Round four of the Hard Enduro World Championship returns to the Red Bull Romaniacs in Sibiu this week, with Wade Young leading the series, but four-time champion Mani Lettenbichler is back from injury.

As if you had to tell us it was Romaniacs week. Yes, it’s that time again, the Mecca of hard enduro in the middle of Romania has once again attracted 650+ riders to Sibiu for the five-day race this week.

The FIM Hard Enduro World Championship heads to Romania this week for round four and the iconic Red Bull Romaniacs will be taking part in the GPS-style hard enduro rally.

Besides the huge number of amateurs taking on the tour, this year’s race also brings with it a lot of anticipation in terms of the Hard Enduro World Championship.

Wade Young, now in good form on the Red Bull Leader Tread GASGAS, won last time out in Serbia to take the championship points lead. As a former Romaniacs winner, the South African is in the form of his life and is a big favourite this week.

Wade faces many obstacles on his way to achieving that goal. Aside from the infamous city prologue and four days of racing in the Carpathians, a certain Manuel Lettenbichler of KTM Factory Racing returns from injury this week – and the last time he took time off to recover from injury, the German was literally unstoppable.

Watch it live on Enduro21

Great news this year, as you can watch the action live from all five days. Enduro21 will be playing the LEATTlive feed (also available on playback) from the Prologue finals on Tuesday plus the daily live feeds from the mountains.

Marathon stage returns

The race begins on Tuesday 23 July with the prologue qualification on the always impressive artificial course for participants from over 60 countries. The best 30 in each class will advance to the final.

The riders are then presented with four “Offroad Days” in the mountains, which are run on a GPS system basis, with checkpoints and early starts for the Pro riders, usually at 7am, and a finish in the afternoon.

This year, there will be a rally-style marathon stage, with no outside help allowed. The riders will complete Offroad Day 2 in Râmnicu Vâlcea, some 200 kilometres from the host city of Sibiu, where the support teams are based.

They will spend the night there and meet their service teams, family and friends at the service point halfway through Offroad Day 3. That means they will only need basic tools to service their bikes, which should prove to be a crucial point in the race.

Young in power

We haven’t written this before, but Wade Young (not Mani Lettenbichler or Billy Bolt) is the boss in the points classification until round four.

Round three winner, Red Bull Leader Tread’s Wade Young arrives in Sibiu as the new championship leader. Young holds a two-point lead over Sherco Factory Racing’s Mario Roman, who in turn holds a two-point lead over Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Manuel Lettenbichler. With just four points separating the top three at this halfway point of the season, it really is all to play for in round four.

With a win in round three and always performing strongly in Romania, Young will be motivated for further success in Sibiu. He is not alone with former team-mate, Sherco’s Mario Roman close behind him in the points and with a point to prove this season and here in Romania where the Spaniard has never taken victory.

Defending champion Lettenbichler returns to action after missing the third round with a knee injury. The German’s fitness and form ahead of the fourth round are unknown, but we know from experience that Mani doesn’t return from injury until he’s ready and when he does, he can be devastating for his opponent.

Bulgarian Teodor Kabakchiev (Sherco) is fourth in the championship fight, five points behind Lettenbichler. The Sherco rider is still in the race, but has a formidable form in the GPS-style races and starts this week as one of the favourites.

They are the HEWC points scorers, but this week in Romania we see a host of non-championship riders including Jonny Walker, Graham Jarvis, Alfredo Gomez and Michael Walkner all capable of podium finishes. After his day win at round three, Xross Hard Enduro, and a narrow fourth place in Erzberg, Jarvis is in good form.

The top five in the general classification is completed by Mitch Brightmore of TTR Squadra Corse. The young Brit has had a solid season so far, challenging the best boys while also leading the Junior points standings.

Current standings FIM HEWC:

1. Wade Young (GASGAS) 49 points

2. Mario Roman (Sherco) 47 points

3. Manuel Lettenbichler (KTM) 45 points

4. Teodor Kabakchiev (Sherco) 40 points

5. Mitch Brightmore (Husqvarna) 38 points

6. Francesc Moret (Sherco) 27 points

7. Matthew Green (KTM) 27 points

8. Marc Riba (KTM) 25 points

9. David Cyprian (KTM) 21 points

10. Vaclav Nedved (KTM) 19 points

The FIM Hard Enduro Junior World Championship, supported by KLIM, Mitch Brightmore is undefeated so far with three wins from three starts. In round three Mitch faced a strong challenge from South African James Moore (GASGAS), with the Rigo Racing rider leading until the final day. Moore will be looking to impress once again and show what he is capable of.

Mitch’s brother Ashton is second overall and makes his Romaniacs debut this year. The British dominate the Junior series standings with Beta UK’s Richard Moorhouse in third ahead of Triple D Motosport KTM’s Robert Crayston.

FIM HEJWC (Junior) supported by KLIM

1. Mitch Brightmore (Husqvarna) 65 points

2. Ashton Brightmore (GASGAS) 54 points

3. Richard Moorhouse (beta) 41 points

4. Robert Crayston (KTM) 32 points

5. James Moore (GASGAS) 28 points

6. Hugo Crozet (Beta) 26 points

7. Barnabas Csizmazia (Husqvarna) 26 points

8. Marc Fernandez (KTM) 25 points

9. Valentino Hutter (GASGAS) 24 points

10. Suff Sella (KTM) 24 points

Stay up to date with Enduro21

Round 4 of the FIM Hard Enduro World Championship takes place at Red Bull Romaniacs in Sibiu, Romania from July 23-27. As always, Enduro21 will be full of results, news, interviews and the daily Leatt LIveManiacs broadcasts to watch from tomorrow, July 23, with the prologue starting at 16:00 CEST.

Photo credits: Red Bull | Attile Szabo + Future7Media | Andrea Belluschi