KM99 not only scored its first FIM Endurance World Championship podium during last month’s Bol d’Or, the Yamaha-powered Belgian squad also completed the event as the top independent EWC team in only its second season competing in the all-action series.
Team Manager Mario Küpper, who helped to establish KM99 with owner Gaëtan Schyns, explains how his Dunlop-equipped outfit was able to achieve big things in 2024 with French riders Randy de Puniet, Jérémy Guarnoni and Florian Marino and outlines his hopes for 2025.
What did it mean to you to complete the 2024 EWC season having taken your first podium and finished as the top independent team?
“We were really happy. We started this project two years ago and everybody say when we started we look already like a big team. But we were a new team and you have to find the synergy to work together. We changed the riders this year, a little bit the technical staff, and we already see at Le Mans that the speed was there and the bike was already going really good. But we had to finalise some things. After Suzuka, where we made a really nice result, we knew we had made a step so everybody was really happy and for sure [Bol d’Or] is a big motivation for next year. What is also crazy is to be the first independent team after two years. It’s incredible.”
You reference KM99’s achievement in finishing as the top independent team and that’s an important point because you were up against some very good and established teams. Was it perhaps a result you didn’t expect after two years?
“We wanted it for sure and when you start a race it’s always what you want. But we know teams like Tati and Viltaïs are really strong teams and, especially Tati, make a really great season. We knew before Bol d’Or it would not be easy to take this place but, at the end, Tati had some problems and we could pass them in the championship.”
The result at Suzuka, against all those strong Japanese teams, came after a lot of hard work. How much effort went into delivering that result and the podium in Bol d’Or?
“We really work hard. We have a new workshop, we have some people who are fulltime there so we really are a professional team. We also try a lot to improve the bike. We know it’s a Yamaha and when we started we knew the bike. While it’s easy to make a bike it’s easy to have some small problems. We’ve not had so many and the bike was already good in the first race last year, but now we get out of all the small problems and we can really make a 24-hour race with only one small electronic problem where we lose just one lap.”
There was a change to the rider line-up this year with Randy de Puniet and Jérémy Guarnoni two new recruits alongside Florian Marino. What difference did that make?
“You need three riders who really want to ride together. Last year it was complicated to find the real synergy between the riders. When we see in the winter our three riders together for the first time we see directly it was a match.”
Given your achievements in the FIM Endurance World Championship in 2024, what can you achieve in 2025?
“At the moment we are finalising the budget, this is the first thing to do. If we can continue like we are now and to again improve and to again make a step on the bike I sign directly. I am happy with the technical staff, I am happy with the riders. If you see YART you see the synergy with all the riders and the staff and you can work really easily. Here, at the end of the year, it’s easy to work like this because everybody knows everybody and it’s nice.”
Original Source [ FIM EWC ]
