GASGAS FACTORY RACING’S ANDREA VERONA FIRED UP FOR FIRST RACE OF 2023.
REIGNING ENDUROGP WORLD CHAMPION SET TO MAKE GASGAS EC 350F DEBUT AT OPENING ROUND OF ITALIAN ENDURO CHAMPIONSHIP.
It’s race time! Enduro1 and EnduroGP World Champion Andrea Verona will be back in action this weekend as he returns to competition on the awesome GASGAS EC 350F, taking on the opening round of the 2023 Italian Enduro Championship.
After a winter of intense training both on and off the bike, Verona is looking forward to finally getting his 2023 season underway and riding his new GASGAS EC 350F in anger for the first time. After making the decision to defend his EnduroGP World Championship title (that’s the outright Enduro World Championship category irrespective of bike size) while competing in the E2 category this season, Andrea immediately set about altering his normal off-season routine, to ready himself for the more powerful bike.
While Andrea feels the torque of the 350 will really suit his super smooth riding style better than the 250 4-stroke he raced last year, he knows the first full weekend of racing on the bigger machine will likely prove to be a little more physical than what he’s used to! But what better way to test his bike set-up and fitness ahead of the EnduroGP World Championship opener than with a true Italian two-day enduro!
Round one of the 2023 series will be held in Andora, Liguria and promises a real test of skill and endurance – the perfect opportunity for the world number one to get his season off to a strong start.
Andrea Verona:“I’m really looking forward to getting my season started with the opening round of the Italian championship. After deciding to switch up to the Enduro2 class and the GASGAS EC 350F I’ve been doing a lot of training over the winter to prepare myself. It’s already been five years that I’ve been racing a 250 4-stroke, so the move up to the 350 makes sense now and also gives me some extra motivation to continue to improve my riding. I think my riding style fits better with the 350 anyway, so I’m hoping to improve my speed and results in the overall EnduroGP class over the whole year. The main difference between the 350 and last year’s bike is of course the engine. But there are other changes too such as the chassis and how the bike feels to ride. Having this weekend’s Italian round to really try out the bike under race conditions will give us a lot of important feedback that we can use to improve things even more ahead of the world championship. It’s been a long off-season of training and testing, but now I’m really looking forward to racing again.”
Fabio Farioli – GASGAS Factory Racing Enduro Team Manager:“This weekend we will race the first round of the Italian Enduro Championship in Andora, Liguria. It’s a perfect event to start the season as it’s just one hour away from the opening round of the world championship, later this month. Andrea will be making his debut on the EC 350F this weekend, this comes after deciding to move up to the Enduro2 class in the world championship. The bigger bike should suit Andrea’s style and he was also looking for some new motivation after riding a 250 4-stroke for so long. This race is very important because as a pre-season race, it gives us a great opportunity to test everything – the bike, the rider, and to see what level we’re at compared to the other riders. The Italian championship is a really good measure of performance as around 85% of the world championship field compete there. The factory have given the team an excellent package for this year, so as usual, our goals are the same – win both E2 and EnduroGP classes, and the overall Italian championship, starting hopefully with victory this weekend.”
Text/Bild: GasGas