Gas Gas factory teams are back and ready to tackle the FIM Enduro World Championship and the FIM Trials World Championship.
![Gas Gas Pons riders Diogo Ventura (left) and Jonathan Barragán (right) spearhead Gas Gas' factory effort in the 2016 FIM Enduro World Championship. Ventura will contest the Enduro Junior category, and Barragán will contest the Enduro 3 category. PHOTOS COURTESY OF GAS GAS.](https://www.dirtbikes.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/GasGas2016EnduroTeamB-04082016.png.jpg)
This weekend marks a special return for the now Torro-controlled Gas Gas motorcycle company, as the Spanish firm will kick off its factory-backed racing activity by fielding teams in the FIM Enduro World Championship and the FIM Trials World Championship.
According to news released by the company, Gas Gas Factory Pons riders Jonathan Barragán and Diogo Ventura are all set for the opening round of the 2016 FIM Enduro World Championship, the GP of Morocco, this weekend (April 9-10). Barragán will do battle in the E3 class. The Spaniard demonstrated his competitiveness last year after taking a podium position in both the Chilean and the Spanish GPs.
“This is my third Enduro World Championship, and I think I now have much more experience in this speciality than before,” Barragán said. “Now I am much more familiar with the motorcycle and the team, which has always given me full support right from the beginning, and Diogo and I get on like a house on fire. E3 is a difficult category, with really good riders, but I feel really great with the new Gas Gas EC300 Racing and we are starting the World Championship with loads of enthusiasm, prepared to give it everything we’ve got.”
Ventura is racing in his final year in the Junior category. The Portuguese rider will ride a Gas Gas EC250 Racing in an open category with no regard for engine size.
“I feel great with this motorbike, and I believe we have reached the perfect moment although we keep on working to get even better,” Ventura said. “The Junior Category has always been a complicated one where new riders appear, who sometimes are unknown to us. It is going to be a hotly disputed World Championship with close differences. My aim this year is to get on to the podium, so we are going to do it as often as possible.”
![Gas Gas will support a host of talent from around the world in the FIM Trials World Championship, representing in the TrialGP, Trial2 and Trial125 categories.](https://www.dirtbikes.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Team_160408_GG_0128-copia-04082016.jpg)
Gas Gas is also fielding a fleet of riders in the FIM Trials World Championship, which kicks off in its home country of Spain. The series kicks off this weekend at Cal Rosal, in Olvan (Barcelona). Team members include Arnau Farré and Marc Riba will represent the factory colors in the TrialGP category, with Norwegian Hakön Pedersen receiving Gas Gas support in the new Trial2 division. Other Gas Gas-supported riders include Italy’s Matteo Grattarola and Gianluca Tournour, Great Britain’s Michael Brown and Germany’s, all of them competing in the TrialGP category along with Farré and Riba.
In Trial2, talented young Brits Jack Price and Jack Peace and Czech Martin Matejicek will also be supported by Gas Gas. Trial125 class competitor Dan Peace completes the list of Gas Gas riders who will contest the major World Championsip categories.