Podiums for Salvini, Oldrati and Guarneri in Spain

The third round of the Enduro World Championship, held in Spain’s Santiago de Compostela, was another successful one for Honda with podiums for Alex Salvini, Thomas Oldrati and Davide Guarneri.

The weekend started cold with heavy rain, but the sun came out for Saturday and Sunday’s tests, raising the temperatures to create a tough race for all. The GP of Spain, coming just days after the last outing in Portugal, consisted of three tests: one Extreme test on hard ground, one Cross test in the marshes and one soft Enduro, for a total of one hour and a half of race interspersed with long passages between pine and eucalyptus forests.

After the double success in Portugal, Salvini (S2 Motorsport Sembenini Honda-RedMoto) started the weekend with second place in Friday’s Supertest. He continued this form, despite picking up a contusion to the right knee on Saturday, to come away with two second-place finishes in the E2 class. On top of this, Salvini still leads the overall E2 standings.

Honda Racing RedMoto World Enduro Team’s Oldrati started the weekend in the best possible way, with a resounding victory in Friday’s Supertest. Saturday saw him record the best time in the first Special test and finish the others in the top five of the E1 class every time, resulting in a second place class result. Sunday was a more challenging day, where he missed the top three by a small margin.

Meanwhile team mate Christophe Charlier, competing in the E2 class with the Honda-RedMoto CRF450RX Enduro, finished the weekend with a double fourth in class, due to some crashes that prevented him from aiming for the podium.

It was also a good weekend for the Honda RedMoto Lunigiana Team and Davide Guarneri, who put in a masterful performance on Sunday to take second in the E1 class and seventh in the overall EnduroGP. Saturday was unfortunately characterised by a fourth position due a crash in the first Special Extreme test, in which he lost more than a minute before being able to make a painful restart. Thanks to the points gained, Guarneri has strengthened his second position in the E1 standing.

It was a tough race for team mate Davide Soreca in the hard-fought E2 class, who finished eighth on both days. The young Italian has shown good improvements with the new Honda-RedMoto CRF300RX Enduro in his second race.

The next race for Honda’s Enduro riders will be the fifth round of the Enduro Italian Championship in Sant’Angelo, Vado (1-2 June).

Alex Salvini

“Positive weekend with two second positions in my class. Yesterday I was so close to the victory, but I’m happy with Redondi’s first seasonal win. It’s important to be competitive every weekend: apart from day one in Germany, my worst result is the second position – it’s not bad! Now we have a few weeks off and then we’ll be back in action for the Italian Championship.”

Gino Sembenini

“After the amazing weekend in Portugal, in Spain the premises were positive. Unfortunately, Alex crashed immediately in the first Special test hitting his right knee hard. This compromised his performance, but he still managed to get two second positions. Now we think about the next races, aiming to the top positions fighting for the victory.”

Christophe Charlier

“Not so bad: I finished both the days close to the podium with a double fourth position and this is good for the standing. We can still improve and I know I can be more competitive.”

Thomas Oldrati

“The weekend started with the outstanding victory in the Supertest. The race was tough with an hour and a half of Special tests. Saturday was a positive day with the podium, while on Sunday I started well but from the second lap I struggled. Overall, the double GP in Portugal and Spain has good results: there is still work to be done but the team made a good job. Thanks guys.”

Matteo Boffelli

“Pretty positive weekend, started in the best possible way with Oldrati’s victory in the Supertest. On Saturday he was very good, maintaining a good pace and getting the second position, while on Sunday he struggled and failed to get the podium. Charlier had a tough weekend after the good one in Portugal. It’s important to keep on working on this type of ground: the championship is still long and we have a lot to prove.”

Davide Guarneri

“I had a good pace on both the days even though my E1 rivals are tough. On Saturday I made two big mistakes in the Enduro test and in the Extreme and I lose one minute. I recovered, but the best I could do was fourth. Better on Sunday, where I managed to finish in second position.”

Davide Soreca

“Tough weekend. Surely there have been improvements compared to the last GP in Portugal, but I’m still struggling: I’m slowly improving but there’s still a lot to work on.”

Gianni Belloni

“I’m happy with the result of this race. On Saturday we started very bad with Guarneri, then we made a great comeback until the fourth the place. On Sunday he held the second place throughout the day. Soreca has also made some improvements and after some changes the bike is more performing. His class is the most competitive one and his results are good.”