Defending champion Todd Kellett – Drag’on Yamaha extended his Moto class advantage at the top of the 2025 FIM Sand Races World Championship standings when he dominated at round two – the Enduro del Invierno – in Argentina on Saturday as Amandine Verstappen – Yamaha tightened her grip on the Moto Women category and Pablo Violet – Yamaha moved into the Quad class lead.

• Todd Kellett retains unbeaten record with Moto class double win in Argentina
• Reigning champion Amandine Verstappen dominates in Moto Women
• Defending champion Pablo Violet moves into Quad class lead

With the effects of winter in the southern hemisphere being felt in full force and a big storm expected to hit the Atlantic coast the following day, organisers wisely revised the timetable to fit all the championship races into Saturday’s programme – although it was still wet and wild on the Mar del Plata, around four-hundred kilometres south of Argentine capital Buenos Aires.

With a series of long straights interspersed with technical turns, in places the four-kilometre course was flat-out fast and produced extremely exciting action as the world’s premier sand specialists lined up for the two thirty-five-minute plus one lap races.

Renowned for his fast starts and ability to up his intensity from the drop of the gate, twenty-eight-year-old British racer Kellett – back-to-back champion in 2023 and 2024 – recorded his best lap time of 3:03.793 on lap two as he sought to seize early control of the opening race.

As expected, former FIM MX2 Motocross World Championship competitor Cyril Genot – Honda from Belgium was in contention from the start and his second-lap time was only a little more than half-a-second down on Kellett’s as the best of the rest recorded times over seven seconds slower.

With the leaders steering clear of the inevitable opening lap chaos, Kellett and Genot settled into a good rhythm at the front and after thirteen competitive, hard-fought laps it was Kellett who took the chequered flag first, just under five seconds in front of Genot.

France’s Milko Potisek – Drag’on Yamaha, who started the day second in the championship following February’s Enduropale du Touquet Pas-de-Calais that got the 2025 title fight under way, continued his comeback from last season’s injuries with a rock-solid third, although the thirty-five-year-old former MXGP racer was over forty-eight seconds behind Kellett at the flag and only 0.290 ahead of fourth-placed Jeremy Hauquier – Yamaha.

With riders registered for the championship dominating the top-ten in a field packed with very fast South American starters, the French pairing of Matheo Miot – Yamaha and Joey Nuques – Yamaha completed the top six.

Kellett dished out his second Sand Races masterclass of the day in race two to record another thirteen-lap total and win by just over thirty-four seconds from Potisek who in turn was just over two-and-a-half seconds clear of Genot. France’s Hauquier was again fourth with compatriot Alexis Collignon – Honda taking fifth from Nuques.

“I’ve taken this race really seriously, after all there is an FIM World Championship on the line,” said Kellett. “I came to Argentina two weeks ahead of the event to prepare and that’s been really beneficial because it’s winter here and conditions are very different to those at home where it’s summer. I’m very happy to keep the ball rolling in this way after a great result at Le Touquet.

“This was a kind of mixture between a European race and what we experienced at last year’s Enduro del Verano because it is incredibly fast. I enjoy both [styles of circuit] and it’s good to have some diversity in the championship.” 

The Moto Women category was dominated by Belgian defending champion Verstappen who opted for 450cc power instead of her usual choice of 250cc machine. The twenty-six-year-old – who is currently sitting in sixth in the FIM Women’s Motocross World Championship – was first woman across the line in both points-scoring races and more than held her own against her male counterparts.

In race one she crossed the line in twenty-second overall as the tenth registered rider home and, despite a crash at the start of race two, she recorded a finish of twenty-seventh overall and was ninth registered rider across the line.

“Honestly, I was really happy with my riding,” she said. “On top of that, I was on a 450cc machine so it was a real challenge, but in the end it went incredibly well. In the second race I crashed in the first corner. I had to restart in last place but managed to fight my way back so I'm really pleased with my weekend.”

Chasing Verstappen home in both races, 2023 champion Mathilde Denis – Yamaha from France recorded finishes of fifty-fifth and forty-ninth overall with her compatriots Camille Viaud – Yamaha finishing seventieth and fifty-second and series newcomer Sara Jugla – KTM carding sixty-eighth and sixty-second.

The Moto Veterans class was won by series leader Fernando Rubio – Honda from Uruguay who used his home continent advantage to full effect, finishing fifty-first and fiftieth overall with France’s Nicolas Lavenant – Yamaha running sixtieth and fifty-first for second ahead of compatriot Dominique Mieuzet – Honda who was sixty-first and fifty-seventh.

Home racer Danilo Goes was the sole credited finisher in the Moto Vintage class with finishes of sixty-fourth and fifty-eighth. Quad racing is hugely popular in South America and in a field numbering over one-hundred entries, France’s defending champion Pablo Violet – Drag’on Yamaha led home the registered riders in the single thirty-five-minute plus one lap race in twenty-fifth overall to move into the series lead with his fellow countryman Benoit Sebert – Yamaha climbing to second in the championship chase in sixty-ninth.

The focus now shifts to Italy for round three – the Bibione Sand Storm – that is scheduled for 24-26 October.

FIND THE FULL RESULTS HERE