Friday, June 21: Estonian Jasmiin Ypraus, Belgian Quinten Bossche and Frenchman François Medori secured hard-earned pole positions in the Ski Ladies GP1, Ski Division GP1 and Runabout GP1 categories after a thrilling afternoon’s action at the Regione Sardegna Grand Prix of Italy in Olbia on Friday.

A massive field of racers from 30 countries tested race officials and the timetable to the full and the outcome was a sensational spectacle of racing across numerous race classes.

Current championship leader Ypraus was the class of the Ski Ladies GP1 division and earned a comfortable pole position from former champion Emma-Nellie Ortendahl.

Ypraus said: “The qualifying was actually perfect I have to say. It felt very good on the ski, effortless. Q1 and Q2 were maybe a bit different but it was good to go full speed. It wasn’t as wavey as it was in the practice in the morning. That made a difference but the girls were still fast. It was a lot of fun.”

A late lap of 1min 35.453sec enabled Belgian championship leader Quinten Bossche to snatch pole position from Morgan Poret in Ski Division GP1.

The Belgian said: “To be honest I had problems with my ski and they are not resolved yet. The throttle shuts off and I have to keep it open all the time. It was very difficult for me to go out there and ride but I managed to make pole position. But the mechanics are going to have a long night to figure out what’s wrong.”

Defending World Champion François Medori set an unbeatable opening time of 1min 30.870sec to snatch pole position from Estonian Mattias Siimann and joint series leader Samuel Johansson.

Medori said: “It was very good, the first time in Q1 and Q2. Pole position. Maybe my last pole position was 12 years ago so I am really happy. But this is just the beginning. We don’t score points on pole position so we need to stay focused on Motos 1 and 2 this weekend.”

Jasmiin Ypraus earns pole in Ski Ladies GP1

A dozen girls started the 15 minutes of Q1 and that number would be reduced to 10 for the 10 minutes of Q2. Jasmiin Ypraus had been the quickest girl on the water during the morning’s practice session but Benedicte Drange clocked the early target lap of 1min 47.034sec. Emma-Nellie Ortendahl then hit the front from Estelle Poret until Ypraus stormed around the course with a stunning run to book her place in Q2 with a 1min 35.708sec flier.

All eyes focused on the rear of the field and whether Janina Johansson and Lisa Caussin Bataglia could climb out of 11th and 12th places and reach Q2. Ypraus duly won the session by 3.802 seconds from Drange, Ortendahl, Estelle Poret, Jessica Chavanne and River Varner but Johansson and Caussin Battaglia were eliminated.

Ortendahl opened her Q2 account with a run of 1min 38.437sec but that was soon beaten by Ypraus’s opener of 1min 36.443sec, as Drange slotted into third and defending World Champion Chavanne moved into fourth with a 1min 39.172sec run. No-one was able to match Jasmiin’s opening lap and the Estonian claimed a vital pole position for the opening Moto on Saturday morning.

Ortendahl qualified second and Drange, Chavanne and Poret rounded off the top five. River Varner, Joana Graca, Sofie Borgström, Virginie Morlaes and Naomi Benini rounded off the top 10.

Last-gasp Ski Division GP1 pole for Quinten Bossche

Thirty riders lined up in Ski Division GP1 qualifying with the nine contracted riders being joined by 21 of the non-contracted runners who included series leader Quinten Bossche and American talent Deven Farthing. Nine racers were eliminated after the free practice sessions.

Morgan and Jeremy Poret began Q1 strongly and hit the front of the field with Bossche, Kevin Reiterer, Anders Keller and Farthing filling the other places in the top six. Mickael Poret and Mads Koch Hansen were languishing at the rear of the field with eight minutes on the clock. Mickael Poret then posted a time of 1min 46.868sec to slot into seventh place.

Mickael Poret (1min 42.210sec) stormed through in the dying seconds to top the session from Kevin Reiterer, Morgan Poret, Bossche, Jeremy Poret, and Oliver Koch Hansen but 20 riders were eliminated, including Matteo Benini, Anthony Beernaut, Jayden Richardson, Axel Courtois, Mads Koch Hansen, Ander-Hubert Lauri and Andrea Guidi. Three riders had been under investigation and Reiterer duly dropped to sixth and Oliver Koch Hansen was later demoted to 11th and missed the cut for Q2.

Ten riders would determine pole position for the opening Moto in the 10 minutes of Q2. Morgan Poret (1min 35.506sec) got a fast lap in early to top the times from Reiterer, Anders Keller, Jeremy Poret and Tanguy Mezière. Bossche then moved up to third behind Reiterer with five minutes on the clock. Farthing did not start Q2 after running out of time trying to fix a mechanical issue after Q1.

Valentin Dardillat displaced Mezière to snatch sixth as Mickael Poret languished in eighth with Czech Lukas Binar rounding off the nine runners after falling into the water. Mickael Poret moved up to fifth at the expense of his brother Jeremy but Bossche stormed through in the dying seconds to snatch pole position with a storming run of 1min 35.453sec. Morgan Poret qualified second ahead of Reiterer, Jeremy Poret, Anders Keller and Mickael Poret.

Runabout GP1 pole for François Medori

Twenty-five racers lined-up for Q1 in Runabout GP1 with 15 being eliminated before the 10-minute Q2 shoot-out. World Champion François Medori laid down the gauntlet with a 1min 38.287sec run and current joint championship leader Samuel Johansson slotted into second ahead of Jeremy Perez, Ruben Riquelme and Lino Araújo. 

Mattias Siimann then moved into third at the expense of Perez but Dustin Farthing was not able to post lap times and would not be able to reach Q2. Medori’s opening lap time stood throughout the session but former champion Yousef Al-Abdulrazzaq was struggling outside the top 10 along with Linus Lindberg and Poland’s Andrzej Wisniewski on the bubble in 10th. Martin Doulik and Gyorgy Kasza secured their places in Q2, as Johansson and Siimann finished second and third. Al-Abdulrazzaq overcame an engine niggle to slot into sixth and pushed the likes of Wisniewski and Rasmus Koch Hansen out of Q2.

Medori posted the early target of 1min 30.870sec although Johansson opened his account with a lap just 0.476 seconds slower than the Frenchman’s. Kasza slotted into third ahead of Doulik, Araújo and Al-Abdulrazzaq. With five minutes of the session remaining, Perez and Ruben Riquelme were yet to post a lap time.

Siimann climbed into third but no-one was a match for Medori and the joint series leader held on to snatch pole from Siimann. His title rival Johansson, Kasza, Doulik and Al-Abdulrazzaq rounded off the top six with Araújo, Riquelme, Guillaume Hemain and Perez rounding off the top 10 after the Frenchman’s struggles.