Lettenbichler Sweeps Abestone HEWC Round 5; Opens 24-Point Lead

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Manuel Lettenbichler (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) dominated round five of the 2026 FIM Hard Enduro World Championship at Abestone Hard Enduro in the Tuscan-Emilian Apennines above Abetone, Italy, September 4–6. Per KTM’s factory release and MCNews’ full results card, the reigning champion swept every scoring segment for the maximum 33 points, won Sunday’s two-hour-plus-one-lap Gold Final in 2:07:12.9 after six laps, and moved to 150 championship points — a 24-point cushion over Mitch Brightmore (GASGAS).

Context: Abestone is the Italian rock-and-roots stop on the HEWC calendar, not Red Bull Tennessee Knockout. Trail Roamer already covered TKO at Sequatchie separately; this card is the world-championship weekend that followed Forza Orza in Sweden. Round five opened with Lettenbichler on 117 points, Brightmore on 102, and Teodor Kabakchiev (Sherco) holding a slim edge over Ashton Brightmore in the fight for third. Dry rock, roots, streams, and sustained climbs in Val di Luce replaced Sweden’s slippery mud.

Saturday: Qualification doubled as the Prologue points segment. Lettenbichler set 6:59.14, 0.79 seconds clear of Billy Bolt (Husqvarna) at 6:59.93, with Junior contender James Moore (Beta) third in 7:04.22. Lettenbichler then led the Gold Sprint Race start to finish — the only rider to reach the fifth checkpoint on lap three — posting a fastest lap of 20:17.7. Moore finished second and Ashton Brightmore third on the outright Sprint podium; Mitch Brightmore recovered to fourth while Bolt, despite the second-fastest Sprint lap, finished seventh. The non-championship Straight Rhythm under lights went to Bolt and set Sunday’s Gold Final pole.

Sunday Gold Final: Starting from the front, Lettenbichler controlled from lap one. His best lap of 18:33.1 was more than a minute quicker than anyone else managed. A late river tip-over while pushing the gap to Mitch Brightmore did not repeat the mechanical scare that nearly cost him Sweden. He finished six laps in 2:07:12.9 — his fourth HEWC win from five rounds. Brightmore was the only rider inside realistic range at 2:13:20.3 (24 weekend points, fourth podium of five). Kabakchiev took third in 2:14:54.6 after a mid-pack scrap with Moore and Mario Román (Husqvarna); Moore’s fourth (2:19:26.2) was also top Junior, and Román completed the six-lap finishers in fifth. Bolt, still rebuilding after months off, finished 12th on five laps after illness and fitness limited Sunday.

Standings after Abestone (per MCNews): 1 Lettenbichler KTM 150; 2 Mitch Brightmore GASGAS 126; 3 Kabakchiev Sherco 94; 4 Ashton Brightmore GASGAS 91; 5 Bolt Husqvarna 77; 6 Román Husqvarna 76; 7 Moore Beta 69. Junior: Ashton leads 154, Moore closes to 147. Three rounds remain (max 99 points still available): Roof of Africa (Lesotho, Sep 23–26), Sea to Sky (Turkey), and 24MX Hixpania (Spain).

Verified quotes: Lettenbichler thanked the Italian crowd and called the track “really raceable,” noting the late river crash while extending the gap to Brightmore. Bolt called it a difficult weekend overall — his fifth race back after four months off — and said he wants the two-week break before South Africa to rebuild speed.

Rider impact: If you follow hard enduro for bike choice and season narrative, Abestone is the “Mani max points” chapter — factory-press confirmation that the 300 EXC package plus fitness still separates the field when the rocks stay dry. Dual-sport and club enduro riders should not confuse Abestone’s multi-segment HEWC format with a GNCC woods loop; the takeaway is pacing and crash management across prologue, sprint, and a long final. Next action: read KTM’s primary release for factory framing, MCNews for the full Gold/Junior/Silver tables, then Trail Roamer’s TKO results and 2027 KTM 300 EXC HARDENDURO page for U.S. hard-enduro context. Soft Social-ready until cleared Red Bull Content Pool / Pondella stills replace interim topic-class stock.

Trail Roamer angle in one line: a sourced HEWC results card that separates Abestone from TKO, prints the six-minute winning margin and standings math, and refuses to invent lap times the wires did not publish.

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