Garcia dominates EnduroGP of Portugal | Top-10 for Milner

2023 FIM EnduroGP World Championship
Round Six – Portugal

The opening day of competition at round six of the Paulo Duarte FIM EnduroGP World Championship belonged to Josep Garcia who took a hard fought victory on Saturday. The Red Bull KTM Factory Racing rider led home a three-way fight for the overall in Valpacos with GASGAS Factory Racing’s Andrea Verona finishing in second and Beta Factory Racing’s Steve Holcombe third.

New Zealand’s Hamish Macdonald was the top performer for the day from Oceania amongst the senior ranks, however Daniel Milner wasn’t far off in 10th, claiming fourth and sixth in the E2 class for Saturday, alongside those overall results.

In the Juniors, Aussie Kyron Bacon just missed out on the J1 podium, finishing fifth for the day in Juniors and fourth in that J1 class.

Sunday marked the final day of racing at round six, and was a thriller with Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Josep Garcia eventually claiming another hard-fought victory following an epic battle for the top of the podium. The Spaniard took the win by just one second from Beta Factory Racing’s Steve Holcombe, with GASGAS Factory Racing’s Andrea Verona rounding out the podium.

Sunday saw Hamish Macdonald move up to fifth in the overall results, which was fourth in the highly competitive E2 class, while Daniel Milner was eighth, and fifth in E2. From a standings perspective, Macdonald now holds fifth in the overall EnduroGP rankings, Milner 15th. In the E2 class Macdonald is ranked third, Milner seventh.

Kyron Bacon had a stronger Sunday, finishing third overall in the Juniors, and claiming second in the J1 class on his Yamaha. With all his points earned with his Portugal performance Bacon jumped to 15th in the Junior rankings, and 13th in J1.

Day One – Saturday

Both the racing and the weather were at boiling point on day one at round six of the Paulo Duarte FIM EnduroGP World Championship in northern Portugal. With temperatures above 30 degrees Celsius, competitors faced an intense and gruelling day of racing as they battled their way through 11 special tests and over 70 minutes of timed racing.

On track the action was red hot as riders returned to EnduroGP competition for the first full day of racing following their extended summer break. Everyone was eager to make their mark, and after topping last night’s AKRAPOVIC Super Test it was Josep Garcia who hit the ground running.

He topped the opening POLISPORT Extreme Test to build up a five second advantage over Andrea Verona and CH Racing Sherco’s Zach Pichon in third. Beta Factory Racing’s Brad Freeman sat in fifth, with Luc Fargier (Beta) sixth.

Verona was in a determined mood on lap one and went on to win the following JUST1 Enduro Test and ACERBIS Cross Test to edge out Garcia for the lead by nearly two seconds as they ended the first lap. By now Steve Holcombe was up to third, but sitting 11 seconds behind meant he had work to do if he was to catch the duo ahead.

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Topping the second POLISPORT Extreme Test saw Holcombe do just that – almost halving the gap to Verona and Garcia. Garcia was up for the fight though and by winning the JUST1 Enduro Test and ACERBIS Cross Test, it put him back into the lead with a lap and a half to go.

On lap three Holcombe won the Extreme and Enduro Tests to set up an exciting end to the day. Swapping test wins, by just fractions of a second, it was ultimately Garcia who won the final ACERBIS Cross Test to clinch the win from Verona and Holcombe.

With the pace of the top three pulling them away from the rest of the field, Pichon placed over one minute and 18 seconds behind in fourth. Honda Racing RedMoto’s Samuele Bernardini completed the top five, edging out Fast Eddy Racing’s Jamie McCanney in sixth by five seconds.

Enduro3 was a closely fought affair. Coming on strong in the latter half of the day, WP Eric Auge’s Jaume Betriu claimed his first victory of the season. Brad Freeman and Mikael Persson (Husqvarna) rounded out the top three.

Enduro1 saw Josep Garcia claim a commanding victory over Zach Pichon in second. Jamie McCanney raced his way onto the podium with third, while Beta Oxmoto’s Theo Espinasse and TM Racing’s Matteo Pavoni completed the top five.

The battle for Enduro2 honours was decided between Verona and Holcombe, with Verona getting the win by just two seconds. Samuele Bernardini scored his first podium of the season with third.

The GALFER FIM Junior Enduro World Championship was super-close between Jed Etchells and Albin Norrbin. The duo pushed each other hard for victory, pulling themselves clear of the chasing pack. In the end it was Etchells who just hung on long enough to get the job done and take the win by one second from Norrbin.

In the fight for the final step of the podium, Sergio Navarro (Husqvarna) beat Jeremy Sydow (Sherco) by three seconds to take third.

Getting back to his winning ways having missed last time out in Slovakia, Fantic’s Kevin Cristino restored normal order in Enduro Youth. The Italian won by four seconds from Beta’s Leo Joyon, with Thibault Giraudon (Sherco) a further 10 seconds behind in third.

Josep Garcia – P1

“It feels so good to win again. I worked so hard during the summer break to get back fit and healthy. But you never know how it goes until you race. So, to get this win and know I have the speed to race with the best is amazing. I’m excited for tomorrow!”

