Friday, June 16:  Estonia’s Jasmiin Ypraus, Frenchman Mickael Poret and Kuwait’s Yousef Al-Abdulrazzaq qualified in pole position for the first of the Motos in the Ski Ladies GP1, Ski Division GP1 and Runabout GP1 at the Regione Sardegna Grand Prix of Italy, the opening round of the 2023 UIM-ABP Aquabike World Championship, on Friday afternoon.

Jasmiin Ypraus had been the class of the Ski Ladies GP1 field in Q1, the Estonian winning the session by 1.74 seconds from Estelle Poret with a run of 1min 43.94sec. She continued her form into Q2 and a lap of 1min 42.38sec was sufficient to claim pole position for Moto 1 on Saturday. Poret and Norway’s Benedicte Drange were classified in second and third. 

Oliver Koch Hansen got the better of his rivals in Q1 in Ski Division GP1, with Axel Courtois and Mickael Poret finished the stint in second and third. The quickest 10 riders made it through to the 10-minute Q2 session. Poret was not to be denied in Q2, however, and the Frenchman clocked an early lap of 1min 39.08sec to secure pole from Nacho Armillas and Courtois. Hansen qualified in fourth. 

Yousef Al-Abdulrazzaq set the early Q1 pace in the Runabout GP1 category in a session that was red-flagged when a course turn buoy came loose with Rasmus Koch Hansen and Jean-Baptiste Botti holding second and third. Jeremy Perez and defending World Champion Marcus Jorgensen made it safely into Q2 after Q1 was restarted with Botti and Perez finishing behind the Kuwaiti. 

Al-Abdulrazzaq was able to fend off the challenge from Perez and François Medori in Q2 to snatch pole position with a fastest lap of 1min 32.43sec. Perez and Medori rounded off the podium places and Samuel Johansson was fourth.