Friday, September 27: Yoni Hamelin, Alejandro Prats Palau, Cyrielle Bramm, Maxime Arthebise, Grantas Gurkšnys and Marlon Tiik claimed pole positions in their respective categories after the opening practice and qualifying sessions for the Grand Prix of Mira in Portugal on Friday morning.

The event is being organised by Aquabike Promotion and the Federação Portuguesa de Motonáutica (FPM) and is the final round of the 2024 UIM-ABP European Continental Aquabike Championship.

Hamelin in charge in Ski GP3

Ten Ski GP3 riders on Yamahas were the first out on to the water to open proceedings for race weekend in chilly and breezy conditions. Belgian Yoni Hamelin arrived in Portugal with a 31-point advantage over fellow countryman Loris Lambert in the points’ standings but faced fierce competition from Rémy Marlier, Ludovic Bral, Bram Hoeke, the local quartet of Diogo Barbosa, Luísa Beja, Manuel Leite and Martim Marques and Estonian Marlon Tiik.

Hamelin topped the free practice times with a best lap of 1min 39.69sec and then switched his attention to the pole position session that swiftly followed. Rival Lambert was the early pace-setter with a run of 1min 36.25sec but Hamelin nailed home his advantage with a lap of 1min 33.89sec. That run was followed by a 1min 33.53sec flier on lap five and was sufficient for the Belgian to claim pole from Lambert, Marques, Bral and Hoeke.

Prats Palau earns Runabout GP4 pole

Series leader Petr Dryjak and close rival Alejandro Prats Palau were the clear favourites to prevail in the Runabout GP4 category, where they were joined by Ivan Pantoja, Rui Fernandes, Dovydas Kutra, Fábio Fontinha, Juliusz Roman, Michele Cadei and Carlos Paiva in a nine-strong line-up.

Paiva was a non-starter but Kutra stole a march on his Sea-Doo rivals in free practice. Dryjak had kept his powder dry until the start of qualifying and the Czech posted a target lap of 1min 32.53sec that was quickly surpassed by Prats Palau’s flier of 1min 31.39sec. The Ibiza-based Spaniard held on with that opening lap time to claim pole from Cadei, Dryjak, Kutra and Roman.

Pole position for Hamelin in Ski GP4

Then the  riders were chasing honours in Ski GP4, with Hamelin starting his opening free practice session with a 34-point cushion over Jennifer Poret in the title race. Both Daniils Potrivailo and Grantas Gurkšnys still held hopes of an outside title challenge, while Swiss racer Alexandre Girel and Valentine Coutier of France were also entered.

Hamelin (1min 31.708sec) comfortably topped the times in the practice session but then Potrivailo laid down the qualifying gauntlet with an opening run of 1min 31.68sec. That stood until Hamelin stormed through on his second lap with a 1min 29.61sec and then a third run of 1min 28.79sec to snatch provisional pole. The Belgian held on to top spot from fellow Yamaha-mounted rivals Potrivailo, Coutier, Poret, Gurkšnys and Girel.

Bramm storms to Runabout Ladies GP4 pole

Cyrielle Bramm headed Ilaria Vanni of Italy by 11 points in the race to become the Runabout Ladies GP4 champion and the duo topped a strong Sea-Doo-mounted field that also included Montenegrin Volia Dzikovich, Astra Gurkšnyte, Markéta Hollerová, outgoing champion Nikola Dryjakova, Luísa Beja and Nicole Cadei.

Cadei (1min 34.62sec) topped the times in the short practice stint but the European title contenders were focusing on the pole position session. Vanni opened her account with a 1min 24.98sec flier but that time was later erased from the records. Bramm carded a late lap of 1min 30.60sec to snatch pole and Dryjakova also responded well with a 1min 30.82sec to snatch second. Gurkšnyte settled into third after a lap of 1min 31.20sec pushed Cadei and Vanni down to fourth and fifth. Hollerová qualified sixth.

Arthebise fastest amongst the Juniors

The Junior racing was split into two categories for GP3.2 and GP3.3, although riders competed together in the same sessions. Milo Beernaut, Mio Petrovic, Maxime Arthebise, Pelle Stenborg and Via Petrovic were entered.

Arthebise topped the practice times and the French youngster went on to win the pole session with a best lap of 1min 31.77sec from Mio Petrovic, Beernaut and Stenborg.

Runabout GP4 Juniors leader Gurkšnys snatches pole

Grantas Gurkšnys arrived in Portugal with an eight-point lead over Erikas Butkas in the Runabout GP4 Juniors category with Dovydas Kutra also in contention for a possible Lithuanian 1-2-3 series finish. Aurora Filberti, Via Petrovic, Vojtěch Korcak, Adas Zalagaitis, Kimily Lepp, Katarina Sepp and Rihard Leinsalu were also chasing Grand Prix success in Mira.

Via Petrovic was a non-starter but Gurkšnys topped the practice times in advance of the 10-minute qualifying session for the nine Sea-Doo riders. The Lithuanian carded the target lap of 1min 28.18sec at the start of qualifying and that time held sway until he improved with an even quicker run of 1min 26.42sec before the chequered flag. Kutra, Filiberti, Sepp, Butkus and Korcak rounded off the top six qualifiers.

Tiik on pole in Ski GP2

Daan Hoeke lined up alongside Manuel Leite, Matteo Valente, Gonçalo Rodrigues and Marlon Tiik to fight for Ski GP2 glory.

Valente topped the practice times with a 1min 23.50sec run before attention for the five Kawasaki riders switched to 10 minutes of qualifying. Rodrigues laid down the gauntlet with an early 1min 23.00sec tour but Hoeke hit the front with his opener of 1min 22.65sec. Rodrigues responded on his second lap to regain provisional pole with a 1min 21.65sec and the Portuguese stayed out in front with an even quicker fourth run of 1min 20.70sec. But Tiik hit back with a 1min 19.65sec fifth-lap flier to snatch pole from Hoeke, Rodrigues, Valente and Leite after a closely-fought tussle.

Five Freestyle entrants also took to the water for the first time to hone their short acrobatic programmes in advance of their weekend Motos. Defending World Champion Roberto Mariani was joined by fellow Italian Massimo Accumolo, Portugal’s Paulo Nuñes and the Hungarian duo of Wolfgang Strasser and Maximilian Martha.