It wasn’t long ago that electric motorsport championships were seen as little more than development classes for electric vehicles. They had very few spectators and lacked the visionary entertainment of their combustion counterparts.
But that perception quickly changed when the Stark Varg appeared and took off with such force that the FIM changed the rules of the SuperEnduro World Championship – less than a day before its entry into competition.
Finally, we had the opportunity to see an electric motorcycle mix with the best combustion motorcycles and the top riders in its class at an FIM event. Last weekend, some electric GasGas trial motorcycles and a Yamaha electric competed in the FIM Trial GP Trial2 event in Japan.
And the results were noteworthy.
For the first time, an electric vehicle defeated an internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicle in an FIM Trial GP Trial2 event. Behind the wheel of an electric GasGas TXE, Sondre Haga won the first day of the event.
Haga, a former FIM Trial2 World Champion and current GasGas Factory Racing rider, ultimately finished in 5th place after the two-day event. Only two points separated the riders from 5th to 2nd place, which represents a monumental leap for electric motorcycles in this class and solidifies the fact that they can compete with ICE machines, which hasn’t been the case for a long time.
Fans were able to see for the first time how electric trial bikes performed in relation to the competition in February, when Haga competed with a GasGas TXE in the Spanish Trial Championship. But the main reason for competing was to “gather data,” according to GasGas, and the bike finished outside the top 10.
Well, based on the latest results, it seems that GasGas has gathered enough data to compete with the best in the sector.
Until recently, electric trial bikes competed in a separate class from ICE bikes, known as the FIM Trial E World Championship. GasGas won the championship four times between 2017 and 2021 with the TXE. But now it seems that the TXE has the qualities necessary to be a regular contender in the FIM Trial GP World Championship.
The question is: in which series will we see electric vehicles enter and compete with the best ICE machines next? Or perhaps the real question is: when will the FIM allow Stark Future’s Stark Varg to compete?
