HM Honda Zanardo’s Alex Salvini scored another double podium at round three of the Enduro World Championship at the weekend with a 2-2 finish in Puerto Lumbreras, Spain, which maintains the Italian racer’s series’ lead by nine points.
Salvini, who has enjoyed wins in both of the opening two rounds of this year’s E2 Championship, continued with his strong consistency over the 45km course in Spain, which was made up of dirt tracks, trails, stoney sections, sandy ground and a deep canyon with a total of 12 tests on each day.
It was an important round for Salvini, who arrived at the Spanish track with the objective of maintaining his championship lead that he’d established in the early part of the series, which included a double win last time out in Argentina. On both days he fought hard until the very final stages with local racer Ivan Cervantes, and Salvini managed to maintain his 100% podium record so far this season with two second positions aboard his Honda race machine.
Teammate Simone Albergoni did not have the best of weekends in the E1 class, as he took ninth on Saturday and seventh position on Sunday while struggling to find a good rhythm around the Spanish track.
The next race for the HM Honda Zanardo team is round four of the Enduro World Championship on May 18 and 19 in Portugal.
Alex Salvini #9
“Both yesterday and today were two positive days if we look at the results, but it was not an easy race. I’m a little disappointed, because we have always been very close and there were some mistakes. It was a head-to-head not only with the home rider Cervantes, but also with other great riders such as Renet and Aubert. On Saturday after the first lap I was first, but then I lost a little bit of time; we all had the same time and I tried to do my best to pass Cervantes, but I made another mistake and I finished second. Today I fell in the cross test and then I struggled with Renet until the end, so I was second again. The team did a great job and we still lead the series, but Ivan had an extra something today, although we are reasonably satisfied with the result.”
Simone Albergoni #50
“This weekend in Spain has not gone well for me. It was very hard and I struggled to find my rhythm. On Saturday I started slowly and then I increased the pace, but towards the end I struggled physically and I started to make mistakes. So, on Saturday I finished ninth. On Sunday I raced well in the special tests, but I was still too detached from the leading group, so I could not do better than seventh position. I have to work harder and try to improve in the next race”.
Franco Mayr: HM Honda Zanardo Team Manager
“The ground here wasn’t particularly suited to our riders, and they have to do more training on this type of track. On both days of the competition we struggled to reach our potential. Simone was better on Sunday than Saturday, but there is still work to do because there are many good competitors and there is no room for mistakes in the E1 class. Salvini started very well in the E2 class; at the beginning he was in the lead, but then a couple of mistakes affected his performance. This was the home Grand Prix for Cervantes, who was very fast and motivated to do well in front of his home crowd. However, we are all pleased with the two second positions of Alex. Now we have to work and confirm our leadership in E2 class in the next GP of Portugal”.
| 1 | Ivan Cervantes | 57:17.21 | ESP | KTM | KTM Enduro Factory Racing |
| 2 | Alex Salvini | +36.15 | ITA | HONDA | HM Honda Zanardo |
| 3 | Johnny Aubert | +45.25 | FRA | KTM | KTM Enduro Factory Racing |
| 4 | Pierre Alexandre Renet | +48.50 | FRA | HUSABERG | Husaberg |
| 5 | Oriol Mena | +1:30.41 | ESP | HUSABERG | Husaberg Factory Team |
| 6 | Victor Guerrero | +2:09.60 | ESP | KTM | KTM Enduro Supported Team |
| 7 | Oscar Balletti | +2:35.60 | ITA | KTM | Team Iron Racing |
| 8 | Lorenzo Santolino | +2:48.27 | SPA | HUSQVARNA | Husqvarna Monster Energy |
| 10 | Antoine Basset | +3:27.64 | FRA | YAMAHA | Enduro Arnee De Terre |
| 11 | Jaume Betriu | +4:00.61 | ESP | HUSABERG | Husaberg |
| 12 | Alexandre Queyreyre | +4:07.93 | FRA | YAMAHA | Enduro Arnee De Terre |
| 13 | Roni Nikander | +4:22.86 | FIN | KTM | KTM wildcard |
