Daniel Milner on podium at EnduroGP of Portugal

2022 FIM EnduroGP World Championship
EnduroGP of Portugal, Coimbra – Round Four

Friday Super Test

At the top of the time sheets for Friday’s Super Test was GASGAS mounted Andrea Verona by a comfortable margin. But behind him the remainder of the top 10 were separated by less than one second. Honda Racing Redmoto World Enduro’s Nathan Watson ended Friday in second, and defending EnduroGP champion Brad Freeman placed third quickest.

Fantic’s Daniel Milner continues to impress having switched to the Enduro1 category and was just one hundredth of a second behind Freeman in fourth. It was not the start to the GP of Portugal that EnduroGP championship leader Will Ruprecht hoped for. The TM Racing rider was 25th overall and started Saturday needing to hunt down Verona.

Day 1 (Saturday)

The FIM EnduroGP World Championship’s second visit of the year to Portugal certainly didn’t disappoint. Dry and stony but nowhere near as hot as the Italian event, the host towns Coimbra and Souselas served up great special tests.

While it was Italy’s Andrea Verona (GASGAS) who started the Portuguese event in the best way possible by topping both the Friday night AKRAPOVIC Super Test and Saturday morning’s opening Just1 Enduro Test, it was Great Britain’s Nathan Watson who ultimately went the distance and ended the day at the top of the outright EnduroGP results.

With Verona just over 15 seconds behind Watson following a day-long battle for the win, the Italian GASGAS rider nevertheless took advantage of Wil Ruprecht’s monster crash on the opening Just1 Enduro Test and subsequent 13th place finish to move to the top of the EnduroGP championship standings.

Rounding out the EnduroGP podium was Australian Daniel Milner. Clearly loving life on his 250cc Fantic, despite not topping any of the day’s special tests, his consistent riding enabled him to finish as a worthy third-place finisher. Placing fourth overall, Steve Holcombe (Beta) put his troubled run through round three behind him to top the POLISPORT Extreme Test on lap one and eventually place fourth overall.

Fifth outright went to France’s Hugo Blanjoue (KTM) who, like Milner, carried the impressive form he showed in Italy over to the Portuguese event. Delivering a stand-out performance to finish a strong sixth on his Motoclub Lago D’Iseo Honda was Italian Samuele Bernardini.

Just 0.58 of a second behind Bernardini was fellow Honda mounted Italian Thomas Oldrati in seventh while Matteo Cavallo (TM), Antoine Megan (Sherco), and Brad Freeman (Beta) rounded out the top 10 in EnduroGP.

E1

Marching on in his quest to defend his Enduro1 World Championship title, Andrea Verona (GASGAS) took yet another E1 class win on day one in Portugal. Beaten on just one of the day’s nine special tests, Verona placed 25 seconds clear of runner-up Daniel Milner (Fantic).

With Samuele Berdardini (Honda) rounding out the top three in E1 to claim his first trip to the podium of 2022, Thomas Oldrati (Honda) placed fourth with Matteo Cavallo (TM) fifth.

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E2

The Enduro2 class saw a British one-two with the day’s outright winner Nathan Watson (Honda) finishing comfortably ahead of Steve Holcombe (Beta), who’d missed the second day of racing at last weekend’s GP of Portugal due to his previously injured shoulder.

With the GB countrymen out front, third went to Hugo Blanjoue (KTM) with Wil Ruprecht (TM) battling his way back from his early morning get-off to place fourth with Czech rider Krystof Kouble (Husqvarna) rounding out the top five.

E3

Showing that every second is worth fighting for, Brad Freeman (Beta) again battled through another day of racing with his injured hand to importantly get the better of his closest challenger on the final special test of the day.

In finishing six seconds up on Antoine Basset (Beta) in the final ACERBIS Cross Test, Brad topped the podium by 0.27 of a second. With Basset runner-up, third went to Matteo Pavoni (TM) with Mikael Person (Husqvarna) fourth following a spill on the final extreme test.

Junior

Picking up yet another day win in the Enduro Junior class, France’s Zachary Pichon (Sherco) topped the Friday night AKRAPOVIC Super Test in the Juniors, then went on to win the opening Just1 Enduro Test before taking six more special test wins and place close to 40 seconds ahead of Roni Kytonen (Honda). Kytonen in turn finished close to 14 seconds ahead of third-placed Luc Fargier (Beta).

Women

Unbeaten on all but one special test (where she finished second!) Jane Daniels (Fantic) topped the Magnorange FIM Women Enduro World Championship class by a massive one minute and 12 seconds.

Doing her best to try and stop Jane from stamping her mark on the class, Mireia Badia (Rieju) claimed a well-deserved second with Rosie Rowett (KTM) rounding out the podium in third.

Youth

Battling to the very end of the day to finally claim the Enduro Youth class win Harry Edmondson squeezed every last drop of power out of his 125cc Fantic to claim the win, finishing just 2.47 seconds ahead of team-mate Kevin Cristino with third going to Samuli Puhakainen (TM) in third.

Day 1 Results – EnduroGP of Portugal, Coimbra

Day 2 (Sunday)

All smiles after his first EnduroGP victory of the season on Saturday, Nathan Watson wasted no time in returning to the top step of the podium by winning again on Sunday.

