The French town of Lourdes has been the scene of the fifth Grand Prix of the season, made up of two days of competition marked by the high difficulty of the route and the harsh conditions of the terrain.
Toni Bou and Takahisa Fujinami were the big winners this weekend, allowing the Spaniard to maintain a comfortable 20-point lead at the top of the standings over his main rival, Adam Raga, and start to close in on his tenth outdoor world title.
THE KEYS TO THE FRENCH GP DAY 1
> The rain that fell on the eve and intermittently during the race significantly increases the difficulty of the sections, making it easy to make mistakes and for there to be surprises in the classification.
> And there were, although not in the podium positions, with Bou at the front, followed by Fujinami and Raga. On the other hand, we did see other regular riders at the front such as Busto (8th) and Cabestany (10th) with problems
> Jorge Casales completes his best race of the season, with a surprising 4th place
> The race is never completed. An accident by Adrián del Olmo (Miquel Gelabert’s backpacker) in the interzone forces the race to be stopped in the fifth section of the last lap.
The victor’s opinion. Toni Bou: “It’s been a very positive day. I rode a motorcycle and things went very well for us. The team has worked very hard during this week and that incredible desire has rubbed off on me. Today it was very easy to fail and for other riders to be put in the middle of the fight for the win, but it worked out well. Fujinami had a good trial and we have to congratulate him for that as well.”
THE KEYS TO THE FRENCH GP DAY 2
> The terrain gradually dried out during the race, making the course more accessible and easier than on the previous day, causing much lower scores and less margin to make up for mistakes.
> Takahisa Fujinami is unstoppable and achieves a resounding victory with a 15-point advantage over Adam Raga, while Toni Bou manages to enter the podium by the minimum after beating Jaime Busto in the play-off for the highest number of zeros
> Toni Bou suffered a major crash and the bike was hit, having to finish the race with the bike in compromised conditions for the comeback.
> Jaime Busto is once again on the verge of the podium, this time the closest: a single point.
> Raga climbs back to the podium in second position with a good race, but missing the opportunity to take advantage of Toni Bou’s bad day to close the gap in the provisional classification.
> On this occasion, Cabestany improves significantly and is only 3 points away from the podium.
The victor’s opinion. Takahisa Fujinami: “I’m dreaming! I don’t know how I did it. At the beginning I saw that Toni [Bou] had failed and that I was with Adam [Raga] in front. The areas have been drying out and I thought everyone would do much better. I didn’t know the points of the rest. In zone 4, together with Toni, we made a different line and we were the only ones to get it to zero. It was a good team effort. I knew it was going well, but I didn’t know it was 15 points ahead of the second. I wasn’t looking for victory, I wasn’t expecting it. I just wanted to fight for the podium, but today I concentrated a lot and it was like in the 2004 season. This win is a great gift and it goes very well for my motivation. I have to thank the team and sponsors, Montesa-Honda and HRC for their trust and support; I’m very, very happy.”
FRENCH TRIAL GP STATEMENTS
Jaime Busto: “Today I was a bit better than yesterday, especially in the first two laps, which I think I did very well. I didn’t know how it was going. I found out later that I was on the provisional podium. But it couldn’t all be good and I made too absurd mistakes on the last lap. The areas were slipping, but I don’t think it was to fail so much. I don’t think I have been that close to the podium so far. Hopefully we’ll get it in the next one.”
Toni Bou (day 2): “We didn’t start well today, with a fiasco right from the start. It was a trial of few points and the day was complicated. Even more so when I hit the bike hard in a crash and it didn’t work the same, I dragged these inconveniences until the end, but I recovered and I was able to save it. Yesterday I said it: anything can happen in these races. Today I could have easily lost 10 points and I have to be happy to give up only 2. We’re 20 points ahead in the championship, but we have to keep working.”
Adam Raga: “I made mistakes on both days yesterday on the first lap and today on the second and third. I had good races considering that the terrain was very slippery. I think it was a mistake that they stopped the race on Saturday. It hurt us because we had been coming back.”
Miquel Cirera (Repsol Honda Team Manager): For the team, this result is very good: when one doesn’t win, another wins, and you can’t ask for more! Fujinami had a memorable race, he rode incredibly, he moved very well on the bike. It’s been a good weekend. Once again, Jaime was unlucky: he tied for third place and lost it, but today he did very well. With Toni we had an unexpected mechanical problem, but we were able to finish on the podium. We have to keep working because nothing has been done yet. The team has worked hard this week and I want to thank them for their efforts. It has been a very difficult race and we must remember that everyone’s work is essential to achieve these successes. Thank you all.
Jordi Tarrés (TRS Motorcycles Team Manager): “Adam was going very well on Saturday but he made a mistake in zone 2 at the beginning of the race that dragged on all day and Bou took the lead. Then an incident with one of the backpackers caused the race to be stopped on the third lap when the assistance helicopter had to arrive. This made the comeback very complicated. On Sunday he was better and achieved a second place that is very good to cut points in the provisional standings.”
FRENCH GP TRIAL RESULTS
