Matteo Grattarola, Matias Vold Gunvaldsen Jarand and Andrea Soulier opened the 28th edition of the European Trial Championship by winning the first race of the 2019 season, held in Pietramurata, northeastern Italy.
In the premier class, the reigning Trial2 World Champion, Grattarola, achieved victory in a race where he went from less to more until the first position was decided by just one point over Gabriel Marcelli. the only rival who could really challenge the Italian rider for victory.
Third place went to Aniol Gelabert, who led the race until the halfway point of the race with a two-point advantage over Grattarola and Marcelli, but a bad second lap took him to the last step of the podium, ahead of Francesc Moret.
The winner of the Junior class, Jarand Vold Gunvaldsen, started the race very well and gained a good lead over Marco Mempor at the end of the first lap: 16 him, 17 Mempor. In the second round, he was able to improve his score (15), while his opponent added a couple of fiascos and finished with 22 points. Third place went to Venezuela’s David Avendaño with 41 points after the tiebreaker in his favor against Gil Vila.
Soulier beat Andrea Buschi in the over 40 category by one minute. Three participants finished the first round with 6 points: in addition to Soulier and Buschi, Marco Andreoli, while John Van Veelen followed with 3 more points. Only Soulier was able to repeat his score. Buschi put an extra foot on, while Andreoli and Van Veeelen lost steam, being overtaken by Markus Kipp, who reached the podium.
Philipp Emonts won the International 2 class, overtaking Simon Sordyl, the leader after the first lap. Third place went to Luca Poncia. The only driver in the International 1 class was seventy-year-old Carlo Fabbri, who raced for fun in Pietramurata.
The second race of the European Trial Championship will be in a week’s time at the Monza circuit.
EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP RESULTS – ITALY 2019
EUROPEAN JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIP RESULTS – ITALY 2019
