Walker Charges to Second at Red Bull Romaniacs in Triumph's Adventure Debut
Triumph Motorcycles has completed a landmark week at the 2025 Red Bull Romaniacs, with Jonny Walker finishing a close second overall in the Adventure Ultimate category and Sam Sunderland taking a dominant victory in the Adventure Lite class. Racing near-standard Tiger 900 Rally Pro motorcycles, both riders delivered standout performances across five demanding days in the Carpathian Mountains, proving the capability of Triumph’s adventure offering in one of the world’s toughest offroad events.
The 2025 edition of Red Bull Romaniacs introduced the new Adventure categories, which saw heightened competition as riders tackled a challenging mix of rocky climbs, steep descents, river crossings, and forest singletrack. For Triumph, the event was a powerful demonstration of the Tiger 900 Rally Pro’s real-world capability in some of the most extreme conditions in off-road sport.
In the Adventure Ultimate class, Triumph Factory Racing Enduro Team’s Jonny Walker delivered another world-class performance. After placing second in the Prologue, Jonny encountered a minor technical issue on Offroad Day 1, which cost him time and dropped him to fifth. He responded with three consecutive offroad stage wins, closing the gap to the leader and climbing to second overall. Despite his late charge, Jonny ultimately finished second in class, just three minutes and 43 seconds off the top step.
For Sam Sunderland, Romaniacs marked his competitive debut for Triumph and a long-awaited return to racing. Competing in the Adventure Lite class, the two-time Dakar Rally winner made his intentions clear from the start, winning the city Prologue before going on to dominate each of the four offroad days. With perfect results across all stages, Sunderland secured the overall class win with a commanding lead of four hours and 19 minutes.
Sunderland’s Romaniacs campaign also serves as the launchpad for his next major challenge. In the coming weeks, he will attempt to become the fastest person to ride a motorcycle around the globe. Sam will cover over 18,000 miles, across five continents and more than 15 countries aboard a Triumph Tiger 1200 Rally Explorer.
Jonny Walker
“So we’ve just finished up Day 4 here in Romania! We took the win again today, but it wasn’t enough to take the overall. It’s been a great week, only losing time on the first day, making it too big of a margin to pull back. I have really enjoyed riding the adventure bike at Romaniacs this year. The bike handled everything really well, and I was able to win the next three days in a row, so it’s clear we had the speed to fight for the top step. Finishing second overall is a great result, and I think we showed what the bike is capable of.”
Sam Sunderland
“So that’s Red Bull Romaniacs 2025 complete! I’m really happy to take the win in the Adventure Lite class with a comfortable margin – I even managed to enjoy the views today! The bike was incredible all week, even in some really tricky spots with steep climbs and more. To take the Tiger pretty much straight out of the showroom with not much time to test it and then put it on the top of the box is amazing. Overall, I’ve really enjoyed the race and super happy to take the win and show everyone what the adventure bikes are capable of.”
Ian Kimber – Head of Global Racing Programmes, Triumph Motorcycles
“Red Bull Romaniacs is well known for being one of the toughest races in the hard enduro calendar. For Jonny and Sam to take bikes that are pretty much as they would leave the showroom floor, bar a few race specific parts, with almost zero prep, and finish where they have is incredible. In the new adventure classes, we have been able to show what the Triumph Tiger 900 is capable of and that it is a true adventure bike. Whilst Sam’s lead in his class may look like we entered him in the wrong category, it allowed him to get some time on one of our Tiger machines in tough terrain, in preparation for his round the world record attempt, all without putting him at too much risk of injury. Jonny has shown what a world class rider he is, jumping from his enduro bike to the Tiger, and nearly taking the class victory. I’m sure if it hadn’t been for the issue with one of the additional race parts we used on day one, he’d be standing on the top of the box.
It’s definitely a proud day for us to have enjoyed being part of this event and the excitement in the new adventure classes!”
