enduroPanorama 2026: Jozsa Norbert dominates, Bart Stroișteanu wins Veterans, and Maria Grigoraș impresses in Hobby

enduroPanorama 2026 – One of the toughest and most anticipated races of the season. enduroPanorama 2026

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enduroPanorama 2026 once again proved why it is one of the most anticipated hard enduro races of the year in the Romanian Hard Enduro Championship. At Ghelari, more than 230 riders faced hundreds of kilometres of racing, endless hours on the bike, and a final day that, as always at Panorama, made the difference between those who could still push and those who simply tried to survive.

In the PROFI class, Norbert Levente Jozsa – Nordica Moto – Master Bike Cluj rider took the overall win with a total time of 10h54:21.61, ahead of Ott Kornel – GoRacing – Beta Romania and Vlad Hambașan – Poiana Rusca, while the top five was completed by NordicaMoto’s Zsolt Varga and Cezar Șulea. In Hobby, Maria Grigoraș finished an excellent 6th overall, while in Veteran, Bart Stroișteanu took the class win with 11h56:26.88.

Jozsa built his win early and then managed the race

The final standings fit perfectly with the story of the race. Jozsa made the difference in the opening days, then managed the rest of the event with intelligence and control. He ended the race with a lead of almost 15 minutes over Ott Kornel, while Vlad Hambașan finished a little over one hour behind the winner.

Norbi told us:

“In the first two days I pushed hard to build an advantage over my rivals, and it turned out to be the right decision because on Day 3 I had technical problems — I broke the clutch pump, cut the tyre, and went into survival mode. I stayed as close as I could to Ott and Hambașan. On the final day I chose not to force the pace, especially because everything was very wet, and I followed Ott without taking unnecessary risks.”

It was exactly the kind of race where experience and race management mattered just as much as raw speed. Norbi attacked when he had to, then kept everything under control when the conditions got worse.

Bart Stroișteanu takes Veteran win and cracks the Expert top 10

Another standout performance came from Bart Stroișteanu of Master Bike Cluj, who won the Veteran class and also finished 8th overall in Expert. In Veteran, the podium was completed by Raul Gadola and Tommy Kunert, while the Expert class was won by David Ignat, ahead of Mădălin Chelcea and David Rusanescu.

In translation, Bart summed up the race like this:

“Yeah, well, I’m first because Zdenek had some kind of issue. I still don’t know exactly what happened. He had a big advantage, maybe 20 or 30 minutes in front of me, so clearly he had me beaten, but something happened on the last day. There was a lot of mud. Either something broke on the bike, or he broke himself, I don’t know. I had to push on one climb that was absolutely brutal in that mud. Everyone knows that at Panorama, if it rains after all that dust, the ground turns into ice.

It was a race organized perfectly. And having those “100-kilometre” days back to back, up, down, up, down, completely destroyed you. Everything hurt. I felt like I had come back from war. Right now I’m in bed and I don’t even want to get out of it. I don’t even want to stand up anymore. So many days, so many kilometres — it breaks you.

The course itself, especially in Expert, wasn’t something impossible in terms of individual sections, but that constant flow never lets you breathe. And we’re not really used to races with this kind of distance. We need to train for this type of competition — races with 100-kilometre hard enduro days, not just connecting roads.”

And that really was the story of Ghelari: not just one impossible climb or one killer obstacle, but the nonstop effort, day after day, that slowly drained the riders until there was nothing left to hide behind.

Maria Grigoraș makes the right call in Hobby

One of the best stories of the weekend also came from Master Bike Cluj. This year, Maria Grigoraș chose to move into the Hobby class, a category with more than 100 riders, and the decision turned out to be an inspired one. Maria finished a remarkable 6th overall with a total time of 9h55:59.77, missing out on the top five by less than half a minute.

The performance is even more impressive considering that she is still under 18 years old, showing a level of sporting maturity, ambition and determination that is not easy to find. In such a deep and demanding class, on terrain that punished almost everyone, Maria delivered one of the standout rides of the event.

Panorama once again filtered the field

Like every year, enduroPanorama had the final say on the last day. The official results are filled with DNFs and DISQs across multiple classes, a clear sign that the final day once again separated the riders who still had something left from those who had already entered survival mode. Ghelari delivered exactly what Panorama is known for: huge mileage, relentless effort, very little time to recover, and that specific type of hard enduro that does not only beat you technically, but also physically, mentally and mechanically.

Hard Enduro Poiana Rusca – the next challenge in the calendar! Another race that for sure will impress regarding the toughness of its tracks!

Foto. FRM.ro

Hard Enduro Panorama 2026 RESULTS