Australia’s Matt Phillips continues to lead the Junior class WEC standings.

Round five of the 2013 MAXXIS FIM World Enduro Championship wrapped up in Romania over the weekend with intense battles in each division throughout the two days of competition.

In the E1 class, the battle for victory was fought out between Antoine Meo and Finland’s Juha Salminen. Matching MEO stride for stride throughout the event, Salminen looked capable of taking the win.

Despite taking the final special test on day two, Salminen was forced to settle for second position overall. Claiming two podium visits for the weekend, Spain’s Cristobal Guerrero was third.

Following his victory on day one, France’s Johnny Aubert led the way in the E2 class on lap one of day two but soon faced a tough fight from both Alex Salvini and France’s Pela Renet.

Determined to make amends for his errors of day one, Salvini worked his way into the lead on the final lap and held on to take an eight-second margin of victory over Renet.

Despite setting the fastest time in the final enduro test Renet was unable to keep the hard charging Salvini at bay and was forced to settle for the runner-up spot.

Hoping to repeat his winning result from day one, Aubert suffered a small problem on the second extreme test and lost the lead to Salvini. Fighting hard to recover the time lost, the Frenchman secured the final step of the podium with third position.

In the E3 category there was no stopping Christophe Nambotin as he took two race wins during the weekend. Topping seven of the day’s 10 special tests the KTM rider took the day two win by a large margin.

Firmly establishing himself as one of the main contenders in the E3 class, France’s Mathias Bellino beat Estonia’s Aigar Leok to record his third consecutive runner-up result.

Returning to the podium for the second time in Romania, Leok narrowly edged out Sweden’s Joakim Ljunggren to claim third.

In the Junior class, Australia’s Matt Phillips returned to the top step of the podium. Fighting hard with Spain’s Mario Roman after battling with Spain’s Mario Roman for much of the event.

Phillips bettered the Husaberg rider in the cross tests to take the win. Unable to repeat his win from day one, Roman ended day two as the runner-up to Phillips. Claiming his second podium of the season, France’s Loic Larrieu placed third.

Dominating the Women’s class on day two in Romania, Laia Sanz finished over six minutes clear of her nearest rival to take the win. Australia’s Jessica Gardiner finished runner-up to Sanz with Britain’s Jane Daniels third. Australia’s Jemma Wilson and France’s Audrey Rossat completed the top five.

2013 Maxxis FIM Enduro World Championship
Round five – Romania

E1 overall standings (after five of seven rounds):
1. Antoine Meo 191
2. Juha Salminen 150
3. Matti Seistola 141
4. Eero Remes 125
5. Cristobal Guerrero 90
6. Jeremy Joly 89
7. Nicolas Deparrois 86
8. Thomas Oldrati 85
9. Anthony Boissiere 84
10. Simone Albergoni 78

E2 overall standings (after five of seven rounds):
1. Alex Salvini 186
2. Ivan Cervantes 160
3. Pierre Alexandre Renet 153
4. Johnny Aubert 151
5. Victor Guerrero 99
6. Oriol Mena 98
7. Lorenzo Santolino 85
8. Antoine Basset 73
9. Oscar Balleti 57
10. David Knight 44

E3 overall standings (after five of seven rounds):
1. Christophe Nambotin 190
2. Aigar Leok 145
3. Joakim Ljunggren 139
4. Luis Correia 123
5. Manuel Monni 97
6. Deny Philippaerts 88
7. Mathias Bellino 81
8. Marcus Kehr 79
9. Fabien Planet 72
10. Benoit Fortunato 66

Junior overall standings (after five of seven rounds):
1. Matthew Phillips (AUS) 180
2. Giacomo Redondi 152
3. Mario Roman 128
4. Daniel Mccanney 128
5. Loic Larrieu 99
6. Rudi Moroni 93
7. Luis Oliveira 93
8. Robert Kvarnstrom 89
9. Nicolo Mori 83
10. Johan Edlund 52

Womens overall standings (after three of four rounds):
1. Laia Sanz 100
2. Jessica Gardiner (AUS) 94
3. Jane Daniels 88
4. Juliette Berrez 76
5. Audrey Rossat 72
6. Jemma Wilson (AUS) 66
7. Geraldine Fournel 55
8. Rosa Romero 18
9. Toni Jardine 17

Click here for detailed results