Toni Bou closes the X-Trial season with victory and Busto is runner-up

The second visit of the FIM X-Trial World Championship to the Navarra Arena in Pamplona resulted in the victory of 18-time X-Trial World Champion Toni Bou (Repsol Honda Trial Team) who, in this way, made up for the result in Tallinn, where he was out of the Top3. In addition, with this triumph he has added the 100th podium of his indoor sports career, a milestone.

Bou faced Jaime Busto (GasGas) and Benoit Bincaz (Sherco) in the final after having been the best in the first two rounds and from the second zone, he began to distance himself from his rivals.

For his part, Busto knew he was runner-up in the World Championship from the end of the first round due to the mistakes made by Gabriel Marcelli (Repsol Honda Trial Team) who finished sixth in the first pass through the zones and lost any option to discuss the second end of the Championship. In turn, the GasGas rider saw his chances of finishing second in front of the Navarrese fans vanish when, in the fourth section, he took a five while Bincaz added a 2 that placed him in a position to obtain the best result of his sporting career and add his second consecutive podium after the third place obtained in Tallinn.

Miquel Gelabert (Vertigo) who had been third at the end of the first round, was out of the final by a single point and was ahead of Adam Raga (Sherco) who was fifth in the first round and fourth in the second. After both of them was Gabriel Marcelli who, for the first time in the season that ended today, was left off the podium.

Toby Martyn (Montesa) was not overly successful in the race in which he put an end to his sporting career to finish seventh and Sondre Haga (GasGas) closed the classification of this last round of the 2024 financial year at the controls of his electric TXE GP.

Toni Bou (1st): “I came to this race with the clear determination to find myself back with the victory after the mistake in Tallinn and so it was, moreover, in a very clear way. I rode at a high level from the beginning and, if it hadn’t been for the mistake in the first zone of the final, I would have been even more forceful. It’s a great way to end a season that has once again been very positive and, in addition, it has been my 100th podium, something that, taking into account that the races per season are not many, is even more relevant.”

Benoit Bincaz (2nd): “This result is fantastic. It’s the first time I’ve finished second in a World Championship round and it’s also my second podium in a row. I think that after the problems derived from the injury I had a while ago in my back, I can say that I am back.”

Jaime Busto (3rd): “The mistake I made in the fourth zone of the final made the difference and relegated me to third place. Despite this, I have added the runner-up position in a season in which I have been very consistent and I have only missed the podium on one occasion.”

With hardly any time to rest, the next season of the FIM X-Trial World Championship will get underway on December 21st with the Madrid X-Trial at the Palacio Vistalegre.