Toni Bou is back at the top of the podium after being relegated to third place last week at the Andorra Grand Prix. He was accompanied on the podium by Adam Raga and Jaime Busto, who for the second time in a row is in the positions of honour.
Lourdes also hosted the first round of the Trial World Championship for electric motorcycles, called TrialE, which ended with a resounding victory for Marc Colomer on his return to competition after 14 years.
The French Grand Prix marks the halfway point of a championship where
Toni Bou
leads the way, and despite the failure in Andorra, where only two points separated him from the winner, his season is being impeccable. On Saturday, without going any further, he once again had another great qualifying, scoring a pole position that allowed him to start in last position and obtain the reference of all his rivals. In the same group would be
Jaime Busto
and
Adam Raga
.
The other side of the coin was
Albert Cabestany
, who fell apart and had to start first in the race. The lack of references and the rain that fell the day before further complicated this task. The rider from Tarragona would finish the first lap in sixth position, while Bou signed a spectacular first pass through the sections and would start the second half of the route with a 10-point advantage over Raga, 21 over Busto and 22 over
Jeroni Fajardo
.
In this second round, Bou gave no chance. He signed a card with zero points and scored a resounding victory without Raga, who managed to improve to a good extent, being able to improve an optimal second position. Busto also improved his times and once again secured a podium place that also allows him to take third in the provisional classification. Fourth would be
Fujinami
, followed by Fajardo, Cabestany and a great
Miquel Gelabert
.
The controversy of the Grand Prix was led by
Jorge Casales
, who had just achieved a meritorious fourth position in Andorra. He was punished with a 20-point penalty by the organization when his backpacker was photographed by an opponent with one foot inside a zone on Friday. The regulations do not allow entry into the zone until Saturday, so this harsh and controversial penalty ruined Jorge’s chances of a good result in France. According to Jorge:
“Tough weekend at the Lourdes TrialGP, a weekend that, for me, marks a before and after in the world of both trial and sport. Since I consider myself a polite, noble and respectful person, I will not say names or what happened. Suffice it to say that I am very disappointed, nothing like this has ever happened to me in the world of sport and I would never have thought that in a sport as beautiful, elegant and healthy as trial it would go to these extremes. Now it’s time to think about the next race, the British TrialGP. Thank you all and lots of gas!”
In Trial2 Gabriel Marcelli scored a great victory that allows him to consolidate his second position in the provisional standings and get closer to the leader, Iwan Roberts, who was second, four points behind the Galician rider. The podium was completed by Italy’s Luca Petrella.
In Trial125 the victory went to the local rider Poirot, followed by Gandola and Green.
In
TrialE , Marc Colomer took
his brand new electric Gas TXTe to the top of the podium in his return to top competition after announcing his retirement 14 years ago.
The next Grand Prix will be the British Grand Prix, which will be held on July 9 in Tong.
FRENCH GP TRIALGP CLASSIFICATION
FRENCH GP TRIAL2 CLASSIFICATION
FRENCH GP CLASSIFICATION TRIAL125
FRENCH GP TRIALE CLASSIFICATION
DECLARATIONS
Toni Bou – P1
After the race in Andorra, getting a good feeling again was very important for me and I fought to be comfortable in this trial. Yesterday, pole, today I was able to ride well on the bike and run the second lap to zero. Everything went very well and this victory is very important for the championship. I also want to congratulate Jaime for joining me on the podium. He’s at an incredible level and I knew these good results would come. It’s been a very good weekend and I’m very happy with how everything went.
Adam Raga – P2
I’m happy with the result, but not so much with the points on my card in this race. I made some mistakes on the first lap, and on the second lap, which was perfect, I also made a mistake, so I couldn’t close any more gaps. Either way, I’m happy with my riding and I’m looking forward to the British GP in a couple of weeks.
Jaime Busto – P3
I’m very happy because it was a difficult race for me. I had damaged ribs from the Andorra Trial, and they hurt a lot, even so, once in the race I was able to endure quite well throughout the trial. The sections, in the first lap were good, and after drying, it was a bit easy.
Takahisa Fujinami – P4
I think until the middle of the race I wasn’t doing badly, but I was overwhelmed by the time and I failed in the last section. I think it could be climbed and this has weighed me down. On the second lap I saved a lot and stayed close to Jaime, who got his second podium of the year. I think we have to congratulate him, and also Jaime. My result is not bad, considering that I was close to finishing on the podium.
Miquel Gelabert – P7
He started second, behind Cabestany. We did the sections with hardly any references, so when I made several mistakes after the first lap I thought I would be out of the race, but when I checked the classification I saw that it wasn’t too bad. I fought as hard as I could in the second lap, with maximum concentration, to make up positions and take more points. For me this race is important, as it breaks the bad streak of Japan and Andorra, making us think more eagerly about Great Britain, where we will continue working on improving this seventh position and showing the potential we have.
Jordi Tarrés – TRS Team Manager
It was a tough trial in general, with very slippery sections due to the rain that fell during the night, with almost impassable sections. This allowed the leading riders to distance themselves from the rest on the first lap, but Toni already had a significant advantage and despite Adam’s great second lap it was not possible to come back. In Trial2 Luca Petrella got a positive podium, although in the race he was not very consistent. Bad luck for Eric Miquel in Trial125, where a puncture has penalized him heavily. The second half of the season was much better.
Miquel Cirera – Repsol Honda Team Manager
After the result in Andorra, which did not go as we would have liked, the riders have worked to achieve this good overall result for the team. And I want to congratulate them for that, for Toni’s victory, Jaime’s hard-fought podium and for Fujinami’s fourth place, who has been looking for the podium from the beginning. We’re going to keep fighting to try to repeat and improve, although it’s not easy, because Adam is a great rival. We are also very happy with Gabriel Marcelli’s victory in Trial2, which helps us to stay ahead in the manufacturers’ standings.
