Adam Raga has been the great dominator of the European Trial GP, held on the small French island of Corsica, where only 20 points out of the 40 that were up for grabs in the World Class category have been distributed and the headline of the weekend is, without a doubt, the Gas Gas rider’s championship lead, provisionally unseating the all-powerful Toni Bou, who was second.
For the first time in its history, Corsica hosted a Trial GP. The staging and organization have been outstanding, giving us truly spectacular images by the sea to the delight of the large audience that came to the areas during the weekend.
G.P. EUROPA TRIAL DAY 1. ALL PILOTS ARE EXCLUDED
On Saturday, the first scoring day, there was an unprecedented situation. At the halfway point of the race, the drivers of the top category made a decision that surprised organizers and fans, as they They stopped in one of the areas in protest against the security reasons caused by a very tight time limit for the route and the zones. In this way they exceeded the maximum time allowed to undertake the Trial and the FIM penalized all riders with exclusion, so no points were distributed on this first day in the top category.
The rest of the categories, on the other hand, were held without problems. In the World Cup, another victory for the Basque rider Jaime Busto, who accumulates a streak of consecutive victories that keep him at the top of the provisional standings in his World Championship debut.
G.P. EUROPA TRIAL DAY 2. ADAM RAGA’S TURN
the FIM jury meeting on Saturday afternoon, it was agreed to make some modifications to the sections and extend the race time to ensure that the race could be run without setbacks.
From a sporting point of view, we are witnessing the third consecutive victory of Adam Raga, who beats Toni Bou, his eternal rival, in the provisional standings by only two points and places himself as the leader of the championship just one race away from reaching the halfway point of the outdoor season.
It was a very special day for Albert Cabestany, who was celebrating his 250th Grand Prix and wanted to celebrate with a great result.
In the first round, Toni Bou dominated, closing the first pass through the twelve sections with 10 points, followed by Raga with 10 and Cabestany with 15. The rest of the favorites, such as Fujinami, Dabill or Fajardo, were already starting to fatten their cards and lost all options of entering the fight for the places of honor.
On the second lap came Raga’s coup de effect, taking advantage of a fiasco by Bou in zone 6 and driving impeccably until he accumulated only two points on his card and completed this second lap with a one-point advantage over his rival. The excitement, therefore, was served in the last pass through the areas. Behind, Cabestany continued to distance himself, but had a comfortable lead over the rest of the pursuers.
The third and final lap was heart-stopping. Bou made another mistake, this time in zone 8, and Raga maintained his previous record with great astuteness, guaranteeing himself a resounding victory that propels him to the provisional first position of the championship. Toni Bou couldn’t do more against the success of his opponent and showed his bewilderment with the ease of the zones, which do not allow overcoming any mistake. In any case, maximum excitement in the championship, with the two main swords separated by just one point.
SPECTACULAR JORGE CASALES
The third big headline of the European GP has undoubtedly been the spectacular result of Jorge Casales. The young rider from Vigés, who was competing in his fifth race in the top category, achieved a spectacular fourth position, beating established rivals such as Fujinami, Dabill or Fajardo.
Jorge, who is in Gas Gas’ School of Champions program, is showing a spectacular performance in a season that seemed to adapt to the category, showing that he will be fighting for the places of honor much sooner than anyone could imagine.
Behind Jorge finished Grattarola, Fujinami, Dabill, Ferrer, Fajardo and Tarrés.
Regarding the World Cup category, on this second day we witnessed another new victory for Jaime Busto, who is proving to be unstoppable in his World Cup debut.
Next weekend the riders will be in Italy for the seventh round of the race, where unlike the previous scenarios there will only be one day
and 20 points up for grabs.
Adam Raga: “Everything went very well for us and we managed to win in a very hard, long and physical race. This time I’m happy, I won by 13 points. I think we did a good job and that was the key to the win. It was a day with a lot of pressure, I saw what my rivals were doing and Toni made it really difficult for me. We’ve won and we have to be satisfied, but there’s still a long way to go in the World Cup and we have to keep working like that.”
Matteo Grattarola: “The weekend went well, it was a good race. This was my first race of the year as I couldn’t be in Australia or Japan, so a fifth place, and even more so considering that I was only two points behind Jorge Casales, is to be very happy. I want to thank Gas Gas and Gas Gas Italia for all their support to be here, without them it would not be possible.”
Jorge Casales: “I’m very happy. Yesterday was a bit of a strange day, null and void in qualifying, although I did the three laps and that helped me to get to know the areas better. Until the second lap I was a bit lost, but from then on I improved a lot and in the end I got fourth place. We have to be happy but we can’t relax because there’s still a long way to go. I think this good result has helped us to gain more confidence. And I think we can keep improving.”
Toni Bou: It’s been a tough day for me. Adam [Raga] and I are very evenly matched and it is very difficult to make a difference in areas as easy as the ones in this trial. Today I made two mistakes on the second lap that cost me the race. When failing in these conditions, it is very difficult to recover. There was a lot of pressure today, I couldn’t fail. I hope that the test in Italy will be more complicated, with a good level, and I can achieve the goal of staying ahead of Adam and being the leader again.”
Takahisa Fujinami: “I’ve faced terrain that’s not to my liking, I haven’t felt good all weekend. It reminded me a lot of indoor and it was very difficult to get a good result. I tried to motivate myself at the end of the first lap and in the second I felt better, but in the last lap I started very badly, with three fiascos in a row that were difficult for me to recover. I’ve done some things right, but others very badly. Now we just have to forget this result and hope that next weekend, in Italy, the areas will be more natural.”
GO EUROPA TRIAL CLASSIFICATIONS (CORSICA)
Text: Trialworld / Photos: G2F Media
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