Results FIM EnduroGP of Spain 2022

By Aaron V. Dwyer Last updated Jul 28, 2023

Personal News Cycle | May 10, 2022

Andrea Verona and Josep Garcia fired the first shots of the 2022 FIM EnduroGP Championship at the Spanish GP, May 7-8.

The 2022 FIM EnduroGP World Championship kicked off with the running of the Spanish GP, with the drool-worthy backdrop of the northwest region of Spain. Factory Beta’s Brad Freeman takes a climb en route to third place on day two of the event.

Photos by Future7Media

The opening day (Saturday) came down to a three-way battle between Italian Verona, Briton Steve Holcombe and Australian Will Ruprecht. And the Spaniard Josep Garcia was always on the lookout. Holcombe threw the first punch in the opening test, but positions constantly changed throughout the day. Before the last test of the day, only two seconds separated Holcombe, Ruprecht and Verona for the victory. Verona, at the GasGas factory, emerged victorious in the day’s EnduroGP, ahead of Beta’s Holcombe and TM’s Ruprecht.

“It’s amazing to get my first win in the EnduroGP class,” said Verona. “This year my goal was to try to win EnduroGP at least once, so to do it on day one is amazing. Hopefully this is just the start of more victories to come.

Andrea Verona at the 2022 FIM EnduroGP of Spain — **The Italian Andrea Verona is the leader of the first points of the EnduroGP championship after a good start in Spain.**

“Things started well on the first extreme test, but I had a huge crash on the next cross test,” said runner-up Holcombe. “But I’m happy with the way I regroup and I was able to get back into the fight for the win. I’m a little bummed that I missed the ending, but I can’t wait to go back tomorrow!

“What a way to open the season, it was a crazy closing all day!” says Australian Ruprecht. “I’m happy with the way I ride, so I’m happy to be on the podium in this company. I will regroup and prepare to leave tomorrow.

But it was local favorite Garcia who dominated the day on Sunday. The KTM rider dominated, taking a clear victory by over 20 seconds.

“It’s fantastic to take the victory in EnduroGP today,” said Garcia. “I was riding well yesterday but an early crash let me catch up. I didn’t want that to happen today so I kept things clean from the first lap. Once I took the head, it gave me the confidence to push a bit more.

The battle for second place, however, was so clear, with just 0.080 seconds separating Verona and reigning EnduroGP champion Brad Freeman, it was a duel until the end. Day one winner Verona blitzed the final test, edging ninth-placed Freeman on Saturday by four seconds.

Josep Garcia at the FIM EnduroGP of Spain 2022 — **Josep Garcia came away with the victory on the second day.**

Holcombe fell early in the day, twisted his wrist and dropped to the field.

Verona ended the weekend as the EnduroGP points leader.

“It was a great weekend and to start the championship by taking a quick lead in the points is incredible,” said Verona. “The tests were difficult to master and it was a real challenge. Today we had a big battle for the podium. Josep was just a bit faster, but I gave it my all in the last event to finish second.

Brad Freeman at the FIM EnduroGP of Spain 2022 — **Defending champion Brad Freeman took the podium on day two.**

Holcombe was hoping for a better start to the season. “It’s not quite the start to the championship I was hoping for, but I’m happy to have turned things around today,” said Holcombe. “I gave it my all on the last lap but just missed out on second place. To be honest with my recent injury and catching Covid it’s the best I can do in It’s still early days, so we’ll try to improve a bit more in Portugal. NC