The fifth round of the FIM EnduroGP World Championship was certainly a wild one for Andrea Verona! Starting strong on day one to finish as runner-up in EnduroGP, the GASGAS Factory Racing rider also notched up his ninth straight win in E1. A crash early on day two saw Andrea put in a true champion’s performance to claw his way back up the leaderboard for fifth in EnduroGP and second in Enduro1. With solid points bagged, he continues to lead both the EnduroGP and Enduro1 standings with two rounds to go.
Andrea digs deep to maintain EnduroGP championship lead
Slovakia brings the toughest conditions of the season so far
Championship heads to Hungary for penultimate round next weekend
With his GASGAS EC 250F rocking the EnduroGP series leader’s gold plate in Slovakia for round five of the FIM EnduroGP World Championship, Andrea Verona was in a confident mood. And after just missing out on the Super Test win by a whisker on Friday night, the tone for a positive weekend of racing had been set.
Combining his sheer speed with consistency, Verona was on the gas throughout day one in Slovakia. With the job at hand made tougher by adverse weather, the Italian remained focused and ran up front all day long. Moving into the EnduroGP class lead after winning the second Enduro test, a couple of small crashes on the final test cost him dearly but he’d hold on for second in EnduroGP while notching up his ninth straight win in E1.
Day two started well for Verona. Well-placed among the leaders after the first two tests and ready for another epic battle for overall victory, a crash on the third test saw him lose around 40 seconds. Fortunate to be unharmed, the 23-year-old gave everything he had for the rest of the day to make up for lost time. Verona’s hard charge would reward him with fifth in EnduroGP and second in E1, limiting the damage and maintaining his lead in both classes.
With another round of EnduroGP complete, Andrea now heads to the penultimate stop of the FIM EnduroGP World Championship next weekend in Hungary, on August 5-7.
Andrea Verona: “A bit of an up and down weekend for me here in Slovakia. Day one was really good. I was consistent all day and I was leading going into the final test, but two small crashes cost me the win. Overall, It was a good first day with second in EnduroGP and the win in E1. I was feeling good for day two and it started well, but on the first enduro test I crashed and lost around 40 seconds. From there all I could do was charge as hard as I could and ended up fifth in EnduroGP and second in E1. So the E1 win streak is over but the bigger picture is that I still lead both classes. I’m excited for Hungary next weekend.”
Results – 2022 EnduroGP World Championship, Round 5, Day 1
Enduro1
1. Andrea Verona (GASGAS) 1:04:07.24
2. Thomas Oldrati (Honda) 1:05:43.84
3. Matteo Cavalllo (TM) 1:06:23.04
EnduroGP
1. Wil Ruprecht (TM) 1:03:55.70
2. Andrea Verona (GASGAS) 1:04:07.24
3. Steve Holcombe (Beta) 1:04:13.55
Results – 2022 EnduroGP World Championship, Round 5, Day 2
Enduro1
1. Thomas Oldrati (Honda) 1:05:38.57
2. Andrea Verona (GASGAS) 1:05:40.97
3. Matteo Cavalllo (TM) 1:06:47.49
EnduroGP
1. Wil Ruprecht (TM) 1:04:45.73
2. Steve Holcombe (Beta) 1:04:46.18
3. Josep Garcia (KTM) 1:05:22.87
5. Andrea Verona (GASGAS) 1:05:40.97
Championship Standings – 2022 EnduroGP World Championship, (after Round 5)
Enduro1
1. Andrea Verona (GASGAS) 197 pts
2. Thomas Oldrati (Honda) 169 pts
3. Matteo Cavallo (TM) 134 pts
EnduroGP
1. Andrea Verona (GASGAS) 161 pts
2. Wil Ruprecht (TM) 150 pts
3. Nathan Watson (Honda) 123 pts
