The final two rounds of the 2021 Borilli FIM EnduroGP World Championship are set to welcome a familiar face back into the paddock as popular British rider Nathan Watson returns to the series to compete for RedMoto Honda in the Enduro2 class.
Initially switching to enduro from motocross in 2016, the now 26-year-old Watson earned his first ever woods win in Sweden of that same year, where he topped the Enduro1 class. Establishing himself as an enduro frontrunner during the years after his debut season, Nathan will compete in the Enduro2 class at the Terra Unica GP of Portugal and GP of France before, possibly, making a full-time return to EnduroGP in 2022.
“Things have come together pretty quickly, to be honest,” explained Nathan. “I’m really looking forward to racing in Portugal and France. There’s no pressure, I just want to enjoy it, get to know the team better, and do the best I can.
“I haven’t been doing too much riding recently, I was taking some time off after a really hard year. I’d been training all last winter for the French beach racing series, which got cancelled, then the team I was with decided to take me to the MXGP, so I worked hard to get ready for that as best I could. That obviously didn’t go too well, and generally I had a bit of a rough time. I guess I had a ‘what if?’ with motocross and wanted to get back and see how I could do. But now I realise it’s not for me, not the world championship anyway. And I just needed a bit of time out in the last few months.
“That’s when Matteo contacted me, a few weeks back. He asked if I’d be interested in racing the final two EnduroGP events. And here I am, getting ready for those races. I’m just back in the UK after a few days testing with the team in Italy. I’m really looking forward to getting back into the EnduroGP paddock. There’re no expectations, I’m not fully race fit, and obviously I’ve not raced in EnduroGP for a while, but I’m really looking forward to it. I’d certainly like to get back into enduro. I think I was pretty good at it, so let’s see how things go in the next couple of weeks.”
Confirming Nathan’s participation in the Enduro2 class, RedMoto Honda team manager Matteo Boffelli is looking forward to welcoming Nathan back to EnduroGP.
“We are proud to have Nathan Watson join our team for the final two rounds of the FIM EnduroGP World Championship in Portugal and France. He will compete in E2 on the Honda RedMoto CRF450RX where he will be up against the best riders in what is considered the top category of Enduro World Championship. At this time of the season, we are laying the foundations for the future, and Nathan has been racing with Honda for the last year, so we spoke to him a few days ago about this opportunity. It was a bit crazy, but he accepted immediately, after he flew to Italy for a few days of testing, we are ready to go.”