Cyril Genot at 2025 FIM Sand Races World Championship, Monte Gordo Sand Experience © Frederik Herregods Photography
A technical problem saw Todd Kellett of Drag’on Yamaha fail in his bid to secure the Moto class crown in the 2025 FIM Sand Races World Championship with one round still remaining.
But Pablo Violet also of Drag’on Yamaha put the Quad title out of reach of his rivals as round five of the series, the Monte Gordo Sand Experience, thrilled thousands of fans on Portugal’s beautiful Algarve coast.
In the Moto Women class, defending champion Amandine Verstappen of Yamaha returned to the top of the points table following her DNF at round four as Damien Prevot repeated Saturday’s Moto Veteran win, although Uruguay’s Fernando Rubio of Honda can no longer be caught in the title race following his consistent weekend in the saddle.
After his dominant victory in Saturday’s ninety-minute Moto race, defending champion Kellett knew another good finish would see him retain his title and also become the first-ever FIM World Champion in the discipline after the premier class was upgraded this season from World Cup status.
With a shorter sixty-minute duration, the race appeared to be shaping up in a very similar style to Saturday’s main moto with Kellett taking the early lead before laying down a succession of fast laps and checking out, but after nine laps and with his advantage building a technical problem forced him out.
As the clock ticked down the victory looked as though it was heading the way of French 2024 silver medallist Jeremy Hauquier of Yamaha who led Hakon Fredriksen of Honda by over thirty seconds, but a late mistake dropped him to third and Belgium’s Cyril Genot of Honda made a decisive pass on the Norwegian to win by just under two-and-a-half seconds on a total of twenty-one laps and claim maximum points from the weekend.
“It was a difficult weekend and Saturday I struggled quite a lot with lower back pain,” said Genot.
“I felt a little bit better. My riding was finally getting like it should be, but then we started to have some problems with the bike. Otherwise, I’m very happy – we just need to keep pushing and working hard.”
Milko Potisek of Drag’on Yamaha, the only rider still in with a mathematical chance of catching Kellett in the championship chase, claimed a solid fourth to go with his third-placed finish on Saturday to take the title fight down to the final round, with Dutchman Lars Berkel of Fantic picking up his second fifth position.
Having lost her unbeaten record and Moto Women class lead at the previous round when she suffered a technical problem that forced a DNF, Verstappen returned to the top with her second win of the weekend. After establishing a clear early advantage over her female rivals, the Belgian never looked threatened and posted a total of eighteen laps with France’s Camille Viaud of Yamaha finishing second on seventeen, one lap ahead of 2023 champion Mathilde Denis of Yamaha.
“I am so happy to have won, but it has not been a simple weekend for me,” said Verstappen.
“I had a technical problem that put me out last weekend and when we arrived here we realised my bike was still not one-hundred per cent so we had to borrow another one and fully rebuild it which added to the stress.”
Proving himself to be the class act of the Veteran’s field for the second day in a row, Frenchman Prevot replicated his tenth overall on Saturday to finish three laps clear of Guillaume Renaux of Kawasaki, but fourth for Rubio coupled with his third on Saturday guarantees him the title.
Competing over a thirty-minute duration, France’s Evan Demeester of Honda strengthened his hold on the Moto Junior class with another victory from compatriots Matheo Gerat of Yamaha and Maxime Miet of Kawasaki, while in Moto Vintage it was Freddy Seguin of Honda who reversed Saturday’s result to lead home Sebastien Antony of KTM.
Following on from his victory on Saturday, Britain’s Harry Walker of Laeger’s made it back-to-back wins in the Quad class, but he was chased for the full forty-five-minute duration by Violet who ended the race just under one-minute-and-twenty-seconds in arrears to complete the successful defence of his title.
“Portugal has been great for me,” said Walker.
“We spent a lot of family time here when I was younger so it is actually quite special for me to come to Portugal and win. It means a lot to me.”
Belgian Oliver Vandendijck of Honda was third, another thirty-seven seconds behind, with Glenn Swarte and Dirk Schelfhout the last riders to match Walker’s impressive total of fourteen laps.
Schelfhout was also the first Quad Veteran home, finishing one lap ahead of defending champion Axel Dutrie of Drag’on Yamaha and Portugal’s Nuno Goncalves of Yamaha and two laps up on Frenchman Benoit Sebert of Yamaha who retains a slim series lead.
The 2025 FIM Sand Races World Championship now takes an extended winter break before resuming for the sixth and concluding round – the Enduropale du Touquet Pas-de-Calais – on 13-15 February 2026.