Clearly favouring the hard and dry Portuguese terrain, the Honda rider hit his stride late on lap one by topping the opening ACERBIS Cross Test. Fastest in the following JUST1 Enduro Test, he closed the gap to early leader Steve Holcombe (Beta).

Holcombe, also back to top form, had managed to keep Watson at bay as they exited the second POLISPORT Extreme Test, but Watson again favoured the ACERBIS Cross Test. Clocking in the fastest time he put himself out front by four seconds as they began the final lap of three.

Striking again, he won the JUST1 Enduro Test to build a 12-second cushion over Verona who’d now moved up to second. Keeping the pace high, it proved once again to be Watson’s day and with two more solid tests, the Brit clinched victory to mark a career-first EnduroGP double win.

Behind him, Verona fought hard to keep pace while also facing a rejuvenated Holcombe. Holcombe started out the day strong with two test wins as Verona spent the morning steadily chipping away at his advantage. With a lap to go the Italian was up to second. Holding strong, Verona took his second runner-up result of the weekend to move back into the EnduroGP championship lead.

Enjoying a resurgence of form, Holcombe was happy with his efforts for third overall. Defending EnduroGP champion Brad Freeman (Beta) also enjoyed his best result in recent weeks too. Fourth today, while also taking a POLISPORT Extreme Test win, indicates Freeman is beginning to put his numerous injuries behind him.

Spain’s Marc Sans Soria (Husqvarna) put in a standout performance to finish fifth. The Spaniard was clearly enjoying the conditions, claiming the final POLISPORT Extreme Test win.

E1

Making the Enduro1 class his own in 2022, Andrea Verona marched on to his eighth consecutive victory of the season in Portugal.

The battle for the remainder of the podium was tight, with Samuele Bernardini (Honda) taking the runner-up result by less than three seconds over Thomas Oldrati (Honda). Matteo Cavallo (TM Racing) was only a further five seconds behind in fourth.

Andrea Verona

“It’s been another good round for me, two good days of racing and leaving with the lead in EnduroGP! The tests were really good here in Portugal and I enjoyed them a lot. I was happy with my riding, but I did make some mistakes on both days – one crash on Saturday and two on Sunday. But this is to be expected a little bit because we are all pushing so hard at the moment. Congratulations to Nathan Watson on his wins this week, he was riding really well. I have to say a huge thanks to my GASGAS team as without them it wouldn’t be possible to be leading both championships. There’s now a short break in the calendar, which we will enjoy and then it’s onto Slovakia later this month.”

Daniel Milner

“Some days are good and some days are bad. Unfortunately I had a good crash in the second enduro, snapping my bars and ending my day. Walked away from it thankfully, but she was a scary one. Onwards and upwards.”

E2

With his win in EnduroGP, Nathan Watson also made it a double in Enduro2 in Portugal. Holcombe finished as runner-up, while Czech’s Krystof Kouble enjoyed his first visit to the podium with third.

Nathan Watson

“It’s been a perfect weekend going 1-1, which I kind of didn’t expect to achieve coming into this weekend. It’s the first time I’ve ever done that, so it feels amazing. I want to give a massive thank you to my team for their effort.”

E3

Brad Freeman was back on top of the Enduro3 podium on Sunday. His double win puts him back in the driving seat of the championship. Just three seconds behind Freeman, Sans Soria took second, while Husqvarna Factory Racing’s Mikael Persson completed the top three.

Mikael Persson

“It’s been a good weekend in terms of pace. I was close enough both days to be in the fight for the Enduro3 win but lacked a little speed at the end to make it happen. The times were tight and I made a couple of mistakes that I couldn’t afford when it’s close like that. On Saturday my rhythm was solid and I was riding good until a small mishap on the final Extreme Test dropped me to fourth. On Sunday I was in the hunt all day, but just missed that little extra on the final lap. But in the end to be just 10 seconds from winning shows how competitive things are. We’ve a short break now to regroup, charge the batteries, and fight again in Slovakia.”

Women

The Magnorange FIM Women Enduro World Championship saw Jane Daniels continue to rule the roost. The Brit was once again on flying form, racing to a convincing 25-second margin of victory. Rieju’s Mireia Badia took second, while Roise Rowett (KTM) completed the top three.

Junior

Day two in Portugal finally saw Team Sherco CH Racing’s Zachary Pichon’s unbeaten run of form come to an end. Determined to get the better of the Frenchman, Roni Kytonen (Honda) came out swinging this morning and with a strong showing managed to take the win. With Pichon second, Luc Fargier (Beta) was back on the podium in third.

Youth

Having come close numerous times, Fantic’s Harry Edmondson finally clinched his own double victory in Enduro Youth. The Brit put in a solid ride in Coimbra to take victory over teammate Kevin Cristino. Leo Joyon (Beta) completed the top three.

The WPTGlobal FIM EnduroGP World Championship takes a short break before returning to action with a double header rounds five and six in Slovakia and Hungary, beginning on July 29-31.

Day 2 Results – EnduroGP of Portugal, Coimbra

EnduroGP Standings

E1 Standings

E2 Standings

E3 Standings