Kiwi Rider April 2024 Vol.2 | Page 20

DIRT NEWS

GARCIA STARTS ENDUROGP WITH A BANG

Red Bull KTM Factory Racing ’ s Josep Garcia has got his 2024 FIM EnduroGP World Championship campaign off to a flying start at round one in Portugal . The Spaniard was on winning form at the season-opener , claiming victories in both EnduroGP and Enduro1 on day one . Backing it up with a closely fought runner-up result in each class on day two , Josep completed round one as the early points leader in the EnduroGP championship . Eagerly awaiting round one of the new EnduroGP season , Garcia was keen to start the defence of his Enduro1 crown while also fighting for overall EnduroGP honours . Immediately making his presence felt , the KTM 250 EXC-F mounted rider clocked the fastest time in the competitive Friday night Super Test . Continuing his strong pace on Saturday morning , Garcia won the opening cross test and enduro test to establish an early lead . Collecting a further three test wins as the day progressed , the KTM rider built a lead that wouldn ’ t be caught . Winning EnduroGP by a very healthy 32 seconds , he also secured the Enduro1 class win . A solid start to day two saw Garcia take over the EnduroGP race lead at the end of the second special test . However , an unfortunate mistake on the slippery rocks in the extreme test saw him lose 10 seconds to his rivals . Forced to play catch up , the race was on for the Spaniard . Attacking hard for the remaining two laps and six special tests , Garcia came within four seconds of taking victory on his KTM 250 EXC-F . But despite his best efforts , he had to settle for the runner-up result in both EnduroGP and Enduro1 . Naturally disappointed with his mistake , but pleased with his overall performance and speed , Josep heads to round two next weekend with an early lead in EnduroGP , while remaining tied on points for the lead in Enduro1 . “ I ’ m very happy with how the weekend has gone and it feels good to get the championship underway with strong results like this ,” Garcia said . “ Day one was perfect . I hardly made a mistake

20 KIWI RIDER