An exciting collaboration between French team Tecmas, Werner Daemen’s Belgium-based Motorcycle Racing Parts and BMW Motorrad Motorsport, Tecmas-MRP-BMW Racing Team will enter an all-new BMW M1000RR in the Dunlop-equipped Superstock category.
It has signed French duo Loïc Arbel and Kenny Foray, Germany’s Jan Bühn, plus Maxime Bonnot, also from France, as the fourth rider for the upcoming EWC season.
Tecmas Team Owner Arnaud Sassone said: “Tecmas has often been a player in the Formula EWC class but our financial means did not allow us to do all the races. When I bought Tecmas in 2021, our commitment for the 2022 24 Heures Motos was already planned but I quickly understood that we were not in the right category [based on our resources], so I took the decision to stop our EWC programme for 2022 to carry out a more coherent programme in the Superstock category in 2023, so as to be able to participate in the entire championship as a permanent team.”
Fast four to feature for Tecmas-MRP-BMW Racing Team
Tecmas-MRP-BMW Racing Team has secured a fast foursome for its maiden FIM Endurance World Cup campaign led by Kenny Foray, part of the GMT94 squad that won the FIM Endurance World Championship in 2014.
The 38-year-old from France, twin brother of Freddy Foray, another EWC title winner, was runner-up in the 2021 EWC standings and spent 2022 winning the French Superbike Championship alongside his fourth rider role with BMW Motorrad World Endurance Team in the EWC.
Jan Bühn, 32, has considerable EWC experience and rode for Team Bolliger Switzerland in the 2022 championship. He has also raced successfully in the Internationale Deutsche Motorradmeisterschaft in his homeland for several seasons, taking the Supersport crown in 2015.
Twenty-five-year-old Loïc Arbel, second in last year’s 24H SPA EWC Motos for TATI Team Beringer Racing, is a product of the French Superbike series where he’s scored myriad podiums in the SSP600 division.
Maxime Bonnot, 25, returns to the EWC having competed in the 24 Heures Motos and Bol d’Or on several occasions. Bonnot, who won the French Superbike Challenger title in 2019, will take on the Tecmas-MRP-BMW Racing Team’s fourth rider role for the 2023 season.
“I am very proud and satisfied with our crew,” said Sassone. “Kenny is already a Tecmas rider and is the French Superbike champion for 2022. I really appreciate his confidence to come in this new adventure in SST. He will be the most experienced rider and will be in charge of his young team-mates. Jan Bühn knows endurance racing very well and I am looking forward to working with this German rider. Loïc Arbel is a fast rider with a very good attitude, he gained a lot of experience by finishing second in the 24H SPA EWC Motos last June. Maxime Bonnot is a long-time Tecmas rider both in sprint racing and endurance.”
Superstock move right for Tecmas
Tecmas Team Owner Arnaud Sassone has explained why the FIM Endurance World Cup was the right choice for his outfit in 2023. “The choice of this category is not at all a regression, on the contrary, professional pilots are joining the SST class, which is becoming more and more competitive,” he said. “BMW Motorrad Motorsport supports us in this process as well as does the MRP team, led by Werner Daemen, whom I thank. We hope that our involvement in this category will give it some impetus and that new teams, or teams present in the EWC will join us.
“Our goal is very clear, to be at the forefront of the SST category and to show the BMW customers that their bike has extraordinary capabilities. But we will do everything to be on the final podium and why not on the highest step.”
Tecmas-MRP-BMW Racing Team’s BMW M1000RR will carry the #9 during the upcoming EWC season.
The FIM Endurance World Cup takes in the FIM Endurance World Championship’s three Europe-based 24-hours races, the 24 Heures Motos at Le Mans from 13-16 April, the 24H SPA EWC Motos from 16-18 June and the Bol d’Or at Circuit Paul Ricard from 14-17 September.
