KTM Enduro Factory Racing Team riders Antoine Meo and Laia Sanz were crowned champions with a round to go at the Enduro World Championship event in Requista, France on Saturday.
Antoine Meo raced his way to second place to pick up enough points for the E2 World Championship title while Laia Sanz went out in style with a win in the EW class to secure her title after being the dominant force all season in the women’s category. This was Meo’s fifth title win in Enduro, and Sanz’s fourth.
Meo:”It’s great to finally win the Enduro 2 World Championship. It’s a special title for me, winning KTM’s first EWC title on a KTM 350 EXC-F. It was a strange day for me. I’ve been riding a Rally bike a lot recently, so it took some time to feel at home back on an Enduro bike. I managed to get myself into the lead, but then a mistake pushed me into second, although it’s the title that’s the important thing. I have to say a huge thanks to all of the Farioli KTM team for their support this year. Last year was a tough one, being injured and away from racing for such a long time was hard. We came back strong and this title is the result of a real team effort.”
Sanz:”Winning the women’s world title is a great way to end my first year with KTM. Things went to plan today. I won all but one of the special tests, although the rain made things a little bit unpredictable. It was very easy to make mistakes so I was just trying not to do anything that might get me in any trouble. Like I said, everything went well. It’s fantastic to be a world champion again.”
Both Meo and Sanz left the venue immediately to travel to Morocco, where they are competing in the Rally of Morocco, which begins on Monday.
In the E1 class Christophe Nambotin, who recently returned to racing following a knee injury, secured second overall in the championship, as did teammate Matthew Phillips in the E3 category.
Fabio Farioli: “This is the first season we have won titles with the KTM 350 EXC-F, the bike chosen by both of our world champions, Antoine Meo and Laia Sanz, and that is of course positive. Overall we were expecting more from our riders in 2015 and it was a big setback to have Christophe Nambotin out of action with his knee injury.
We also missed the services of Ivan Cervantes in E3, also through injuries. It was however a plus to have our woman racer Laia join the team and take the women’s world title. We did not achieve everything we had hoped for this season, but that’s racing, and we have to enjoy the success from today.”