Red Bull Erzbergrodeo and Red Bull Romaniacs present the ‘Hard Enduro World Ranking’ for 2026

Red Bull Erzbergrodeo and Red Bull Romaniacs present the ‘Hard Enduro World Ranking’ for 2026, bringing the global Hard Enduro community together under one roof.

The decision by the two renowned Extreme Enduro racing events not to be part of the newly established FIM Hard Enduro World Championship in 2025 sparked debate within the community. At the same time, Karl Katoch and Martin Freinademetz, the masterminds behind Red Bull Erzbergrodeo and Red Bull Romaniacs, began to consider a different scoring format for international Hard Enduro racing - with the aim of bringing riders, organizers, and partners together on an equal footing.

Hard Enduro racing was already being practiced 50 years ago at the Roof of Africa offroad rally in South Africa. In Europe, the sport became more extreme with the legendary Gilles Lalay Classic events, until finally, 30 years ago, the Red Bull Erzbergrodeo made Extreme Enduro sport socially acceptable and placed it on the international motorsport scene. With the launch of the Red Bull Romaniacs in 2004, spectacular Hard Enduro images and news of the great two-wheeled offroad adventures were carried even further around the world.

The attempt to bring international Hard and Extreme Enduro events together under one roof is not new. Back in the 2000s, visionaries and pioneers were already discussing the idea of merging renowned Extreme Enduro events. These efforts resulted in the creation of the WESS (World Enduro Super Series) in 2018 and, finally, the FIM Hard Enduro World Championship in 2021.

After organizational turmoil, the FIM World Championship for 2025 was initially canceled, only to be resurrected shortly before the start of the season in March 2025 with a new promoter and a new race calendar. For the organizers of the Red Bull Erzbergrodeo and Red Bull Romaniacs, however, the new start of the FIM Hard Enduro World Championship was too vague, too indecisive, and not transparent enough - whereupon the two most prestigious events on the scene decided not to be part of the World Championship and awarded their own world championship titles. This decision, however, also marked the beginning of considerations to establish an alternative scoring format in international Hard Enduro motorsport – involving the participants, the organizers, and all partners. The declared goal of Karl Katoch and Martin Freinademetz is to showcase the global diversity of Hard Enduro sport and to make it easier for young riders in particular to embark on a successful Enduro career.

Starting in 2026, the Hard Enduro World Ranking (HEWR) will establish a new scoring system in Hard and Extreme Enduro competitive sports, based on the ATP/WTA world rankings in tennis. Participants will collect world ranking points throughout the year at all participating races in their respective categories. The aim is to provide a transparent, global comparison of the performances of international Hard Enduro athletes throughout the season. This gives young up-and-coming riders in particular the opportunity to step into the spotlight.

“Hard Enduro has developed globally over the last few decades. From South Africa to Central Europe, from New Zealand to South America, North America and Australia. For several years now, the offroad motorcycle scene in Asia has also been moving increasingly towards Hard Enduro. Previous world championship formats have focused only on the highest-level competitions in the scene and tended to overlook positive developments in the junior markets. With the Hard Enduro World Ranking, we want to showcase the diversity of the sport and see it as an important task to support, bundle, and promote junior racing events and thus the next generation of Hard Enduro riders," says Red Bull Romaniacs organizer Martin Freinademetz, explaining the motives behind the Hard Enduro World Ranking.

Red Bull Erzbergrodeo mastermind Karl Katoch adds: "Before awarding world ranking points to the participating athletes, the individual races must first be categorized according to specific quality criteria. Details such as the number of top riders participating, the nationality mix of the starting field, the infrastructure for spectators, the media coverage and reach of the event, the distribution of prizes or prize money for the winners, and the number of race days are used to transparently divide the racing events into different categories – from Supreme to Hobby. The number of world ranking points awarded to participants is then based on these categories. This scoring system allows organizers and their participants to move up to the next higher category at any time – and thus gain experience, competence, and reach."

The Hard Enduro World Ranking welcomes the recently founded WERA (World Enduro Riders Association). Top Hard Enduro athletes such as Manuel Lettenbichler, Billy Bolt, Mario Roman, Mitch Brightmore and Alfredo Gomez founded the association to give voice to their views on the growing global hard enduro racing scene.

“Transparent communication between Hard Enduro organizers and top athletes is important for the continued growth of our sport. We therefore welcome WERA with open arms!”, Katoch and Freinademetz agree.

“We invite WERA members to contribute their opinions and expertise to the selection of HEWR races.”, says Karl Katoch, adding: “We are also keen to establish further cooperation with the FIM. The aim should be to work together rather than against each other. We see the Hard Enduro World Ranking as a supplement to the FIM World Championship, not as a competing event.”

The next step will be to present the official Hard Enduro World Ranking website and publish all the detailed information on how the world ranking points are awarded. Registration for all interested Hard and Extreme Enduro events for the Hard Enduro World Ranking will begin on January 1, 2026.