France further extended their advantage at the head of the standings on day two of the FIM International Six Days Enduro (ISDE) in San Juan, Argentina.

After a strong opening day of competition, the French set about building their lead in the FIM World Trophy classification. Now firmly settled into the 89th edition of the race, the six-man team worked hard to increase their advantage to over six minutes from Australia.

With Pierre-Alexandre Renet topping the individual overall standings for the second day running, and with all six of their riders positioned inside the top 20, France are already looking increasingly difficult to beat.

Behind the leaders day two saw a shake-up in the battle for the final two steps of the podium. Runner-up on day one the United States – now down to five riders – dropped two places to fourth when Charlie Mullins crashed heavily on more than one occasion.

Clearing enjoying the rough and demanding special tests, Australia delivered a strong performance to move up one position to second. Also benefiting from the USA’s on going run of ill luck, Spain moved into podium contention and hold a 36-second advantage over the USA. Maintaining their top five placing, Germany end day two in fifth.

In the FIM Junior World Trophy category, Australia still control the race lead, but face strong opposition from a motivated United States. Claiming the Junior World Trophy win on day two, the USA pushed their way past France into second and trail Australia by just 22 seconds.

Dropping one position to third, defending champions France will hope to use day three to their benefit and fight their way back into contention. Sweden and Chile complete the top five respectively.

Breaking away from their nearest rivals, Australia increased their lead in the FIM Women’s World Trophy class to 15 minutes over the United States. With teammates Jessica Gardiner and Jemma Wilson placing first and second in the Women’s overall individual standings, the USA in second and Canada in third will need a mistake from Australia to help reduce the deficit.

Recording his second class win in as many days, France’s Christophe Nambotin topped the Enduro 1 time sheets. Ensuring a French sweep of the top three positions, Marc Bourgeois and Jeremy Tarroux placed second and third.

As the winner of the overall individual classification for the second day in a row, Renet also claimed his second victory in the Enduro 2 class. Australia’s Matthew Phillips chased Renet home for second, while France’s junior rider Loic Larrieu impressed all with his speed to take third.

In the fight for Enduro 3 honours United States’ Taylor Robert narrowly held off Australia’s Toby Price to secure his first victory of the week. Completing the top three, Spain’s Ivan Cervantes was third.

Stepping things up a notch, day three of the ISDE will see a new course with sandy and rocky special tests to challenge the competitors as they reach the midway point in the race.

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