Thursday, November 23: Current UIM-ABP Endurance World Championship leader Jean-Bruno Pastorello pipped Kuwaiti rival Rashed Al-Dawas to Dairi Cup success with victory in the second 35-minute Moto on day two of the Grand Prix of Indonesia on northern Sumatra’s Lake Toba.

The French veteran managed to pass early leader Yousef Al-Abdulrazzaq at the start of the race and held off Al-Dawas for the remainder of the second Moto for the Dairi Cup to extend his lead in the World Championship and add a second trophy to the Karo Cup he earned on Wednesday. He pulled further clear of Al-Dawas towards the end of the race and earned a winning margin of 22.267 seconds.

A clearly tired and delighted Pastorello said: “I had a very good race and I keep a good line and I was able to pass Yousef. It was a great fight with Rashed. He had a very good race. I just changed a spark plug and it worked…! It was not really my conditions today (calm). I like waves but it is a lake and there was no wind. Yesterday was hard and today was very hard. There are many good racers and I finished third in the first race, first at the second race but it was very difficult. So, I am very happy and for my team. I also want to thank the organisation. This race is very nice.”

Al-Dawas added: “I had a great fight with my team-mate Yousef in the first Moto and then with Pastorello in the second. I like this place and the set-up and thanks to everyone from the Lake Toba region for allowing us to race here.”

American racer Antony Radetic was under investigation for missing a turn buoy but reached the finish in third, ahead of Spain’s Alejandro Molina Miranda, former UIM World Champion François Medori and Team Abu Dhabi’s Rashed Al-Tayer.

Molina Miranda, who finished third in the Dairi Cup, said: “The first race we started a bit late and then we made a good start in the second one and stayed near the front all the time. It’s a very nice place, beautiful and very different.”

Australia-based Kiwi Kylie Ellmers finished seventh and Johan Johansson, Chen Shen and Aitzol Beristain rounded off the top 10 after fastest lap winner Al-Abdulrazzaq slipped back to finish 12th behind local rider Hilman Kurniawan.

Racers lined up on the 2.89km course for a ‘Regatta’ start to the second 35-minute Moto for the Dairi Cup off the shores of the town of Silalahi. Molina Miranda and Pastorello made the best start but it was the Frenchman who snatched the early lead in a race where only 15 of the 22 entrants took the green flag. Local riders Lucky Limanjawa and Kanina Ramadgina, the Hungarian duo of Gyorgy Kasza and Cseke Zsolt, Thai racer Permphon Teerapatpanich, Cliff Ellmers and Michele Cadei were non-starters.

By the end of lap one, Al-Abdulrazzaq had gained a short-lived advantage but he was repassed by Pastorello on the second lap as the duo battle it out for Dairi Cup supremacy. Al-Dawas, Medori, Molina Miranda and Radetic rounded off the early top six. But Al-Abdulrazzaq dropped back to fourth and then slipped back to sixth through three laps, as Pastorello held off a fierce challenge from Al-Dawas.

The Frenchman and the Kuwaiti gradually edged clear of the chasing pack and it was Medori who held third place from Molina Miranda and Radetic at the start of lap five. Al-Abdulrazzaq duly plummeted out of contention, as Radetic displaced Molina Miranda to snatch fourth and Al-Tayer climbed to sixth.

The leading sextet held station through seven laps and 14 minutes of racing but Al-Abdulrazzaq had slipped down to 10th place behind Kylie Ellmers, Johan Johansson and a resurgent Chen Shen. By lap nine, Pastorello and Al-Dawas were running over 20 seconds ahead of third-placed Medori.

After 13 laps, the leading duo were separated by just 0.741 seconds but the 51-year-old French Kawasaki rider had the measure of his rival, as Radetic overtook Medori to snatch third, although the American was under investigation for potentially missing a turn buoy earlier in the race.

Pastorello began to pull away from Al-Dawas as the Moto entered its final stages, although the Kuwaiti remained well ahead of Radetic, Medori, Molina Miranda and Al-Tayer, with Ellmers, Johansson, Shen and Al-Abdulrazzaq completing the top 10 with five minutes remaining. Pastorello held on to claim the win but Medori slipped behind Molina Miranda with reported electrical gremlins and gifted the Spaniard third in the Dairi Cup in the unofficial standings.

Friday’s third race day on Lake Toba sees competitors taking part in two more 35-minute races for the Samosir Cup on a 3.96km course close to the event’s base camp at Pangururan.

Race three will be preceded by the official opening ceremony in the presence of Joko Widodo, the President of Indonesia. The two races start at 10.30hrs and 13.30hrs (local time) and will be held under the ‘United Spirit of Lake Toba’ banner.

Lake Toba forms part of the Toba Caldera UNESCO Global Geopark and is one of five UNESCO global geoparks in Indonesia. It is one of Indonesia’s Super Priority Tourism Destinations (DPSP).