EnduroGP of Portugal II Results: Josep Garcia wins day 1 as first world titles tumble

Results from day one of the 2023 FIM EnduroGP World Championship round seven in Santiago do Cacem, Portugal where Josep Garcia takes the overall win and with it the E1 world title – Kevin Cristino, Jed Etchells (J1) and Jane Daniels also enter the record books.

EnduroGP or Portugal II, Santiago do Cacem, day 1 in a nutshell:

Day one was a hot one in Santiago. Although the tests were relatively close to the paddock, it felt like a long day as everyone including the Enduro Women ran three laps of four tests with searing heat.
Testing riders’ trials skills in the rocky quarry, sand riding technique in one of the enduro tests and their mettle in the super-fast cross test – it was a good and impressive final GP of the season.
EnduroGP championship leader Steve Holcombe’s day didn’t start so well. Two crashes in two tests dropped 20 seconds on the lead and it would be a small but important deficit which affected whether or not the world title fell today.
Josep Garcia didn’t look happy with his bike setup early on either but the KTM factory man was still at the top of the time sheets all day, barring test one. The Spaniard was sharing test wins with Andrea Verona and Holcombe (plus Nathan Watson in the sand test on lap one) and though the fast three took a lap to find their feet, they were the class acts yet again.
Josep Garcia headed the timesheets to claim his fifth day win of the season and his third world with the 2023 E1 World Championship: “Now all the suffering after the GP of Slovakia has gone. I had to fight like hell for this and the good feelings are back. To take the overall win and the E1 title is an incredible feeling.”
Broken hand or not Andrea Verona was not giving up today on either world title, EGP, the E2 chase or in his rear view mirror as a marauding Garcia guns for second position scratch. Never give up attitude was writ large all over the top three in fact but the pain was visible on Andrea’s face after the rocky and steep drops in the extreme test.
In the other tests, where the Italian could stand on his GASGAS foot pegs, he was his usual all-action self and held onto the fact Steve Holcombe needed to beat him to win the title today. Second it was and the EGP crown still hangs waiting for a head to land on.
Holcombe very quickly climbed back up the leader board but his problem was all three of them are so equally fast, those 20s lost proved impossible to claw back. In the end it was a 24s gap to Garcia and third place and we head to day two with the world title still in the balance. It is the same story for the E2 world championship with Holcombe holding a points advantage (15) but not enough to take the title today.

EnduroGP standings after day 1, as they stand:

Steve Holcombe 211 points

Andrea Verona 194

Josep Garcia 190

Jamie McCanney has been slowly building in the last few GPs. The incentive of third in E1 world championship wasn’t on his mind he told Enduro21 at the end of a day where he looked fired-up on the Fast Eddy Racing Husqvarna FE 250.
Fourth place is his best result of the season and second in E1 class means the championship table swings to Jamie ahead of Zach Pichon by one point for third behind Theo Espinasse and Garcia.
E3 class? Brad Freeman and Mikael Persson find themselves in a de-ja-vu situation to last year with Brad returning from injury and Micki giving it everything. Freeman took the win in class with P9 overall with Persson second and P11 overall to leave the British rider heading for the class title tomorrow.
The Junior World Championship showdown this weekend played out by the book with the two leading riders, Jed Etchells and Albin Norrbin, riding like they meant it. Their test times well inside the top 10 overall, at times inside the top five scratch which is testimony to their level.
Come the final timing beam Norrbin had the upper hand, just by 3.7s and that means their title tally sees Jed seven points ahead with one to go.
Consolation prize (and some!) for Jed is he claims his first world title, the J1 class, the first of three bursts of champagne in the Fantic awnings tonight.
The second shower went to Kevin Cristino who brought the Youth World Championship title safely home. Leo Joyon did what was needed with the day win but behind him in P2 meant the Italian Cristino claims the 125 crown.
A third world championship celebration happened a few metres away under the Fantic JET Racing awning as Jane Daniels claimed what was the least surprising victory of all. Her season has been perfect, seven day wins from seven, although unusually today she has not won every test.
A healthy dose of motocross experience from some of the other female riders, particularly the long and sandy first enduro test where Francisca Nocera was impressive, like half a minute faster impressive. But for a 20 second penalty today the RedMoto Honda rider threatened to spoiled Jane’s 100% party.
Australian Danielle Mcdonald could also have spoiled the party with an impressive GP debut but she struggled big-time in the extreme test to cancel out any gains (and test wins) elsewhere.
A clean sweep means the 2023 FIM Womens World Champion for Daniels with second place looking set for Jess Gardiner and the fight still on for third between Nocera and Rosie Rowett.