News 18 May 2015

Phillips scores double EWC victory in Portugal

World champion back in title contention following clean-sweep.

Source: KTM.

Source: KTM.

Reigning Enduro 3 World Champion Matt Phillips has stormed back into title contention with a clean-sweep at round three of the 2015 season in Gouveia, Portugal.

The KTM rider claimed his first win of the year on Saturday ahead of Mathias Bellino and Matti Seistola after taking command in the penultimate test of the day.

“I’m definitely pleased to get a win under my belt – it feels like it’s been a long time coming,” Phillips explained. “We changed a few things on the bike between Spain and here and it made the difference. Hopefully this is the where we get things back on track.”

Sunday saw Phillips again reign supreme at the head of the pack, securing his second victory of the weekend. He led for most of the day, overcame a minor brake issue in the final two tests and clinched victory over Seistola by just one second. Aigar Leok was third.

“It feels great to win both days,” added Phillips. “I felt good all day, but on the final enduro test I overcooked the rear brake and nearly threw the win away. It was a close margin of victory but a win’s a win. I’m happy.”

Phillips has now climbed to third in the E3 standings, just 12 points in arrears of Bellino following the opening three rounds.

In E1 at Gouveia it was Eero Remes and Christophe Nambotin who split wins, while the E2 class saw Alex Salvini and Antoine Meo on the top steps of the podium across the weekend.

KTM’s Laia Sanz comfortably topped the Women’s Cup on both days of competition, while Jessica Gardiner went 3-2 for the round. Jemma Wilson was fourth overall on Sunday.

The Enduro World Championship now makes its way to Serres for round four and the GP Maxxis of Greece on 6-7 June.

2015 Enduro World Championship
Round three – Gouveia, Portugal

Click here for detailed results

Recent