2024 FIM Endurance World Champion
The 2020 and 2021 FIM Endurance World Champion, British-born and French-bred Gregg Black completed his hat-trick of titles this season when, racing alongside fellow Frenchman Étienne Masson and Britain’s Dan Linfoot, he helped steer the Yoshimura SERT Motul team to gold.
This year’s championship opened in April with the 24 Heures Motos at the Circuit Bugatti at Le Mans in France where the thirty-six-year-old–who moved to France when he was a child–immediately claimed an early lead, but at the 8 Hours of Spa Motos at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium the following month this advantage was slashed to just a single point as defending champion YART Yamaha picked up the pace.
Next up was the Coca-Cola Suzuka 8 Hours in Japan in mid-July and after dropping from third to fourthin the closing stages his championship lead disappeared and he found himself on the back foot with just the Bol d’Or 2024 at theCircuit Paul Ricard in Francei n September left on the calendar.
Trailing by six points at the start of a dramatic twenty-four hours of racing, Black ended the event onthe top step of the podium with his third FIM gold medal secured.
PALMARES
FIM Endurance World Champion - 2015, 2016, 2020, 2021, 2024
2021 FIM Endurance World Champion
BLACK MAGIC!
It has been another successful season for Gregg Black who retained his FIM Endurance World Championship – making it four World crowns from the last seven years – as part of the three-rider Yoshimura SERT Motul outfit alongside Xavier Simeon and Sylvain Guintoli that claimed the team title.
The thirty-three-year-old was born in England before his parents relocated to France. His racing career got under way at the age of fourteen in French Superbike events and he contested the European Superstock 600 in 2006 before getting his first taste of EWC action two years later at the Bol d’Or.
At first he set his sights on the European Superstock 1000 class, but enjoyed endurance racing so much that he changed his plans – with, it is safe to say, considerable success.
His latest title came off the back of the four-round 2021 EWC series which began with his team’s victory at the 24 Heures Motos at Le Mans in mid-June.
The only Yoshimura SERT Motul rider to stay upright at the 12 Hours of Estoril, a disastrous twelfth-placed finish in Portugal saw him slip to fourth in the championship.
However, the team bounced back to claim a commanding nineteen-lap win at the twenty-four-hour Bol d’Or at the end of August and his fourth title was assured with third as the series signed off at October’s 6 Hours of Most in the Czech Republic.
PALMARES
FIM Endurance World Champion - 2021, 2020, 2016, 2015
2020 FIM ENDURANCE WORLD CHAMPION
BLACK ATTACK!
Team-mate to fellow FIM Endurance World Champion Etienne Masson, British-born Gregg Black (Suzuki) also completed his hat-trick of EWC titles this season as part of the team that previously triumphed in 2015 and 2016.
The thirty-two-year-old spent the first three years of his life living in England before his parents upped sticks and relocated to France. He started racing at the age of fourteen in French Superbike events and contested the European Superstock 600 in 2006 before getting his first taste of EWC action two years later at the Bol d’Or.
Initially, all he wanted to do was get as many laps in as possible on a 1000cc machine before an assault the following year on the European Superstock 1000 class, but liked the lengthy format so much that he switched his entire career path and it is fair to say that he has not looked back.
His latest title came off the back of the four-round 2019/2020 EWC series which began with his team’s victory in the Bol d’Or twenty-four-hour race in France in September 2019. After slipping to fourth at round two at the rain-shortened Sepang Eight Hours in mid-December 2019, a third-placed finish at the Le Mans twenty-four-hour race in August 2020 set him up for the title that was secured with fourth in September’s twelve-hour season finale at Estoril in Portugal.
