At last, the Honda team would challenge the Bol d'or 24 hour which, coincidentally, was its 40th anniversary, staged in front of 40,000 spectators. The Honda team had former grand prix rider Alex Gorge as a substitute for the injured Leon, and paired him up with Chemarin as Honda's ace pair. Stan Woods and grand prix rider Jack Findlay were on the second bike. Honda had also leased RCB1000 engines to Japauto to maximize the chance that a Honda team would be victorious, a long-time dream for the Japanese development team. Sidemm Kawasaki, winner of the event for the past two years, responded to Honda’s threat by expanding its two teams to four, with sprint riders. WGP hero-to-be Christian Sarron and Boulom rode one of the Kawasaki’s, and the other was manned by Yvon Duhamel/Francois Balde. Pole position went to Honda: Ruiz/Huguet took pole position in qualifying on a sprint-setup RCB1000, with an impressive 1 minute 44.5 seconds lap time. Second on the grid was Sonauto Yamaha's Jean Paul Boinet/Pat Evans on a TZ750, and Duhamel/Balde on the Sidemm Kawasaki was third. Another RCB1000 and a Sidemm Kawasaki followed.

The race started at 4 pm, September 18. The Sonauto Yamaha took the lead but could not keep its pace, and eventually after an hour, Duhamel took his place. Chemarin was in second place by then, and 9 out of the top 10 were Hondas and Kawasakis. Honda had an advantage with faster lap times, but the well-experienced Kawasaki team recovered time lost on the track with superb pit work. Two hours into the race, Rigal/Guili were caught up in a crash, and although managing to return to the pit, lost time repairing the bike. Three hours into the race, Ruiz/Huguet suffered engine problems and retired, leaving only two out of the four RCB1000s in the top group. While this was happening and nightfall came, the Sidemm Kawasaki team continued to maintain their pace. At 2 am, Sarron took the lead and Duhamel followed in second. Chemarin/Gorge was 2 laps behind in third place, seemingly out of contention, but Team Director Aika continued to show the "KEEP" signboard, ordering the riders to maintain their pace until daybreak, when their speed could be improved once more.

Aika's plans to keep the pace down through the night had succeeded, as the two Kawasakis pitted: Sarron who had pushed hard through the night had significantly dropped his pace, and Duhamel/Balde suffered from oil leakage costing the team 3 laps with repairs. At 11 am, 19 hours into the race, Chemarin/George took and maintained the lead to the final lap at 4 pm. The crowd roared "Honda! Honda!” as the RCB1000 drew closer to the finish line. Once Chemarin completed the 762 lap, 3214km race, he was surrounded by Honda staff and celebrating fans. With this victory, Chemarin not only 87 more laps than the previous year, but secured the European Endurance Championships riders title.

In the final round of the series, the Thruxton 400 miles, the RCB1000s continued to display their superior performance, to bring Ruiz/Huguet their first victory. Chemarin/Evans was 2nd, Woods/Rutter 4th, and Japauto in 3rd place fortified the RCB1000’s success.

Looking back to the 1976 season, Honda had won seven out of the eight races they competed in, and completely dominated five races of the European Endurance Championship. Accomplishing their original objective, Endurance racing in Europe was a great success for Honda. Honda on the Endurance scene not only elevated interest in endurance racing in Europe, but had a large influence on the Japanese market as well. Popularity of racing in Japan previously focused on sprint racing, and endurance racing was largely unknown. But, as Japanese riders became aware of the RCB1000’s success, endurance racing gained in popularity, another victory Honda could call its own.

1976 Race Results