foray was team-mate to Checa at GMT94 Yamaha when it won the 2014 FIM Endurance World Championship for Teams.
Twenty-nine-year-old Puffe, meanwhile, rode a BMW for Team LRP Poland in the EWC most recently as 2023.
Forés, 39, explained his new role and ERC BMW Endurance Team's objectives for the upcoming EWC season: "Uwe Reinhardt needed somebody by his side during the race weeks and he offered me the option to be the Team Manager. After many years of racing, it was the right time to move forward and start a new chapter, so I decided to accept this role and to start to work for my future.
"For sure if I use my experience in racing in the EWC and in different championships and from my experience from the past of being a rider in this team, putting everything together it could be something positive for the team. I am also supported by David Checa who has a lot of experience in endurance. Together we are pushing hard to make this project strong. Also, we have support from BMW and Dunlop.
"Hopefully we can be fighting for the top four, top five in every single race, starting with Le Mans. To be honest we were fighting for wins in the past with the Ducati so if we can manage everything well, then we can be in the mix."
ERC BMW Endurance Team will enjoy factory support from BMW Motorrad and Dunlop during the upcoming EWC season, which begins with the 24 Heures Motos at Le Mans in France from 17-20 April. The calendar also includes the 8 Hours of Spa Motos (6-7 June), the 46th Coca-Cola Suzuka 8 Hours Endurance Race (1-3 August) and the Bol d'Or (18-21 September).
Operating from Karlsruhe in Germany, ERC BMW Endurance Team will continue to carry the colours of Prokasro, a German robotics company headed by Uwe Reinhardt, a former endurance motorcycle racer. ERC stands for Equipe Reinhardt Competition.
The post World Endurance: ERC Returns With Fores, BMW appeared first on Roadracing World Magazine | Motorcycle Riding, Racing & Tech News.
