A big bang in the motorcycle off-road scene: the two biggest and most prestigious racing events in the international hard enduro community are joining forces to award the world champion title in their categories. While the Extreme Enduro World Champion will be crowned at the Red Bull Erzbergrodeo 2025, the winner of the Red Bull Romaniacs will be crowned Extreme Enduro Rally World Champion 2025!
Red Bull Erzbergrodeo winner becomes Extreme Enduro World Champion
The Red Bull Erzbergrodeo is the birthplace of Extreme Enduro and has significantly shaped this offroad motorcycle sport over the last 30 years. It is the ultimate symbol of the emergence and development of ‘Extreme Enduro’ at the highest sporting level. With participants from over 50 nations and an unrivalled route, the Red Bull Erzbergrodeo has established itself worldwide as the most prestigious event in this discipline. As the toughest single-day race in the world, the Red Bull Erzbergrodeo pushes even the world's elite from all disciplines of offroad motorcycling to their limits. Winning the race is recognised as a ‘knighthood’ in the international scene and is made even more important by the and broadcast live around the world on ServusTV and Red Bull TV.
Red Bull Erzbergrodeo organiser and mastermind Karl Katoch explains the motivation behind awarding the world championship title: “Since its inception, partners and sponsors have recognised the outstanding importance of our event. This is precisely why I was invited to integrate the Red Bull Erzbergrodeo into the FIM Hard Enduro Series for three years - because without the Red Bull Erzbergrodeo, this championship series would never have existed.”
“Due to economic challenges, the FIM Hard Enduro World Championship has been cancelled, leaving a gap in the highest level of competition in this sport. Therefore, the Red Bull Erzbergrodeo will now award an official Extreme Enduro World Championship title independently - in co-operation with leading partners and industry representatives. The Red Bull Erzbergrodeo has been setting the standard for decades, and no other race offers a comparable sporting challenge. By working closely with our partners, we guarantee a fair and globally recognised title award. This ensures that the best Extreme Enduro athletes in the world can continue to compete for a prestigious title,” says Katoch.
Red Bull Romaniacs winner becomes Extreme Enduro Rally World Champion
The Red Bull Romaniacs is a unique five-day motorcycle offroad rally that will be held for the 22nd time in 2025. With the unique prologue in Sibiu and four subsequent offroad race days in the breathtaking scenery of the Carpathian Mountains, the Red Bull Romaniacs pushes the participants' riding skills and endurance to the limit and beyond. Since its inception in 2004, the Red Bull Romaniacs has always believed in awarding prize money to the participating professionals and will continue to do so in the future.
Amateur riders make up the majority of the field of participants from 65 nations at this global event, where amateurs race side by side with the world's elite. The Red Bull Romaniacs offers a total of 9 racing classes, from Gold to Adventure Moto Ultimate to Hobby - even a separate class for E-motorcycles will be established in 2025. The new racing categories are a living example of the tireless motivation and passion of Red Bull Romaniacs founder Martin Freinademetz, with the constant endeavour to be ‘one step ahead’.
Martin Freinademetz: “I would like to thank our participants and our long-standing partners for standing by us and creating the basis for organising our sport at a high level and looking for ways to make this sport even more interesting and bring it closer to a broad mass of fans and spectators. We are creative when it comes to live coverage and our media distribution serves not only the core scene but also the mass media around the world. The addition of new classes shows our typical pioneering spirit. We want to offer an even larger group of two-wheel offroad enthusiasts the opportunity to push themselves and their vehicles to their limits and compete with competitors from all continents.”
“The Red Bull Romaniacs was part of the FIM Hard Enduro World Championship and supported the opportunity to crown a world champion, which we believe is something the sport and its athletes truly deserve. Now that the FIM championship series has been discontinued, we have teamed up with Red Bull Erzbergrodeo organiser Karl Katoch and industry leaders to fill this gap. We want to offer an alternative, independent award for the athletes that will allow the sport to continue to thrive and evolve with new awards for the Extreme Enduro Rally and the Extreme Enduro World Championship 2025.”, says Freinademetz.
Joining forces for the further development of Extreme Enduro sports
Event founders Karl Katoch and Martin Freinademetz, long-time colleagues, friends and participants in each other's races for over two decades, have now joined forces to introduce a new championship award system. By doing so and awarding the two World Championship titles in 2025, the aim is to ensure that athletes are recognised for the future with an official Extreme Enduro World Championship title.
Both the Red Bull Erzbergrodeo and the Red Bull Romaniacs are delighted to announce this joint step. “We want to support and recognise the value of the Extreme Hard Enduro sport together with all the athletes who compete at the highest level in racing.” , Katoch and Freinademetz agree.