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Friday, September 5: All the qualifying sessions for the various disciplines took place at the Grand Prix of Vichy, France on the Allier River throughout Friday’s hectic timetable for the final round of the 2025 UIM-ABP European Continental Aquabike Championship.
Italy’s Aurora Filiberti, the Lithuanian duo of Grantas Gurkšnys and Domantas Vaznys, young Estonian Ander-Hubert Lauri, Jessica Chavanne, Quinten Bossche and François Medori were among the pole position winners in their respective categories.
Filiberti on pole in Runabout GP4 Ladies
Italian Aurora Filiberti had shown pace on Thursday and delivered an impressive performance over her six laps of qualifying. Her third run of 1min 40.54sec was sufficient to claim pole for the opening Runabout GP4 Ladies Moto.
Ten riders took to the water and runaway championship leader Nikola Dryjakova shadowed the Italian in qualifying to finish second, ahead of Estonian Kätrin Nilbe, Astra Gurkšnytė and Cyrielle Bramm. Ilaria Vanni, Nicole Cadei, Alizée Vanden-Blecken, Luisa Beja and Katarina Sepp rounded off the qualifiers.
Ski GP2 pole success for Daan Hoeke
Dutchman Daan Hoeke came into the final weekend of the European aquabiking season with an 11-point lead in the Ski Division GP2 category and did his title aspirations no harm at all by claiming pole for Moto 1.
Hoeke carded a best lap of 1min 32.77sec to beat closest rival Csongor Jászai of Hungary by just 0,48 seconds in a tense session involving seven racers. Hoeke’s closest title rivals Karl Joosep Steinberg and Marlon Tiik qualified in third and fourth, ahead of Martim Marques, Luuk Hoeke and Marten Tiik.
Gurkšnys leads the way in Runabout GP4 qualifying
Grantas Gurkšnys got the better of seven rivals to claim pole for the opening Runabout GP4 Moto. The Lithuanian’s five lap of 1min 37.19sec did the damage, as the up-and-coming rider finished the session 0.64 seconds ahead of the series-leading Ibiza-based Spaniard Alejandro Prats Palau.
Poland’s Juliusz Roman holds fourth in the championship standings and qualified in third position, ahead of the Baltic quintet of Arti Mölter, Henri Koppas, Dovydas Kutra, Rihard Leinsalu and Kauri Kaunispaik.
Pole for Jászai and Arthebise in Ski GP3 and GP3.3 Junior categories
Ski GP3.3 Junior qualifying was combined with the pole position session for Ski Division GP3 contenders. Hungarian racer Leo Kete arrived in Vichy with a 22-point lead over Frenchman Maxime Arthebise in the Ski GP3.3 Junior European Championship, but gave second best to his rival in Friday morning’s qualifying.
Csongor Jászai had missed the race meeting in Portugal but the in-form Hungarian snatched pole in the Ski Division GP3 section by just over a second from young Belgian Yoni Hamelin. Loris Lambert leads the title race by a single point from Manuel Leite and Michael van Reybroek and the trio qualified in third, ninth and eighth for Moto 1.
Dutchman Bram Hoeke will line up in fourth place ahead of Gabor Szabo and Alexandre Bourgeois. Fourteen riders competed in the session.
Vaznys on pole in Runabout GP2
Lithuanian racer Domantas Vaznys had a physical start to Friday’s action. Not content with taking the spoils in the second of the Endurance GP2 Motos, he also claimed pole for the first of the Runabout GP2 heats with a fastest lap of 1min 22.50sec. That put him 1.92 seconds ahead of Tom Claerhout.
Germany’s Justin Patzner qualified in third ahead of Alejandro Prats Palau, Miguel Antonio Oliveira, Patrica Mooka and Manuel Reggiani. Prats Palau leads the championship standings by 12 points from Claerhout heading into the opening Moto.
Ski GP4 qualifying success for young Estonian Lauri
Young Estonian racer Ander-Hubert Lauri topped the times in qualifying for the Ski Division GP4 category, although he is not in title contention after missing the opening two Grand Prix of the season.
Frenchman Mathys Meziere has a 38-point cushion in the points’ standings over Daniils Potrivailo and the duo qualified in second and fourth with French girl Jennifer Poret sandwiched between them in third. Grantas Gurkšnys, Lucas Mouchotte and Lionel Bourrel rounded off the qualifiers with Francesco Mariani the only qualifier in Ski GP4 Juniors.
Runabout GP4 Junior pole for Filiberti
Aurora Filiberti grabbed her second pole position of the day to hold the advantage heading into the first of the Runabout GP4 Junior Motos on Saturday morning. The Italian carded a lap of 1min 36.90sec on her fifth tour of the circuit to pip Reinhard Leinsalu to pole by just 0.77 seconds. The pair are separated by just five points in the European Championship heading into the weekend’s showdown.
Ayrton Cecere will line up in third place ahead of Katarina Sepp and Francesco Bassenghi. Title contenders Adas Zalagaitis and Kimily Lepp have not made the trip to France.
Series leader Chavanne takes Ski Ladies GP1 pole
The qualifying session for the opening Ski Ladies GP1 Moto developed into a nail-biting four-way tussle between early pace-setter Jessica Chavanne, world champion Jasmiin Ypraus, the in-form Benedicte Drange and French girl Estelle Poret running in front of a home crowd.
Chavanne, who is defending a 24-point lead in the European Championship, laid down the gauntlet with a first lap of 1min 30.40sec. That time stood for the remainder of the session with Chavanne earning pole from Ypraus, Drange and Poret. Naomi Benini, Virginie Morlaes, Lou Dardillat and Joana Graça rounded off the qualifiers.
Chavanne said: “We are here and it is going to be exciting tomorrow.”
World Champion Bossche grabs Ski GP1 pole
Nineteen of the 20 riders lined up for pole position qualifying in Ski Division GP1 and the man of the moment, Oliver Koch Hansen, got his quick lap in early by posting a 1min34.60sec flier on his second tour to move narrowly ahead of Jéremy Poret. Mads Koch Hansen was a non-starter.
Defending World Champion Quinten Bossche then found a turn of speed on his fourth lap to hit the front of the rankings with a 1min 34.01sec run. That lap was sufficient for the Ostende-based racer to grab pole position from Jéremy Poret, Oliver Koch Hansen, Mickael Poret, Thomas Bento, Alex Barret, Daniele Piscaglia and eighth-placed Kerto Kase.
Runabout GP1 pole for Medori
Not content with comfortably winning his opening two Endurance Motos, François Medori laid down the early gauntlet in qualifying for Runabout GP1 pole with a first lap of 1min 16.12sec that put the Easy Rider star at the top of the rankings.
Jéremy Perez, Robin Laforge and Pierre-François Savelli were the Corsican’s closest challengers early in the session with the latter duo knowing that they had to close the gap on runaway championship leader Perez’s advantage in the points’ standings. Medori held on to seal pole position but he is not in contention for the European title this year.
That will be decided between Perez, Laforge and Savelli, who qualified in second, third and sixth with Martin Doulík and Petr Dryják running well late on to grab fourth and fifth. Steve Sarnin and Florian Bardoux were seventh and eighth of the dozen qualifiers.