Sunday, July 28: François Medori clinched the UIM-ABP European Aquabike Endurance GP1 Championship title with victory in Moto 5 at the Grand Prix of Vichy on Sunday morning.

The triumphant Frenchman said: “It was a hard race and the track was hard with a lot of waves and you have to push all the Moto to be first. It was a hard weekend with the circuit and endurances races. I am really happy for my team. We work a lot on the ski. It was reliable and finished all the Moto. I didn’t have a European title in 22 years. This is a really good result for us.”

Pole-sitter Medori began the final heat with a 22-point lead over Ruben Jimenez Riquelme and only the Spaniard could mathematically catch the Frenchman if he failed to finish the Moto. Alex Barret and Michele Cadei still had their eye on a podium finish in the championship and lined up behind the leading duo with Moto 1 winner Lino Araújo non-starting after his non-finish in Moto 4. Johan Johansson was not among the eight starters either.

Medori made another strong start and moved 2.7 seconds ahead of Riquelme through lap one. From then on, the Frenchman was never troubled and he claimed a fourth Moto win of the weekend and the European Endurance title in style by the winning margin of 17.63 seconds.

After pressurising Medori for long periods in the early part of the Moto, Riquelme came home in second place to finish as runner-up in the title race and Vincent Thomas, Barret, Cadei, Mirko Spoto and Stéphane Adam rounded off the Moto finishers with Barret claiming the final place on the championship podium. Alberto Santini retired after 13 laps and Thomas was docked five points for missing turn buoys during the Moto.