GASGAS Factory Racing’s Andrea Verona has got his 2023 FIM EnduroGP World Championship underway in style, fighting hard throughout his home GP to earn his first podium results of the new season. Switching from the Enduro1 class to the Enduro2 category for this year, despite the Italian event marking his first world championship outing on the EC 350F, the defending EnduroGP World Champion still ripped on home soil, claiming an Enduro2 class win on both days, while also going 2-2 in EnduroGP.

The EnduroGP World Championship continues with round two in Spain on May 5-7.

After dominating in 2022 on his EC 250F, Verona was eager to see how things stacked up for 2023 on his new EC 350F. 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, Andrea Verona was up to speed early on day two. With some more special test wins coming his way, he looked increasingly comfortable on his EC 350F as the conditions worsened. Capping off the day with the fastest time on the final test, Verona again placed second overall, while winning the Enduro2 category.

Championship Standings – 2023 EnduroGP World Championship, (after Round 1)

Enduro2
1. Andrea Verona (GASGAS) 40 pts
2. Steve Holcombe (Beta) 34 pts
3. Hamish MacDonald (Sherco) 30 pts

EnduroGP
1. Brad Freeman (Beta) 40 pts
2. Andrea Verona (GASGAS) 34 pts
3. Steve Holcombe (Beta) 30 pts

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 EC 350F all the time and figuring out new things as we go, but overall it’s been good. We have some time until round two to build on what we learned here and push to be even stronger in Spain.” (source: gasgas)

STORY: Andrea Verona Fired Up For Enduro GP Title Defense (March 2023)

photos (c) GasGas