2024 EnduroGP Results: Andrea Verona Bosses Day 1 in Romania

2024 EnduroGP World Championship results from day one in Bacau, Romania where GASGAS Factory Racing’s Andrea Verona claims his first scratch win of the season ahead of Josep Garcia and Steve Holcombe.

EnduroGP Rnd3, Romania Day 1 in a nutshell:

Riders rolled out early under sunny skies on Saturday morning in Bacau for day one at round three of the Paulo Duarte FIM EnduroGP World Championship.
It was again a tail of the top three; GASGAS Factory Racing’s Andrea Verona, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Josep Garcia and Honda Racing RedMoto Enduro Team’s Steve Holcombe riding clear from the rest of the field to lay claim early doors to the podium. The question was in which order would they stand on it this weekend?
As it turned out, a slow starting Steve Holcombe allowed Garcia and Verona to duke it out for the overall, the Farioli team riders revelling in a fight not unlike those we’ve seen before at ISDEs in recent years.
Both Andrea and Josep traded test wins, lost time in small crashes and ultimately let it boil down to the final tests where Verona kept on keeping on to win by 13 seconds and take his first scratch win of the season – it’s been coming.
Unable to bridge the gap to the leading duo, Holcombe had to settle for a lonely third, clear of Freeman in P4 but unhappy with his first lap and time cost to his rivals.
Garcia topped E1 comfortably from Holcombe with Jamie McCanney maintaining his strong start to 2024 in third and fifth overall.
Verona was the clear winner of E2, placing nearly two minutes ahead of Watson in second with Ablin Elowson claiming a podium for Eric Auge team to complete the top three.
Brad Freeman is still not firing on all cylinders it seems and had to settle for P4 overall albeit with a familiar victory in E3. Super test winner Matteo Cavallo battled hard with Fantic Racing Team’s Albin Norrbin to take second by four seconds over the Swede.
The GALFER FIM Junior Enduro World Championship saw Max Ahlin take his first win of the season bettering championship leader Axel Semb who didn’t have it so easy this weekend and saw Youth world champ Kevin Cristino snatch second, with Semb third.
The Enduro Youth class saw TM MOTO’s Alberto Elgari take his second victory of the season, fighting with compatriot Manuel Verzeroli to win by 16 seconds. Beta Factory Racing’s Clement Clauzier rounded out the podium in third.
Andrea Verona: “It feels awesome to get my first overall win of the season. I rode strong all day. I’ll try again tomorrow and push hard.”
Josep Garcia: “It was a great day and I felt great out there. But then I crashed on the final extreme test and lost the lead. The pace is fast and very close. It shows you can’t make mistakes out there.”
Steve Holcombe: “It was a good day, but I just didn’t have the pace of Andrea and Josep to bring the fight to them. I know I’m riding well, so I will have another look at the tests tonight to see where I can improve for tomorrow.”
Max Ahlin: “I didn’t watch the times so close today, but I knew it was *tight* between Axel and myself. I think he had a crash and that gave me some room. I maintained my advantage after that and took the win. It’s been a good day!”