Saturday, June 24: Nikola Dryjakova, Dorijan Jakopanec, Leo Kete, Volodymyr Kaliuzhnyi, Andrea Guidi, Marcin Senda, Axel Courtois, Jessica Chavanne and György Kasza earned Moto 1 victories at the Grand Prix of Hungary, round one of the 2023 UIM-ABP Aquabike European Continental Championship, during the first of two racing sessions on Saturday in Nyíregyháza-Levelek.
Estonia’s Annemarie Randla was unable to benefit from a favourable starting position for Moto 1 in Runabout GP4 Ladies and Czech racer Nikola Dryjakova stormed through to win the nine-lap race by 1.85 seconds from Pole Amanada Karasek. Randla rounded off the podium finishers in a race that attracted eight starters and saw Markéta Hollerová and Carmen Roosmaa inside the top five.
The first of the Ski Junior GP3.2 and GP3.3 Motos saw the riders running together, with Marvin Bohuslav and Dorijan Jakopanec starting from pole in their respective World Championship classes. Jakopanec took full advantage of his form on Friday to seal victory from Estonia’s Hubert-Ander Lauri and Dane Frederik Frandsen in Ski Junior GP3.3, while Hungary’s Leo Kete won the GP3.2 race after Bohuslav retired five laps from the finish of the eight-lap encounter.
Ukraine’s Volodymyr Kaliuzhnyi began the first of the Runabout GP4 Junior races from second place behind the pole-sitting Estonian Arti Mölter but managed to find a way through to snatch victory from Poland’s Igor Tycel by 5.26 seconds. Mölter rounded off the podium places and Estonian colleagues, Karatina Sepp and Karl Keskula, finished fourth and fifth.
Andrea Guidi took full advantage of his pole position in the first of the Ski GP2 Motos to seal victory in the 10-lap race by 4.86 seconds from Hungary’s Csongor Jászai. Finland’s Jerry Olin finished third and Estonia’s Marlon Tiik and Portugal’s Manuel Leite rounded off the finishers.
Poland’s Marcin Senda stormed to an emphatic 11.52-second win in the opening Runabout GP2 Moto. Estonia’s Mattias Siimann and local rider Levente Kacor initially wrapped up the podium places on the 11-lap race that attracted 13 starters and saw Paulius Miliauskas retire after just one lap. But Kacor was later disqualified, alongside Portugal’s Fábio Costa, for riding in the wrong direction and Lithuania’s Arnas Jakucionis inherited third place.
Dane Oliver Koch Hansen overtook pole-sitter Axel Courtois to take control of the opening Ski GP1 Moto. He looked set to seal victory until the last lap, before hitting trouble on the course and slipping down to finish in an eventual fourth place. The Dane’s misfortune gifted the win to Courtois, with Marlon Tiik and Barnabás Szabó rounding off the top three. Mads Koch Hansen withdrew after one lap and Tomaz Kete was disqualified for riding in the wrong direction.
French girl Jessica Chavanne led the Ski GP1 Ladies Moto from the start on her Kommander and reached the chequered flag 40.31 seconds clear of Yasmiin Ypraus of Estonia. Virginie Morlaes and Joana Graca finished third and fourth.
Hungarian György Kasza started the first Runabout GP1 Moto from pole position and stayed clear of Czech Martin Doulik Junior to seal a 4.12-second win in the 16-lap Moto. Mattias Siimann overtook Andrzej Wisniewski near the end to snatch third, while Attila Kéri and Martin Doulik also completed the race.