Chilean enduro cousins Camilo and Benjamin Herrera claimed a historic one-two result at the 2024 Red Bull Los Andes Hard Enduro ahead of Eddie Karlsson puts the Stark Varg on the podium in third.

Chile’s highest profile enduro family take a one-two result, South American’s highest profile hard enduro race, one of the world’s highest events at around 2000 metres in the Andes just east of Santiago...Red Bull Los Andes 2024 had a lot of highs.

The South American event runs a street prologue or two across November 13-16 concluding with a five lap, hard enduro featuring typically rocky canyons and long, cactus-strewn climbs plus an epic amount of dust.

La Mundialera hill climb

It was one of those epic hillclimbs which settled the final podium result in the end, that and correct tyre choices, with the local boys nailing cleaner climbs (and losing less time) and ensuring their laps were consistent.

The Herrera’s have a long history with the event, almost as long as the race has been going with multi-talented Benjamin, who has competed in EnduroGP, GNCC, the Hard Enduro World Championship as well as representing Chile in the ISDE multiple times, first winning the event over a decade ago.

But it was younger cousin Camilo who grabbed the win this time around though, overcoming an early crash in the first turn which meant a race-long game of catch-up for the 22-year-old.

The fifth lap proved decisive for Camilo who had battled through the dust and pile-ups of amateur riders to have Benja in his sights. With two hours on the clock and on the final ascent of La Mundialera, Camilo attacked while Benja struggled and the Beta Chile rider went on to claim the win by just under a minute from his cousin.

Podium for Karlsson

Marking a piece of history, Eddie Karlsson placed third overall on the Stark Varg. Historic? Because it was the first time an electric motorcycle has placed on a podium in a major hard enduro event, although it wasn’t without issue.

Karlsson had to go through battery changes along the way (including a second one within sight of the finisher’s chequered flag) which cost the Stark Future Racing rider more time compared to the Herrera duo, who splashed and dashed.

The big issue though was the lack of grip in the final laps for the Swede, who, like Billy Bolt (see below) had fitted too soft rear tyre and mousse. It meant both had a hard time making clean runs on the dry and steep hills as the laps progressed and their tyres got destroyed.

What happened to Billy?

Billy Bolt was on the cards this year at an international event which has seen Mario Roman as a previous winner. The SuperEnduro World Champion and winner of the last Hard Enduro World Championship round at Hixpania, struggled to match the pace of the Herrera cousins.

Not one to normally concede defeat ever, Bolt called time on his knackered tyre after multiple attempts on the hardest hills left him no option.

Karlsson’s rear tyre at the finish was also a sight to behold but, despite the last-minute battery change, he had enough of an advantage to be able to complete a second battery swap in the pits, rejoin the race and hit the summit to claim third.

2024 Red Bull Los Andes Super Expert class results:

Full race recap: rewatch the full live broadcast below with Rob Warner and Paul Bolton on the comms (scroll to find the battles later on).

Photo Credit: Red Bull Content Pool