Saturday, September 28: Estonian Marlon Tiik, Czech Petr Dryjak and Norway’s Benedicte Drange claimed victories in their opening Motos in the Ski GP2, Runabout GP2 and Ski Ladies GP1 categories at Portugal’s Grand Prix of Mira on Saturday morning.

Opening Ski GP2 Moto victory for Tiik

Marlon Tiik started the first of the morning’s races from pole position and headed Daan Hoeke, Gonçalo Rodrigues, Matteo Valente and Manuel Leite into the opening Ski GP2 Moto.

The Estonian held his line and his composure through the opening turns and had edged into a 3.31-second lead by the end of lap one with Hoeke, Rodrigues, Valente and Leite in hot pursuit. Tiik was able to keep his rivals at bay throughout the Moto to earn a 4.91-second win. Third place enabled Hoeke to close the gap on the absent series leader Csongor Jászai to 10 points. Rodrigues finished second and Valente and Leite rounded off the five finishers.

Dryjak seals crucial Runabout GP2 Moto win

Robin Laforge started the opening Runabout GP2 Moto from pole position with Petr Dryjak, series leader Pierre-François Savelli, Fábio Costa and Tom Claerhout running behind. Savelli began the Moto with an 18-point cushion over Dryjak but the race was initially red flagged after an issue with a turn buoy.  

Dryjak made the best restart and led from Adrian Herias, Janina Johansson, Claerhout and Laforge after the opening lap. Savelli was down in seventh of the 10 entrants, as Dryjak continued to edge clear of his rivals in his determined bid to hunt down the Frenchman in the title race.

Claerhout overhauled Johansson and moved into third but there was no stopping Dryjak and the Czech collected 25 points for a 4.88-second win. Clearhout and Laforge overtook a slowing Herias to hold second and third but a late charge by Savelli saw him pass Laforge on the final lap to snatch the final podium place. Costa and Justin Patzner rounded off the top six finishers.

Claerhout was later docked a lap for missing a turn buoy and the penalty lifted Savelli into second place and saw his series lead cut to just 15 points. As a result of the penalty, Laforge, Costa, Patzner and Alexandre Girel rounded off the top six with Claerhout classified down in seventh.

Drange soars to opening Ski Ladies GP1 Moto success

Norway’s Benedicte Drange had claimed pole position for the opening Ski Ladies GP1 Moto on Friday afternoon and lined up ahead of Sofie Borgström, Siiri Salonen, Naomi Benini, Joana Graça and Virginie Morlaes for the opening 15-minute Moto. She used that position to full advantage to lead her rivals through the opening lap  in the battle for European Championship honours.

Drange extended her lead to 5.19 seconds through lap two, to 10.80 after four laps and went on to reach the chequered flag with a winning margin of 10.78 seconds. That success moved the Fast Powersports rider to the top of the championship standings. Borgström and Salonen completed the race podium ahead of Graça, Morlaes and Benini.

Drange said: “So P1 in the first Moto and I am super happy about that. It’s a high-speed track and I like high-speed so that is good. I am happy about the ski and appreciate the work done by the mechanics. I hope the next two Motos go the same way.”