2024 Romaniacs results: Jonny Walker back with a bang for prologue win

Results from the 2024 Red Bull Romaniacs prologue finals where Jonny Walker grabbed the win on his return to Sibiu ahead of Alfredo Gomez and Mani Lettenbichler who ominously starts first on Off Road Day 1 tomorrow.

2024 Red Bull Romaniacs prologue finals in a nutshell:

• Warm temperatures greeted the 600-plus riders from all five classes lining up for their single lap qualification runs on the prologue course this year at Romaniacs.
• A more flowing course than some years saw Jonny Walker fastest of all on the single runs with an almost one minute time just a quarter second faster than Mitch Brightmore and Manuel Lettenbichler 10s back.

Jonny’s quali run looked like this onboard

• The aim as always was to set a time to establish start order for Off Road Day 1 tomorrow. For the select few, 35 riders in each in Bronze, Silver and Gold classes, the goal was to reach the finals – a 10 minute plus one lap race in class.
• Bronze class went first and it wasn’t long before teenage Sorry Bro Racing rider Fernando Pascal put himself out front with some clean riding on the technical course.
• A water feature straight into a bunch of tyres, perfectly placed and sized to catch wheels, caused chaos from the start. Pascal ran cleanly through until his fourth and last lap where the tyres caught him out but he went on for the win ahead of Mark Jackson and Kevin Gallas on the Yamaha Tenere.
• Silver class came next with some old dogs in the mix with younger riders all on the next rung down from the main class including Pol Tarres and seven-times podium finisher Chris Birch.
• Polish rider Oskar Waligora took the class win ahead of Kornel Ott from Hungary and Barry Donaghy from Ireland for a multinational podium.
• Lining up on the front row of the Gold class finals, Jonny Walker, Mitch and Ashton Brightmore, Alfredo Gomez and world champ Mani Lettenbichler all typically made the course look so much easier than other classes but none were immune to those tyres.
• Jonny took the lead off the flag with Letti alongside but he quickly got caught by the wet section and was midpack on the first lap.
• Bringing his SuperEnduro and Endurocross skills to the forefront, Walker made light work of track and was ticking off laps and lapping HEWC contenders up to mario Roman in P7. With a nose-dive in the tyres as his only real mistake, Jonny took an easy victory.
• Second place went to a guy who can always be relied upon for a fast prologue, Alfredo Gomez. The Rieju rider made steady and consistent race avoiding too many mistakes.
• Despite his early error on the tyres, Mani Lettenbichler came back through for third place which is arguably the result he wanted. That means the four times Romaniacs winner will be first away tomorrow (the winner gets to chose any place in the top three, second next and third after). While he lost a few potential points for third today (championship points get awarded for the podium places in the prologue) it could be ominous for his rivals as the KTM rider faces a clear track in the mountains from the get-go.
• Worth noting also is the time added depending on finishing position here at Romaniacs. For example HEWC title contender Teo Kabakchiev now has two minutes added to his overall time due to a 10th place finish in the prologue. 

Red Bull Romaniacs prologue finals results, Gold class (top 20):

Silver class (top 20):

Bronze class (top 20):

Iron class (top 20):

Atom class (top 20):

Photo Credit: Future7Media | Andrea Belluschi