Saturday, September 28: French rider Valentin Dardillat and Jérémy Perez snatched hard-earned opening Moto victories in the Ski Division GP1 and Runabout GP1 categories in two gripping heats at the Grand Prix of Mira in Portugal on Saturday evening.
Meanwhile, defending World Champion Roberto Mariani of Italy won his opening Freestyle Moto to stand on the verge of another European Championship title.
Dardillat earns crucial opening Ski Division GP1 Moto win
Valentin Dardillat had pipped title rival Morgan Poret to pole for the first of the Ski Division GP1 Motos with Mickaël Poret, Axel Courtois, Felix Helgeson and Oliver Koch Hansen wrapping up the top six qualifying places amongst an impressive 19-bike field. Morgan Poret led Dardillat by a mere two points heading into the weekend’s European Championship showdown.
The two title protagonists set the pace from the start of their opening Moto and Dardillat edged into a slender lead through the opening laps with the advantage standings at just 1.64 seconds through lap five. Oliver Koch Hansen, Alec Enderli and Mickaël Poret held third, fourth and fifth positions. Matteo Valente was a non-starter and Mads Koch Hansen retired on the opening lap.
Dardillat got to grips with his Spectrum ski and increased his advantage to 2.80 seconds after lap seven. He stayed clear of his Kommander-mounted rival to snatch a priceless win by just 2.13 seconds. The result means that Dardillat leads Morgan Poret by three points heading into showdown Sunday in Portugal after Oliver Koch Hansen passed Poret and snatched second place near the finish. Enderli, Mickaël Poret and Matteo Benini rounded off the top six. Anthony Beernaut slipped to the foot of the rankings in 17th after being handed a one-lap penalty for missing a turn buoy.
Dardillat said: “I am very happy to take the win in the first Moto. It was very hard. All riders were going very fast. Now we must focus on tomorrow to see what happens…”
Perez wins first Runabout GP1 Moto
Qualifying for the flagship Runabout GP1 entrants was initially rescheduled for Saturday afternoon but a later decision was then taken to draw lots for a starting order and head straight into Moto 1.
Samuel Johansson led local rider Lino Araújo by just two points heading into the final Runabout GP1 Motos of the European season, although Linus Lindberg was only eight points adrift and defending World Champion François Medori was also in contention. The potent line-up of 14 riders also included Poland’s Andrzej Wisniewski, Martin Doulík Junior, Jérémy Perez and Guillaume Hemain.
Perez made the strongest start to lead from Wisniewski, Araújo, Johansson, Doulík Junior and Medori, although the in-form Medori passed Doulík Junior to snatch fifth place. Ruben Jimenez Riquelme was a non-starter.
Perez was able to comfortably increase his lead over the chasing Pole to 11.45 seconds through lap two as the top six held station heading into the remaining 15 minutes of the 20-minute Moto (plus two laps). Johansson made his move and climbed to second at the expense of Wisniewski and Araújo and the Portuguese was also overtaken by Medori.
Medori is not the World Champion for nothing and the Frenchman found a way to carve his way through the field to snatch second place at the expense of Johansson, Araújo and Wisniewski. Hemain moved into the top six. But Medori’s second place was short-lived and he slipped back to fourth on lap six with Johansson and Araújo climbing into the podium places behind Perez.
Perez held on through the closing nervy laps to seal an impressive 40.92-second victory and picked up 25 priceless championship points. Johansson and Medori rounded off the podium places and Wisniewski, Doulík Junior and Lindberg rounded off the top six after Araújo plummeted out of contention and retired after 10 laps. The result enabled Johansson to extend his unofficial European Championship lead to 15 points over Lindberg and 17 over Doulík Junior. Hemain was also a non-finisher.
Perez said: “I win the first Moto. It was very good. I break the engine in the free practice (Friday), so I am happy we fix the engine. This is a good start for me. We will see later.”
Mariani on top in Freestyle Moto 1
Five Freestyle entrants also took part in their opening Moto much to the delight of the Portuguese crowds. Roberto Mariani was joined by fellow Italian Massimo Accumolo, Portugal’s Paulo Nuñes and the Hungarian duo of Wolfgang Strasser and Maximilian Martha.
Mariani impressed the judges with his on-water programme’s superior variety and style and he was awarded a total of 77 points by the panel of judges that enabled him to claim the Moto 1 and 25 championship points. Accumolo picked up 67 points from the judges and finished second with Martha finishing third ahead of Nuñes and Strasser.
Mariani came into the race weekend with a 16-point cushion over Accumolo and he now leads the European Championship by 19 points before the final Moto on Sunday. Only a complete disaster or a no-show would prevent the Italian from winning the title.