Adam Raga takes his first win of the season and cuts five points off Toni Bou at home in Andorra. The other big surprise of the weekend was Jaime Busto, who scored the pole position in qualifying and disputed the victory with the big favourites at all times, finishing second just one point behind the winner.
The Andorran Grand Prix is always synonymous with physical and technical demand, as the route runs at an altitude of more than 1,600 metres, with great elevation gain and long sections. In the first inspection of the sections, the drivers themselves ventured a race of few points, a priori simple, but at the controls the circumstances were quite different. The fifth zone was the first to make a difference, as neither Raga nor Bou managed to overcome it. From this point on, the reference began to be an inspired Jaime Busto.
Raga achieved the best passage through the first fifteen sections, although he had to add a time penalty that made the race more equal to Busto and Bou, the most outstanding along with Fajardo and Casales, who also showed a good race pace. On this first lap Bou had a big mistake that conditioned his chances of victory, since in zone 14 he jumped an arrow and added the maximum penalty, and the lack of time forced the riders to go very fast in the last sections.
On the second lap we saw a sublime Toni Bou, setting the best part of the race, which however was not enough to overtake Raga or his teammate, Jaime Busto, by a very short distance. Jaime Busto was also on the verge of victory, but adding a very positive first podium, as well as convincing with a truly effective and spectacular riding.
With this result, Adam Raga cuts five points from his main rival, Toni Bou, and is a motivational boost for the TRS Motorcycles rider. Also noteworthy is the fourth position of Jorge Casales, followed by Takahisa Fujinami, Fajardo, Cabestany and Farre.
In Trial2 victory for Gael Chatagno, followed by Luca Petrella and Marc Riba.
In Trial125 the first position went to Lorenzo Gandola, followed by Billy Green and Hugo Dufrese
TRIALGP ANDORRA 2017 RESULTS
TRIAL2 ANDORRA 2017 RESULTS
RESULTS TRIAL125 ANDORRA 2017
DECLARATIONS
Adam Raga – P1
It was a tough race, but controlled thanks to starting in the back group after completing a good qualifying. I went through a lot of nerves, since throughout the race I was with Jaime and Toni, being aware that I had to fine-tune to compensate for the difficulties I had in zone five. I knew I had to fight hard and not make any more mistakes to get the win.
Jaime Busto – P2
I’m very happy to finally get my first podium in the World Championship. Last year and the year before I was very close by a very small margin, and this year I had started quite badly… In other words, it was time to change the trend… The weekend went very well, with yesterday’s pole position, and today I’m very happy with this second place.
Toni Bou – P3
The biggest mistake was the one in zone 14, because I did the area almost without looking, because I was going so badly with time, and I missed a door. That mistake has hurt me a lot, in fact, it has left me without the victory. Other penalties were predictable, but this one from the 14th… Well, we already know that these are things that can happen and the only thing it tells us is that we have to keep fighting race by race for the championship.
Jorge Casales – P4
On Saturday I had a serious mistake in qualifying. I had a good time but I missed an arrow, so it was a big problem, as starting in front there was no marked trajectory or lines. We also suffered a bit with the riders underneath, who slipped in, didn’t follow the race order, and it was difficult to get into the rhythm I wanted. They were very demanding sections, a priori it seemed like an easy trial, but there were many places to fail and I’m happy with how I got through the difficult sections, although I also know that without small mistakes I could have been on the podium without any problem. In the first zone I took the last two sections to get into time and I also penalized five more points for this reason. I can’t say I’m completely happy, as our goal is the podium, but it helps me morally for the French GP. The team and the bike have been fantastic.
Takahisa Fujinami – P5
Today’s trial was, as we expected, a tough race. When we went to see the zones they looked easy, but in the end you either got the zero, or you ended up penalizing fiasco. I made some mistakes and in the end I had to run a lot because, in addition, I had a time penalty. I finished fifth, a bit far from the podium, but I’m sure there will be better races. I want to congratulate Jaime on his first podium of the World Championship. Keep it up, Jaime!
Miquel Gelabert – Declassified
It was a very tough race in zone five, we were going very well until then and it took us an hour and a half to get it ready again. This has forced me to go through the rest of the areas without references and practically without looking at them. On the second lap we improved and advanced a lot of positions, but after zone 15 the FIM says I missed a waypoint and I was disqualified. It has been a GP where we have fought a lot without reward, but we have to recover and think about the next French Grand Prix
Luca Petrella – Trial2 – P2
Very happy with this second position of the Andorra GP. Even though we made mistakes and we can be higher up, the feeling has been good and we continue to work to improve in the next GPs, starting with Lourdes next Sunday.
Marc Riba – Trial2 -P3
The race went quite well, I felt comfortable from the first section and when we got to the refuelling we saw that we were in a good position and some of the main favourites were having problems. The second lap started badly, with a five in zone two, but luckily I managed to stay focused to achieve this important podium
Jordi Tarrés – TRS Team Manager
It was a strange day, as I followed the race in terms of results with the traditional method. I saw that Busto was going very well and Bou had some problems, in addition to those that Adam had to overcome as a result of not getting over zone five. He rode very fine today, with no big mistakes. Very happy for the victory and the double podium of Trial2. It’s a pity Eric Miquel in Trial125, who couldn’t finish off his great first pass through the sections with a good result. I insist on how important it is for us to have a presence in all categories and also to do so with great results like today’s
Miquel Cirera – Repsol Trial Team Manager
Today Jaime had a great race, fighting for the victory until the last section and, finally, he finished second. It’s a very good result for him and the team is very happy about it. But on the other hand, the team’s objective is to win and it is bad that, in Andorra, at Toni’s ‘home’, we have not been able to win. Fujinami also fought for the podium but it wasn’t easy at all and there is a lot of competition in an easy trial. Cliché to play… “Racing is like that” and everyone has done what they can. We hope to do better in the next race.
