Round four of the Hard Enduro World Championship returns to the Red Bull Romaniacs in Sibiu this week with Wade Young leading the series but four-times champion Mani Lettenbichler back from injury.

As if you needed telling it was Romaniacs week. Yup, it’s here again, the Mecca of hard enduro in the middle of Romania has once again attracted a 650+ rider entry to Sibiu for the five-day race this week.

The FIM Hard Enduro World Championship makes its way to Romania for round four and the iconic Red Bull Romaniacs this week, for the GPS-style hard enduro rally.

Apart from the epic number of amateurs making the pilgrimage, this year’s race brings plenty of anticipation in terms of the Hard Enduro World Championship.

Now well and truly in his stride on the Red Bull Leader Tread GASGAS, Wade Young won last time out in Serbia to become the championship points leader. As a former winner of Romaniacs the South African is in the form of his life and is a firm favourite this week.

Wade faces many obstacles in his way to achieving that goal. Aside from the infamous city prologue course and four days of racing in the Carpathian Mountains, a certain KTM Factory Racing’s Manuel Lettenbichler returns from injury this week – and the last time he took time off to recover from injury the German was literally unstoppable.

Watch it live on Enduro21

Good news this year as you will be able to watch action from across the five days live. Enduro21 will play the LEATTlive feed (also viewable on playback) from the Prologue finals on Tuesday plus the daily live feeds from the mountains.

Marathon stage returns

Racing gets underway on Tuesday, July 23, with the prologue qualification on the always incredible manmade course for competitors from over 60 nations with top 30 in each class going through to a finals.

Riders then face four “Offroad Days” in the mountains which runs on the GPS system with check points and early starts for the Pro riders of usually 7am and an afternoon finish.

This year features a rally-style marathon stage where no outside assistance is allowed, and where riders will complete Offroad Day 2 in Râmnicu Vâlcea, some 200 kilometres away from host city Sibiu where the service teams are based.

Staying there overnight, they will eventually meet up with their service crews, family and friends at the service point midway through Offroad Day 3. That means only basic tools to maintain their motorcycles, it should prove a crucial point in the race.

Young in charge

We haven’t been able to write this before but Wade Young, not Mani Lettenbichler or Billy Bolt) sits in charge of the points standings heading to round four.

Winner at round three, Red Bull Leader Tread’s Wade Young arrives in Sibiu as the new championship leader. Young holds a two-point lead over Sherco Factory Racing’s Mario Roman, who in turn holds a two-point advantage over Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Manuel Lettenbichler. With just four points separating the top three at this halfway stage in the season, it really is all to play for at round four.

Claiming a win at round three, and always performing strongly in Romania, Young will be fired up for further success in Sibiu. He’s not alone with former teammate, Sherco’s Mario Roman right behind in the points and with a point to prove this season and here in Romania where the Spaniard has never taken victory.

Defending champion Lettenbichler returns to action having missed round three due to a knee injury. The German’s fitness and form leading into round four is unknown but we know from experience mani doesn’t return from injury before he is ready and when he does, he can be devastating to the opposition.

Bulgaria’s Teodor Kabakchiev (Sherco) sits fourth overall in the championship chase, five points behind Lettenbichler. Still very much in the hunt, the Sherco rider has formidable form in the GPS-style races and starts as one of the favourites this week.

They are the HEWC points scorers but this week in Romania sees a host of non-championship riders including Jonny Walker, Graham Jarvis, Alfredo Gomez and Michael Walkner who are all capable of podiums. After his day win at round three, Xross Hard Enduro, and narrow fourth place at Erzberg, Jarvis is in good form.

Completing the top five in the overall standings is TTR Squadra Corse’s Mitch Brightmore. The young Brit has enjoyed a solid season to date challenging the top boys while simultaneously heading the Junior points standings.

Current standings FIM HEWC:

1. Wade Young (GASGAS) 49pts

2. Mario Roman (Sherco) 47pts

3. Manuel Lettenbichler (KTM) 45pts

4. Teodor Kabakchiev (Sherco) 40pts

5. Mitch Brightmore (Husqvarna) 38pts

6. Francesc Moret (Sherco) 27pts

7. Matthew Green (KTM) 27pts

8. Marc Riba (KTM) 25pts

9. David Cyprian (KTM) 21pts

10. Vaclav Nedved (KTM) 19pts

The FIM Hard Enduro Junior World Championship supported by KLIM, Mitch Brightmore remains undefeated so far with three wins from three starts. At round three Mitch faced a sizeable challenge from South Africa’s James Moore (GASGAS), with the Rigo Racing rider leading until the final day. Moore will look to impress once more and show what he is capable of.

Mitch’s brother Ashton lies second overall in the standings and makes his Romaniacs debut this year. Brits dominate the Junior series standings with Beta UK’s Richard Moorhouse holds third overall, ahead of Triple D Motosport KTM’s Robert Crayston.

FIM HEJWC (Junior) supported by KLIM

1. Mitch Brightmore (Husqvarna) 65pts

2. Ashton Brightmore (GASGAS) 54pts

3. Richard Moorhouse (Beta) 41pts

4. Robert Crayston (KTM) 32pts

5. James Moore (GASGAS) 28pts

6. Hugo Crozet (Beta) 26pts

7. Barnabas Csizmazia (Husqvarna) 26pts

8. Marc Fernandez (KTM) 25pts

9. Valentino Hutter (GASGAS) 24pts

10. Suff Sella (KTM) 24pts

Stay tuned to Enduro21

Round four of the FIM Hard Enduro World Championship takes place at Red Bull Romaniacs in Sibiu, Romania on July 23-27. As ever, Enduro21 will be all over it with the results, news, interviews and those daily Leatt LIveManiacs broadcasts to watch beginning tomorrow, July 23, with the prologue from 16:00hrs CEST.

Photo Credit: Red Bull | Attile Szabo + Future7Media | Andrea Belluschi