| 14 | Armand Monleon | +5:04.64 | ESP | KTM | KTM wildcard |
| 15 | Marc Sola | +5:09.41 | ESP | SHERCO | Sherco |
| 16 | Pierre Vissac | +5:22.30 | FRA | SHERCO | Sherco |
| 17 | Jacob Morhed | +5:54.53 | SWE | HONDA | Honda wildcard |
| 18 | Cedric Cremer | +6:40.18 | BEL | KTM | KTM wildcard |
| 19 | Xavier De Soultrait | +7:13.60 | FRA | YAMAHA | Yamaha Wildcard |
| 1 | Ivan Cervantes | 55:58.40 | ESP | KTM | KTM Enduro Factory Racing |
| 2 | Alex Salvini | +11.80 | ITA | HONDA | HM Honda Zanardo |
| 3 | Pierre Alexandre Renet | +18.55 | FRA | HUSABERG | Husaberg |
| 4 | Johnny Aubert | +40.59 | FRA | KTM | KTM Enduro Factory Racing |
| 5 | Oriol Mena | +2:21.95 | ESP | HUSABERG | Husaberg Factory Team |
| 6 | Victor Guerrero | +2:48.79 | ESP | KTM | KTM Enduro Supported Team |
| 7 | Lorenzo Santolino | +2:51.41 | SPA | HUSQVARNA | Husqvarna Monster Energy |
| 8 | Antoine Basset | +3:19.24 | FRA | YAMAHA | Enduro Arnee De Terre |
| 9 | Alexandre Queyreyre | +3:48.48 | FRA | YAMAHA | Enduro Arnee De Terre |
| 10 | Oscar Balletti | +3:48.73 | ITA | KTM | Team Iron Racing |
| 11 | Armand Monleon | +4:32.35 | ESP | KTM | KTM wildcard |
| 12 | Roni Nikander | +4:59.96 | FIN | KTM | KTM wildcard |
| 13 | Cedric Cremer | +5:15.56 | BEL | KTM | KTM wildcard |
| 14 | Jaume Betriu | +5:28.57 | ESP | HUSABERG | Husaberg |
| 15 | Marc Sola | +5:41.51 | ESP | SHERCO | Sherco |
| 16 | Pierre Vissac | +6:37.69 | FRA | SHERCO | Sherco |
| 17 | Jacob Morhed | +7:25.42 | SWE | HONDA | Honda wildcard |
| 1 | Alex Salvini | 109 pts | ITA | HONDA | HM Honda Zanardo |
| 2 | Ivan Cervantes | 100 pts | ESP | KTM | KTM Enduro Factory Racing |
| 3 | Pierre Alexandre Renet | 93 pts | FRA | HUSABERG | Husaberg |
| 4 | Johnny Aubert | 88 pts | FRA | KTM | KTM Enduro Factory Racing |
| 5 | Victor Guerrero | 58 pts | ESP | KTM | KTM Enduro Supported Team |
| 6 | Oriol Mena | 58 pts | ESP | HUSABERG | Husaberg Factory Team |
| 7 | Lorenzo Santolino | 46 pts | SPA | HUSQVARNA | Husqvarna Monster Energy |
| 8 | Antoine Basset | 46 pts | FRA | YAMAHA | Enduro Arnee De Terre |
| 9 | David Knight | 44 pts | GBR | HONDA | Independent (Honda) |
| 10 | Oscar Balletti | 35 pts | ITA | KTM | Team Iron Racing |
| 11 | Alexandre Queyreyre | 30 pts | FRA | YAMAHA | Enduro Arnee De Terre |
| 12 | Kevin Benavides | 18 pts | ARG | KTM | KTM Enduro Supported Team |
| 13 | Franco Caimi | 10 pts | ARG | KTM | KTM Chile |
| 14 | Roni Nikander | 7 pts | FIN | KTM | KTM wildcard |
| 15 | Jaume Betriu | 7 pts | ESP | HUSABERG | Husaberg |
| 16 | Armand Monleon | 7 pts | ESP | KTM | KTM wildcard |
| 17 | Manuel Juan Davila | 5 pts | ARG | YAMAHA | Independent (Yamaha) |
| 18 | Vicente Israel | 4 pts | CHI | HONDA | Independent (Honda) |
| 19 | Pablo Mercado | 3 pts | ARG | YAMAHA | Yamaha Wildcard |
| 20 | Cedric Cremer | 3 pts | BEL | KTM | KTM wildcard |
| 21 | Benjamin Israel | 3 pts | CHI | HONDA | Independent (Honda) |
| 22 | Marc Sola | 2 pts | ESP | SHERCO | Sherco |
| 23 | Josue Smith | 2 pts | CHI | SUZUKI | Suzuki Fox |
| 24 | Nestor Omar Sartori | 1 pts | ARG | KTM | KTM wildcard |
| 25 | Xavier De Soultrait | 0 pts | FRA | YAMAHA | Yamaha Wildcard |
| 26 | Sergio Villaronga | 0 pts | CHI | HUSABERG | Independent (Husaberg) |
| 27 | Ricardo Leon | 0 pts | CHI | HONDA | Honda Ruy Barbosa Moto |
| 28 | Pierre Vissac | 0 pts | FRA | SHERCO | Sherco |
| 29 | Oscar Sepulveda | 0 pts | CHI | YAMAHA | Motocross Concepcion |
| 30 | Nicolas Hartwig | 0 pts | CHI | KTM | Independent (KTM) |
| 31 | Marco Gerbaud | 0 pts | CHI | TM | TM IMoto |
| 32 | Luciano Villavicencio | 0 pts | CHI | KAWASAKI | Independent (Kawasaki) |
| 33 | Josefina Gardulski | 0 pts | CHI | YAMAHA | Yamaha Chile |
| 34 | Jorge Temer | 0 pts | CHI | SUZUKI | Enduro Hueney |
| 35 | Javier Grunefeld | 0 pts | CHI | HONDA | Independent (Honda) |
| 36 | Jacob Morhed | 0 pts | SWE | HONDA | Honda wildcard |
| 37 | Francisco Uribe | 0 pts | CHI | SUZUKI | Suzuki-Elf-Fox-Mall Sport |
| 38 | Eynar Engber | 0 pts | CHI | HONDA | Motochile Maxxis |
| 39 | Armando Santos | 0 pts | CHI | TM | TM IMoto |
| 40 | Antonio Gonzalez | 0 pts | CHI | SUZUKI | Lemon Racing by Suzuki |
| 41 | Alejandro Bulos | 0 pts | PER | HONDA | Independent (Honda) |