Results from the opening Spanish Enduro Championship round of the 2024 season in Antas where Josep Garcia kicked off the defence of his Scratch and E1 titles with a comfortable victory over Sergio Navarro, with Jaume Betriu and Antoine Magain disputing the final podium places across two dusty days.

2024 Spanish Enduro Championship Rnd1 in a nutshell:

• With an opening round set in typically dusty conditions in the south of Spain, conditions couldn’t have been more contrasting for Josep Garcia who arrived in Antas eager to shake off the disappointment from last weekend's Italian Enduro, where bad luck and a lack of feeling in the mud prevented a better result.
• The KTM rider flew through the special stages laid on by the Moto Club 100 Millas, being the fastest in all of them to secure victory overall by over a minute and a half and in E1 by over two minutes on day one.
• Day two saw a repeat performance on a shortened timecard due to the dusty conditions and Garcia leaves the first race of his national series as the leader in both Scratch and E1.
• “Before coming here, we made some changes to the bike, both to the engine and various other things, so it was a race to see how it would perform as well.” said Josep. “The first day was a very good, without crashes, with good feeling, but also understanding the bike at the same time.
• “The second day, we’ve tried to continue in this line and it’s gone very well, apart from two falls. But considering the terrain it was easy to have a fall. The important thing is that they were crashes without consequences and I’m super happy to have won Enduro 1 and Scratch again and to have felt very comfortable with the bike throughout the day.”

Check how hard Garcia was pushing in the highlights: 2024 Spanish Enduro: Who else? Easy Rnd1 win for Josep Garcia in Antas

• The change to the E2 category for 2024 suited Sergio Navarro well as he took second-place Scratch and victory in class on both days.
• Recovered from the shoulder injury suffered at the Bassella Race, Jaume Betriu claimed his first victory in E3 (and third scratch on day one) ahead of Alejandro Navarro and Marc Sans who debuted with the Yamaha YZ300X from Johansson MPE.
• Day two on the big bikes however saw the best result from one of the many non-Spanish riders this weekend in Antas, Antoine Magain. The Sherco Factory rider clocked in just over one minute behind Garcia and 10s adrift of Navarro in P2.
• Notable performances over the weekend included Alex Puey on a Beta 125 RR two-stroke in his first senior race taking third in E1 behind Roni Kytonen (now also in the Johansson MPE Yamaha team).
• In the Women’s category, Mireia Badia had problems in the first test on day one, losing too much time, but day two saw her demonstrate why she is the leading rider in Spain at the moment by winning with a lead of 1m19s over Maria San Miguel and Mireia Rabionet.
• In the Junior 125cc category, the podium was composed of Yago Dominguez, Raul Sanchez, and Aleix Saumell.

More on the Enduro21 Spanish language sister site: Nacional Enduro 2024: Josep García sale invicto de Antas tras ser el más rápido en el 2º día

Spanish Enduro Rnd1, day 1 scratch:

Spanish Enduro Rnd1, day 2 scratch:

Photo Credit: Future7Media | Nicki Martinez