IN
THE
WIND
P64
Garcia Sweeps Portugal EnduroGP
S
pain's Josep Garcia swept
both days of racing at the
FIM Enduro World Championship
in Portugal, October 9-10.
The Red Bull KTM Factory
Racing pilot, Garcia, finished well
clear of EnduroGP (overall cham-
pionship classification) points
leader Brad Freeman (Beta) on
day one, savoring a 54-second
cushion over the Beta rider at the
end of the day.
Freeman was just four-plus
seconds ahead of third place
Andrea Verona (GasGas).
"On Saturday I started with a
lot of confidence, I liked the stag-
es and I felt good on the bike,"
Garcia said. "I pushed from the
beginning and, although I made a
mistake in the first Enduro test, I
was able to get a good advantage
already in the middle of the race,
so I was riding very comfortable
all day. It was an amazing day."
On day two (Sunday), it was
much closer for Garcia. The
Spaniard had his hands full with
Freeman, who was the overall
leader at one point during the
day, but Garcia stepped it up
later in the afternoon and ended
up edging out the Beta rider by
just 2.75 seconds when all was
said and done.
Honda rider Nathan Watson
of Great Britain was third overall
on the day another 30 seconds
behind Freeman.
"On Sunday we started with
the same objective, to push from
the beginning," Garcia said. "And
that's how it went. Although Brad
was much faster and more suc-
cessful today. I made a couple
of mistakes and had a fall, which
brought us to the last stage with
just one second of advantage.
In the end the victory was mine,
so I am very happy with how the
whole weekend has gone, after
achieving this double victory in
both EnduroGP and Enduro.
The double victory moved
Garcia a little closer to Freeman in
the race for the 2021 EnduroGP
Championship with just one round
(two days) left of racing to do in
France. Garcia also leads the En-
duro2 division by 22 points over
Australia's Will Rupretch (TM).
Italy's Andrea Verona (GasGas)
won both days in Enduro1 and
is third overall in the EnduroGP
classification, 34 points behind
Garcia. Verona, however, enjoys
a 16-point lead over fellow coun-
tryman Davide Guarneri (Fantic),
who was runner-up both days in
Portugal, in the Enduro1 class.
CN
Spain's Josep Garcia
topped both days at
the penultimate round
of the FIM EnduroGP
Championship in Portugal.
PHOTO: ANDREA BELLUSCHI/
FUTURE7MEDIA
