The FIM X-Trial World Championship will complete its second round next Saturday with a visit to the Austrian town of Wiener Neustadt, which had not hosted a World Cup event since 2017, the year in which it Toni Bou (Repsol Honda Trial Team) took the 50th victory of his World Championship trophy cabinet at the Arena Nova.
The World Champion, who already has 74 victories in the Championship, arrives in Austria as the leader after winning the opening round in Barcelona in which he was accompanied on the podium by his teammate Gabriel Marcelli and Jaime Busto (GASGAS).
When it comes to making predictions for this second round of the season, we must also count on Adam Raga (TRRS), who in Barcelona qualified fourth, missing out on the podium for the first time since 2014 in Sheffield. For his part, Matteo Grattarola (Vertigo) arrives in Wiener Neustadt more recovered from the knee injury that prevented him from performing at a good level in the opening race.
Benoit Bincaz (Sherco) and Toby Martyn (Montesa) will also be looking to improve on their results in Barcelona, where they finished sixth and seventh respectively. They will be joined by two new faces, Aniol Gelabert (Beta) who will make his second appearance in the World Championship after having made his debut in Granada in 2019 and the local rider Marco Mempör (Gas Gas) who debuts his World Championship career in front of his fans. Both will be looking for a good performance that will allow them to aspire to compete in some more races throughout the current season.
Again, the participants will have to overcome 5 zones in the First Round and another 5 in the second while the final will be played over a course of 6 sections.
X-TRIAL AUSTRIA 2023
The Wiener Neustadt X-Trial was on the calendar for the 2020 season, but the COVID pandemic led to its cancellation.
Pilot Statements
Toni Bou: “It’s always good to start the season with a win and we’re working to continue in this vein. I have very good memories of my last race in Austria and we are really looking forward to returning. Our goal in the second round of the season is to fight for the win again.”
Gabriel Marcelli: “We are looking forward to the race in Austria with a lot of enthusiasm and motivation after a break of several weeks. I’ve never been able to compete in Austria, but I think I’m good at it and we’ll be looking to repeat or improve on the position I got in Barcelona. Getting on the podium in the first round of the season gives extra motivation and the goal in Austria is to continue scoring points in the overall standings and maintain that second position in the standings.”.
Jaime Busto: “I’m really looking forward to racing in Austria this weekend. It’s been a few weeks since the Barcelona X-Trial and I know what I need to do to improve my results. There were a lot of positives in the first round for me: my riding was good and the bike was excellent. But in the final I didn’t do the way I needed to, I got a bit nervous and that changed my riding. I feel good and I want to get a better result, so I’ll do my best to win on Saturday night.”
X-TRIAL 2023 CALENDAR
2023 X-Trial World Championship Calendar
- X-TRIAL BARCELONA - SPAIN - 5 February
- x-trial WIENER NEUSTADT - austria - 11 MARCH
- X-Trial Pamplona - Spain - 25 March
- X-trial Bordeaux - FRANCE - 7 April
- x-trial ANDORRA LA VELLA - 7 October
- x-trial MADRID - SPAIN - 4 November
- x-trial tba FRANCE - 11 November
- X-Trial Nations - Reunion Island - FRANCE - 17 November
