WESS Promotion Group, which has run the FIM Hard Enduro World Championship for the past several years, is not going to organize a championship for 2025.
The promoter of FIM Hard Enduro World Championship since 2021, WESS Promotion Group, has not been able to secure the necessary support to move forward the championship for 2025 after the withdrawal of KTM, its main partner, in late 2024. (read more about it here)
The series was originally scheduled to have eight events in 2025, and WESS made extensive efforts to secure new partners and funding, but WESS informed the FIM that they are unable to continue promoting the 2025 HEWC season.
In a statement issued to event organizers, Winfried Kerschhaggl of WESS Promotion said, “The pull-out of our main sponsor in December 2024, for reasons that are well known, did not leave us enough time to secure alternative funding. Since most of the potential new partners had already finalized their 2025 budgets at the time of the withdrawal, this significantly limited our options for alternative cooperation.
“Despite conducting many promising conversations and successfully concluding several negotiations, we have reached the end of February—our self-imposed deadline—without securing the necessary financial backing to ensure a professional execution of the championship.
“Thus, we have come to the conclusion to cancel our plans for the 2025 season.
“This decision was taken with a strong sense of responsibility towards our potential new sponsors and all the partners who have supported us over the past years. Among them, without singling anyone out, were the FIM, all our event partners, Red Bull Media House, and KTM Group.
“Regardless of our involvement in the World Championship, we would like
to assure all event organizers that we will be glad to fulfill all agreements made for 2025 regarding time keeping, event consulting etc.”
In a press release issued on February 28, the FIM stated that it’s now “making every possible effort to continue this path and is actively seeking and exploring alternative options that can hopefully allow the 2025 FIM Hard Enduro World Championship to take place, while acknowledging that amendments may have to be made to the original schedule.”
Select events that have been part of the series—such as the Erzbergrodeo, Romaniacs and Tennessee Knockout—will still happen in 2025 as standalone events, without FIM championship status.
Cycle News will continue to follow this evolving situation and provide further updates as soon as possible.CN
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