Randy Naveaux – Yamaha completed his hat-trick of Enduropale du Touquet Quaduro victories today with a dominant performance in the unforgiving sand of northern France.
The Belgian defending champion raced into an early lead which he never looked likely to surrender despite initial pressure from the French pairing of Benoit Beroudiaux – KTM and Louis Pinchon – Yamaha.
Fighting off a series of strong attacks throughout the two-and-a-half-hour race, Naveaux came home just over three minutes ahead of Norway’s Christopher Tveraen – PSR with home hero Michel Trannin – Honda claiming third a further two minutes and thirty-eight seconds behind.
The result means that Trannin now carries the Quad class series lead in the all-new FIM Sand Races World Cup into round two – the Enduro del Verano – which is scheduled to be held in South America at the end of this month.
“I am really happy with my performance today after two DNFs with mechanical issues at the two previous editions of the Enduropale du Touquet,” said Trannin. “I was aiming for a top-ten in the general classification and finally I made it to the podium.
“When I found out about the new World Cup I said to myself ‘why not take part?’ So I took out my very first FIM licence and now I have taken the lead in the classification. I am very happy – it was a great race today and very well organised.”
Trannin was forced to dig deep after struggling to match the pace of the leaders off the start. Circulating back in tenth just after the halfway mark following eight hard-fought laps, he regrouped and began a concentrated push that would carry him all the way to the podium.
After ten laps he had moved up to seventh and when the chequered flag was unfurled two laps later he had earned himself a top-three finish thanks to an heroic final charge that pulled him into contention in the closing stages.
Other notable performances were recorded by the French pairing of Keveen Rochereau – Honda and Pablo Violet – Yamaha who ended the race in sixth and eighth positions to underline their status as contenders for the inaugural FIM Sand Races World Cup.
Round two of the FIM Sand Races World Cup will be held on 24-26 February in Argentina before the series signs off in December on Monte Gordo Beach in Portugal’s Algarve region.
FIM Sand Races World Cup - QUAD - Enduropale du Touquet (FRA), 05 February 2023
FIM Communications