Jed Etchells scored a maiden win in the FIM World Enduro Championship when claiming the Youth Cup honours on day two of the opening weekend of the revised 2020 series.

The event took place at Réquista in the Aveyron region of southern France, where conditions were hot and dusty on day one but slightly different on Sunday after heavy overnight rain.

Riding a 450 for the Italy-based Honda RedMoto Racing team, Daniel McCanney finished fourth in E2 class on Saturday, less than six seconds off the podium and sixth in the overall EnduroGP category.

He fared better in Sunday’s softer going to finish third behind double winner Steve Holcombe (Beta) and France’s Loic Larrieu (TM ).

’I was really happy with my riding on Sunday,’ said Daniel. ’I pushed hard for second right until the last test where I lost out by two seconds. A big thank you to my brother Jamie, who came to help me, also to the team for the hard work. The bike ran perfectly.’

He also expressed his congratulations to fellow Manxman Jed on his first GP win in the youth class.

Similar to McCanney, the St Mark’s ace narrowly missed out on a podium finish on day one. Riding a two-stroke 125cc Fantic, he was fourth behind the Husqvarna duo of Claudio Spano and Sergio Navarro, with Harry Edmondson third on a similar Fantic to his own - loosely based around a 125 Yamaha.

Having celebrated his 20th birthday three days earlier, Etchells also found the going more to his liking on Sunday when he won the class overall from the same two Husqvarna riders, in the reverse order. There are 19 riders in the class.

’So happy to get my first World @enduro_gp win,’ said Jed on social media. ’I was leading most of Saturday, but unfortunately I became stuck behind a slower rider for quite a while, costing me the win.

’On Sunday I started the first lap with a comfortable lead and managed to keep pulling away to win by 26 seconds. A massive thank you to the team, the bike was amazing all weekend.’

l The condensed 2021 championship continues at Spoleto in the olive groves and vineyards around the Umbria region of Italy this weekend, followed by two back-to-back single day rounds at Marco de Canaveses in Portugal on October 8 and October 15.