BMW’s next gruelling GS Trophy will take place during the summer of 2022 in Albania (above). After events in Patagonia, Thailand, South Africa, Mongolia, Canada, and most recently in New Zealand, this is the first time the GS Trophy challenge will take place in Europe. There is no word on which bike will be the mount for this edition of the GSTrophy as after many years of the the big boxer GS taking centre stage, the event in New Zealand featured identical F850GS bikes for the teams. What we can be pretty sure of is that the G310GS will not be the chosen ride. Countries that have so far scheduled national qualifying rounds are Brazil, China, France, Germany, India, Japan, Latin America, Mexico, Netherlands, Russia, South Africa, South East Asia, South Korea, United Kingdom and the USA. There are spots for national 22 teams and an additional six multinational women’s teams (up from two at the most recent event).
Of choosing Albania for the 2022 GS Trophy, BMW representatives state “Albania is slowly opening up to tourism. Especially the narrow coastal strip of the Adriatic Sea attracts many visitors in summer. However, two thirds of the country is covered with mountains and the back country in particular is sparsely populated.The hinterland is criss-crossed with extremely narrow, winding roads and dirt tracks, which call for a very good riding technique. You will always be in for a surprise around the next corner never knowing whether the road will continue or simply stop.”
The obvious favourites for 2022 will be the South Africa team as the country has already won the event three times including the 2020 New Zealand edition. BMW stresses that the GS Trophy is not a race but a challenge of teamwork where all members of the a team must rely on one another, and their machines, to bring everybody across the finish line.
