RedBull Romaniacs: Kicking off the madness with the return of the legendary prolog

Sibiu, Romania, 06 June, 2022 – The Red Bull Romaniacs 19th edition ”In Madness We Trust” will kick off in Sibiu on the 26th July, once again bringing hard enduro to the world stage. Having successfully navigated through 2020 and 2021, albeit with smaller capacities but equally as tough battles, both organizers and competitors are now raring to go full throttle ahead. Competitors from 52 nations will descend on Sibiu from as far a field as India, Fiji, Venezuela, while Great Britain, Austria and Germany still have the highest representation. These competitors are drawn to the infamous Carpathian mountains to have their endurance, stamina and technical skills pushed to progressively rising limits each year.

In Madness We Trust, edition 19, will once again see the patiently awaited for inner city prolog hitting the streets of Sibiu in full force. This unique prolog has become a trademark of Red Bull Romaniacs and will bring together fans and spectators who come to watch the technical skills and speed of the competitors as they attack the obscure obstacles presented before them. Prolog guru Andy Fazekas has created a new format just to keep everyone on their toes, after the qualifying rounds the straight line series of obstacles will be changed to a figure of 8 configuration giving rise to more challenge. Andy Fazekas: “It’s really great to be back at the drawing board and get the crew out building different levels of crazy for our riders to have to battle through. We are excited to see the streets alive again with spectators for the inner city prolog. They’ll be plenty of new features and the live stream will allow fans to watch from all over the world”.

Red Bull Romaniacs founder, Martin Freinademetz, will kick off the event with the Nations City Ride, leading the riders, waving their flags through the scenic medieval streets of Sibiu to the prolog area where the media show will take place on Monday 25 July. The official event will start with the prolog on Tuesday 26th July and be a hair raising, action packed event which will be online live-streamed from 17:00 hrs EET. Qualification rounds for all classes will begin in the morning (Gold will be at 15:00 hrs) – offering a full day of adrenaline.

In Madness We Trust will feature plenty of new and unexplored tracks during the four off-road days. In order to venture off the beaten path and deep into the “back and beyond” wilderness, track director Teo Isac has been scouting relentlessly to be able to deliver the classic Red Bull Romaniacs tradition of long, steep, up and downhills. Gold competitors will be challenged with having to conquer elevation gains of over 10,000m per day which will push both physical and mental capabilities beyond the realms of comfort and determine those who have true tough endurance from those who don’t. Some of this year’s signature sections will include “Kill’Em All”, “Men Ridge” and “Mofo” where battles will be waged pushing Gold competitors to their limit. In order to venture to new, undiscovered territory, and what also appears to be the new “norm” in recent years, Martin Freinademetz has introduced a bivouac stage after off-road day 2, this will be at the Rânca ski resort. It will not be quite as remote as the “One night stand” in 2021 as competitors will be allowed to have their support crew and team join them. Off-road day 4 will funnel competitors to the meeting point for the final frenzy, the infamous Gusterita Hillclimb. Competitors will have to dig deep for the last test of madness, this time in front of hordes of spectators cheering them as they climb up the steep hill and eventually through the finishing arch.

Split into five classes, the rallye will bring together competitors of different levels of “crazy”, where amateurs will cross paths with the top professional riders, all with the same goal, to become a Red Bull Romaniacs finisher. The Gold class will be a stage for some of the factory teams as well as privateers; Graham Jarvis (GBR, Husqvarna), who has the most podium appearances of all time at Red Bull Romaniacs with 6 victories, Manuel Lettenbichler (DEU, KTM) 3 time winner, Mario Roman (ESP, Sherco), Billy Bolt (GBR, Husqvarna), Hard Enduro World champion 2021. But the stakes are high as the new up and coming riders apply pressure with a thirst for victory, such as Teodor Kabakchiev, Matt Green, Suff Sella all looking to have a spot on the prestigious Red Bull Romaniacs podium and score points towards the FIM Hard Enduro World Championships.

Pol Tarres will also be returning this year, having secured an impressive 18th place in Bronze class last year riding a Yamaha Ténéré 700, he is determined to come back even stronger and fiercer and improve on that result.

As leaders in race technology, Red Bull Romaniacs ‘developed race management system’ continually improves, this year the results on the website will have the overall race progress shown at every checkpoint, as well as live timing, results as they happen, continuous live news with videos and photos from the tracks. Fans and viewers around the world will be treated to more footage and live transmission from the tracks this year with our unique content creation team concept. Spectator points will be published on the website prior to the event so action hungry fans, family and friends can get closer to the tracks and capture great images as competitors battle their way through these points.

Red Bull Romaniacs is proud to announce MILWAUKEE® Tools as our new partner, suitably matched for the heavy duty task of building prolog obstacles which consist of tons of rocks, logs and metal. MILWAUKEE® Tools are leaders in the industry of developing innovative solutions, increased productivity and durability for professional construction users. They will also provide this year’s competitors paddock.

Our partner, Wössner, will share their 25 years of experience in piston manufacturing during this year’s event. As well as being used by Red Bull Romaniacs track manager team, they also supply well known brands like Aprilia, Ducati and TM. Wössner’s goal is to achieve increased performance, high quality, and greater longevity.
Assistance will be provided by Metzeler, who will be ready to help with tyre changes. Goggle market leaders, 100 Percent will again provide their free goggle exchange service for competitors. Liqui Moly will be supporting our participants with high quality German lubrication products to make sure all bikes perform at their best in the Romanian wilderness.

The world’s best Hard Enduro athletes will meet again in Sibiu, Romania for the 19th edition “In Madness We Trust”, founder Martin Freinademetz: “We never stopped racing these past 2 years and we’re really happy to be able to have our numbers of competitors back to normal. This year we were lucky with the weather during track scouting and Teo Isac, our track director, was able to cover a lot of ground and find some pretty exciting terrain for our competitors. We have a lot of challenges for all classes including our Atom riders. Gold class will be facing some of the hardest, steepest and longest sections ever and this year will be a big push to get to the finish line. There’ll be a lot of climbing and descending, so be prepared!”

Red Bull Romaniacs 2022 is the 5th and longest event of the FIM Hard Enduro World Championship, and it is held in Sibiu, Romania between 26th and 30th of July.