News
Thursday, September 4: Corsican racer François Medori and Italian Giraldo Matthias lead the Endurance GP1 and GP2 categories in the UIM-ABP European Endurance Championship after the opening Moto at the Grand Prix of Vichy, France on the Allier River on Thursday.
Medori dominated his GP1 heat from pole position to carve out an early lead in the series, while Matthias finished second in the GP2 section behind Steve Sarnin. But the Frenchman was later penalised for a pair of turn buoy infringements and was docked 10 valuable championship points, his penalty lifting Matthias into the category lead.
Pole positions for Medori and Sarnin in Endurance GP1 and GP2
Fifteen of the 16 entrants across the two racing disciplines lined up for pole position qualifying.
Defending World Champion François Medori was in stunning form on his Seadoo and an opening lap of 1min 13.61sec was sufficient for the Corsican pharmacist to sit out the rest of the session and claim pole in Endurance GP1. His closest rival was Spaniard Ruben Jimenez Riquelme, who ran four qualifying laps and used his third to slot into second place ahead of Michele Cadei. Pierre-Marie Matelli was a non-starter.
Frenchman Steve Sarnin delivered a strong showing to take pole in Endurance GP2 with a lap of 1min 20.19sec. That actually put Sarnin ahead of Cadei’s GP1 Kawasaki on the starting line-up as well. Fellow countryman Jean-Baptiste Baldassari, Italian Giraldo Matthias and Lithuanian Domantas Vasnys qualified second, third and fourth in Endurance GP2.
Medori earns Moto 1 GP1 success; GP2 winner Sarnin later penalised
Medori and Sarnin capitalised on their pole positions to draw first blood in the European Endurance Championship with victories in the opening Moto. Medori was the class of the GP1 field and pulled away from Jimenez Riquelme from the outset. By the chequered flag, after 25 laps, the Corsican had built up a massive lead of 1min 09.55sec over the Spanish runner-up. Cadei performed well to take the final spot on the podium, ahead of Pierre-Alexandre Peloux and Emanuele Masala.
Medori said: “It was good. The conditions are really hard. Five Motos in these conditions will be really long, so we need to stay focused and finish all the Motos. I prefer starting in first position because there are many waves.”
Sarnin’s opening win in GP2 was a much closer affair, although the Frenchman managed to stay clear of Matthias and Baldassari the heat win. Vaznys and Croatian Luca Vecchiori rounded off the top five.
Sarnin may have taken the Moto win but he was later deemed to have collected two turn buoys that cost him five points apiece. Vasnys was also penalised five points and that meant Matthias (22pts) led the GP2 category from Baldassari and Vecchiori after Moto 1.
Tomorrow (Friday) morning is dominated by pole position for the circuit disciplines and the second and third Endurance Motos. The afternoon sees the opening Motos for six of the circuit classes and the remainder of the qualifying sessions.