VERONA KICKS ENDUROGP TITLE DEFENCE OFF IN STYLE

After dominating the Enduro1 and EnduroGP classes in 2022 on his EC250F, Andrea Verona was eager to see how things stacked up for 2023 aboard his new EC350F when this year’s EnduroGP World Championship got underway on the weekend in Italy. Despite the added pressure that a home round brings, the Italian was up for the fight and delivered a fast and considered performance throughout the event.

Building into things on day one, Verona fought his way into the top three Overall. A crash on the third cross test forced him to dig deep, but deep he dug. Topping the final extreme test and cross test, he ended his day second Overall in EnduroGP and first in Enduro2.

Happy to get day one out of the way with a solid showing, Verona was up to speed early on day two. With some more special test wins coming his way, he looked increasingly comfortable aboard his EC350F as the conditions worsened. Capping off the day with the fastest time on the final test, the Italian again placed second Overall, while winning the Enduro2 category.

Andrea Verona: “It’s been a really solid start to the season. With two wins in Enduro2 and twice second in EnduroGP, I’m happy with that for sure. I was a bit nervous to kick off the championship as the defending EnduroGP champion on home soil in Italy. A home race always brings a bit of extra pressure and stress, but thankfully it went pretty smooth. To be honest, the crowd support on the tests was crazy with so many people cheering. I’m still adapting and learning the EC350F all the time and figuring out new things as we go, but overall it’s been good. We have some time until Round 2 to build on what we learned here and push to be even stronger in Spain.”

The 2023 EnduroGP World Championship continues with Round 2 in Spain on May 5-7.