The 2026 FIM Hard Enduro World Championship has reached the point of the season where altitude, attrition and nerve decide everything. With three rounds remaining and 99 points still on the table, the series now heads to the Maloti Mountains for Round 6 — the Roof of Africa, 24-26 September.
Lettenbichler Took Control in Tuscany
Round 5 at the Abestone Hard Enduro in Italy could hardly have gone better for Manuel Lettenbichler. The Red Bull KTM Factory Racing rider swept every points-paying segment — Prologue, Sprint Race and Sunday's Gold Final. It was his fourth HEWC victory from five rounds, and it stretched his championship lead from 15 points to 24.
Mitch Brightmore took a fourth podium of the campaign in second for X Grip, while Teodor Kabakchiev edged a hard-fought scrap with James Moore and Mario Roman to complete the podium for Sherco. Billy Bolt, still rebuilding after four months off the bike, won Saturday evening's non-championship Straight Rhythm but that didnt translate into the Final.
The Standings Picture
Lettenbichler leads on 150 points from Mitch Brightmore on 126 and Kabakchiev on 94, with Ashton Brightmore just three points further back. Bolt and Roman are separated by a single point in fifth and sixth. The Junior World Championship is tighter still: Ashton Brightmore holds the lead on 154 after Moore's Abestone class win moved the South African to 147.
Why Lesotho Changes the Equation
Running since 1967, the Roof of Africa earned its "Mother of Hard Enduro" billing long before the discipline had a world championship. Rock gardens, river lines and sustained running above 3,000 metres punish riders and machinery in ways no European round does and late-September weather in the Maloti range can turn from heat to snow without much warning.
It is also a round where equipment choice becomes strategy. Traction across loose shale, rim protection over unforgiving rock, and suspension linkage that survives three days of impact all shape the result. The championship's official partners occupy exactly that territory: Plews Tyres, whose supported riders included Moore and Roman at Abestone, alongside protection specialist S3 Parts and linkage and bearing manufacturer Factory Links.
What Happens Next
Round 6, the Roof of Africa, runs 24-26 September in Lesotho, followed by Sea to Sky in Turkey (8-10 October) and the 24MX Hixpania Hard Enduro finale in Spain (23-25 October). A 24-point cushion is meaningful, but on terrain this severe it is not decisive. Follow every point at the 2026 championship standings.