Friday, July 26: Belgian Yoni Hamelin, Ibiza-based Spaniard Alejandro Prats Palau, Lithuanian Grantas Gurkšnys, Frenchman François Medori, Estonia’s Jasmiin Ypraus and Belgian Quinten Bossche were among the host of pole position winners in the various race categories after a busy Friday morning’s qualifying for the Grand Prix of Vichy on the Allier River. The race weekend has attracted a massive entry, further emphasising the increasing popularity of the UIM-ABP European Continental Aquabike Championship.
Yoni Hamelin left it late in the session to snatch pole position in Ski GP3. A best lap of 1min 36.17sec was sufficient to see the Belgian through against Hungary’s Lajos Komonyi and his fellow countryman Loris Lambert. Corentin Lemire of France qualified fourth of the 15 entrants with Michael Van Reybroeck of Belgium and Héloïse Delcluze rounding off the top six.
Six of the seven Runabout GP4 tackled their pole stint and Ibiza-based Spaniard Alejandro Prats Palau got the better of Czech rival Petr Dryjak to take the session and claim pole with a lap of 1min 32.02sec. Juliusz Roman, Christian Cagnard, Adrien Bussolon and Dovydas Kutra rounded off the qualifiers. Michele Cadei was a non-starter.
All 10 Ski GP4 entrants tackled their pole session and Hamelin was back in action just minutes after claiming pole in Ski GP3. The Belgian hit the front with an early lap of 1min 33.03sec but that time was surpassed soon afterwards by Baptise Calmels’s run of 1min 32.77sec. The Frenchman held on to claim pole from Hamelin, the French duo of Mathys Mezière and Jennifer Poret, Latvia’s Daniils Potrivailo and Mickael Traclet.
Ten girls lined up for the Runabout GP4 Ladies session and a second lap of 1min 34.74sec was sufficient for Ilaria Vanni to snatch pole position from fellow Italian Arianna Urlo. Cyrielle Bramm had been the star of last weekend’s racing in Hungary but the French girl had to settle for qualifying third ahead of Luísa Beja, Nikola Dryjakova and Astra Gurkšnytė.
Entrants in the Ski Expert (not UIM) and Veteran GP1 section joined forces for their qualifying stint and Daan Hoeke got the better of Robin Sylvester and Hamelin to snatch pole in the GP1 Expert section with an opening lap of 1min 25.36sec. That put him 2.13 seconds ahead of the Frenchman with Csongor Jászai in fourth. Anthony Errecart topped the times in the Veteran GP1 category from Gabor Szabo, Eddy Godon and Virginie Morlaes.
Eight Ski Junior 3.3 riders from seven countries assembled for their qualifying stint and Hungary’s Lajos Komonyi hut the front early with an opening salvo of 1min 40.30sec but Belgian Maxime Arthebise bettered that lap by 0.83 seconds on his second lap to grab pole. Montenegrin Mio Petrovic qualified third and the UAE’s Mansour Abuljadayel and Quentin Duporte of France rounded off the top five.
Four Lithuanian riders and a Frenchman lined up for Runabout GP4 Junior qualifying and Grantas Gurkšnys stormed to the top of the leader board with a first lap of 1min 31.41sec. That put the Lithuanian 3.61 seconds ahead of Erikas Butkus and he held on to claim pole position by 2.58 seconds from Dovydas Kutra. Butkus, Adas Zalagaitis and Italy’s Aurora Filiberti were classified in third, fourth and fifth.
Nine racers entered Ski GP2 qualifying and Csongor Jászai laid down the early gauntlet with a hot lap of 1min 25.77sec to snatch the early lead from Finland’s Jerry Olin, Matteo Valente and Manuel Leite of Portugal and Daan Hoeke. The Hungarian improved on his time with a 1min 25.34sec run on his third lap and eventually grabbed pole from Daan Hoeke, Olin, Valente, Leite and Luuk Hoeke.
Eleven Runabout GP2 entrants tackled their qualifying session and Czech Petr Dryjak did the damage on his opening lap with a blistering run of 1min 19.47sec to snatch pole position by 0.98 seconds from Belgian Robin Laforge and third-placed Frenchman Pierre-François Savelli. Michele Marras of Italy, German racer Justin Patzner and Belgian Tom Claerhout rounded off the top six.
With the second of the Endurance Motos scheduled for Friday lunchtime, entrants in the Runabout GP1 category carried out their qualifying session before the Ski GP1 and GP1 Ladies contingent to give some of them time to recover. Sixteen racers lined up and current World Champion François Medori stormed to the top of the leader board with a lap of 1min 15.58sec to edge 0.15 seconds ahead of Jérémy Perez. Johan Johansson, Ruben Jimenez Riquelme and Guillaume Hemain followed close behind.
Johansson then stole a march on Perez to snatch second place with a third lap of 1min 15.59sec to trail Medori by just one-tenth of a second. Medori held on to seal pole from his Swedish rival Johansson with Perez, Riquelme, Hemain and Florian Bardoux rounding off the top six. But Riquelme later had his best lap cancelled for disobeying race control orders and the Spaniard slipped back to 10th, his demise lifting Hemain, Bardoux and Martin Doulík Junior into fourth, fifth and sixth.
Medori said: “Getting pole position was a good start for the weekend. Three Motos in these conditions will be very hard. We just need to stay focused on the race. I hope to make the same result tomorrow and on Sunday.”
Estelle Poret had been the quickest of the nine Ski Ladies GP1 entrants during free practice on Thursday but the French girl did not start the qualifying session. That opened the door for Estonia’s Jasmiin Ypraus to move to the top of the rankings with a flying opening lap of 1min 26.49sec. That put her 3.75 seconds quicker than rival Jessica Chavanne with Naomi Benini settling into third and Benedicte Drange, Joana Graça and Sofie Borgström holding fourth, fifth and sixth.
Drange then posted a time of 1min 28.43sec on her third lap to move ahead of Chavanne into second place and the top three held station to the end of the session with Benini, Borgström and Graça qualifying fourth, fifth and sixth ahead of Virginie Morlaes and Janina Johansson.
Twenty-three Ski GP1 riders lined up for the final pole position session of the morning and Belgian sensation Quinten Bossche carried his World Championship form into the European round with an early lap of 1min 25.41sec. That put him 0.91 seconds ahead of Jeremy Poret, with European Championship leader Morgan Poret holding third from Oliver Koch Hansen, Anthony Beernaut and Valentin Dardillat. Tanguy Mezière was a non-starter.
Bossche’s lap time stood throughout the session and the Fast Powersports ski rider claimed pole from the two Poret brothers, Oliver Koch Hansen, Beernaut, Dardillat, Mickaël Poret, Benjamin Scharff, Matteo Benini, Alec Enderli and Ypraus, who entered the stint after claiming pole minutes earlier in Ski Ladies GP1.
Bossche said: “I got P1. We are happy. It is only the first session of the weekend. It is going to be a long hard three Motos. Everyone is quick and the times are very close. I am looking forward to battling it out in one of the nicest conditions of the year. I think I am going to be very tired after the weekend.”