Andrea Verona – P2

“It’s been a really big, fun fight today for the victory. I love racing like this, but for sure I wanted to win bad. I’m happy with my riding, everything is good. I’ll see what I can do tomorrow.”

Steve Holcombe – P3

“It was a great battle on the final laps. I gave away some time this morning that I couldn’t make back when the pace is this hot, but that’s how it goes sometimes. I’m looking forward to tomorrow and will try to be there from the off.”

2023 EnduroGP of Portugal Day One Highlights

Day One Results – Top 20

Day Two – Sunday

After a thrilling day of racing yesterday, today’s action at round six of the Paulo Duarte FIM EnduroGP World Championship was every bit as exciting in Valpacos, Portugal. Despite chewed up special tests and intense heat, competitors raced hard in the Portuguese sun.

Following Saturday’s titanic battle between Josep Garcia (KTM), Steve Holcombe (Beta) and Andrea Verona (GASGAS), the trio picked up where they left off on the first POLISPORT Extreme Test. Making amends for his slow start to day one, Holcombe immediately set the pace by clocking the fastest time and then backed that up by winning the opening JUST1 Enduro Test to claim an early lead over Garcia and Verona.

The fight for fourth was just as intense with TM Racing’s Daniel Milner, CH Racing Sherco’s Hamish MacDonald and teammate Zach Pichon, plus Mikael Persson (Husqvarna) all separated by one second.

Closing out lap one by topping the ACERBIS Cross Test, Garcia gained some ground on Holcombe, but on lap two he got to work topping the Enduro Test and Cross Test, before topping the final POLISPORT Extreme Test to draw within two seconds of the Brit.

For the rest of the day, there would be little to separate them. A crash from Verona on the final JUST1 Enduro Test saw the Italian drop out of the fight for the overall. With a win on the final ACERBIS Cross Test, Garcia incredibly overhauled Holcombe to claim victory.

Behind the top three it was RedMoto Honda’s Nathan Watson who worked his way into fourth. The Brit found some extra pace on the final lap to leapfrog MacDonald and Pichon to claim a well-earned result.

With his fight for EnduroGP honours pulling him clear of his Enduro1 classmates, Josep Garcia took a commanding victory. The Spaniard ended his day one minute and 40 seconds ahead of Zach Pichon in second with Fast Eddy Racing’s Jamie McCanney third.

Pleased with his day’s performance, Steve Holcombe took victory in Enduro2. The Beta rider was joined on the podium by Andrea Verona in second and Nathan Watson third.

Although losing touch with his EnduroGP rivals, Brad Freeman (Beta) has kept his Enduro3 title hopes on track by securing back-to-back wins in Portugal. Mikael Persson held off JET Zanardo Husqvarna’s Christophe Charlier by one second to take the runner-up result.

In the GALFER FIM Junior Enduro World Championship it was Fantic Factory Racing’s Albin Norrbin who took the win on day two. After losing out to Fantic JET Racing’s Jed Etchells yesterday, the Swede meant business today. With seven test wins from 11, Norrbin topped the classification by 26 seconds ahead of Etchells. Australia’s Kyron Bacon (Yamaha) put in a great ride to claim a debut podium with third.

The Youth Enduro class saw Kevin Cristino (Fantic) make it two wins from two starts in Portugal. The Italian now looks favourite to take the title at next weekend’s final round. Beta’s Leo Joyon placed as runner-up again in Valpacos, with Pietro Scardina (Fantic) rounding out the top three.

The 2023 Paulo Duarte FIM EnduroGP World Championship concludes with the seventh and final round next weekend in Santiago do Cacém in the south of Portugal, October 6-8.

Josep Garcia – P1

“It’s been an amazing weekend for me. To take a double EnduroGP win is the perfect comeback. After my crash in Sweden, I wasn’t riding so well in Slovakia but since then, I’ve been putting in so much hard work over the summer to build my strength and fitness back up again. I wasn’t certain how things would go here in Portugal, but I definitely felt good coming into this penultimate round. It’s been a huge fight all weekend with Steve (Holcombe) and Andrea (Verona) but despite a couple of small crashes, I was able to stay on top both days. My win in the Super Test makes it 1-1-1 for this round and I’m hoping to do the same next weekend and finish the season off on a high.”

Steve Holcombe – P2

“I think that was one of the hardest fought second place results I’ve had. The battle all day with Josep and Andrea was brilliant. To come one second short of winning sucks a little, but the racing was so, so close.”

Andrea Verona – P3

“Wow, it was a really hot weekend! I’m happy to have won Enduro2 on Saturday and to have made the podium twice in EnduroGP. On Saturday with Josep and Steve we really played it to the wire. We pushed like crazy, but in the end Josep managed to give me a few seconds. Even on Sunday we were all fighting for the victory, and I felt ready to take it but in the last Enduro Test I ended up against a tree and hurt myself quite badly. At that point I just tried to save the podium. The championship ends next weekend, I want to continue giving my best and we’ll see how it goes!”

2023 EnduroGP of Portugal Day Two Highlights

Day Two Results – Top 20

EnduroGP Standings

E1 Standings

E2 Standings

E3 Standings

FIM Junior Enduro World Championship