News
Friday, October 16: Riders were met with choppy, rough water conditions and a piercing Sardinian sun that made the mid-October afternoon feel like the height of summer for today’s qualifying sessions. All categories took to the water throughout the day to establish their starting positions for this weekend’s Regione Sardegna Grand Prix of Italy, the final round of the 2026 UIM-ABP Aquabike World Championship.
Runabout GP1
Pierre Francois Savelli came out flying in the first qualifying session of Runabout GP1, securing an opening lap of 1:29.981 seconds, putting him in first place ahead of former World Champion Samuel Johansson and current World Champion Francois Medori who made up the other podium positions after the first lap. It took Medori until his third lap to outdo Savelli, achieving a lap of 1:29.703 seconds and taking the top spot from fellow Corsican Savelli. But Medori’s time at the top was fleeting, as current Championship leader Gyorgy Kasza took the lead with a lap of 1:28.558 seconds.
With only a few minutes left of Q1, riders at the bottom of the standings hectically sought to improve their times enough to make it into the top ten and therefore into Q2. It was a tense time for Robin Laforge who occupied the tenth spot with seconds left of the first session, and was achingly close to making it into Q2. But Linus Lindberg waited until his very last lap to deliver his strongest pace, edging out Laforge by 0.243 seconds to take the tenth and final qualifying spot. Back at the top of the table, Rasmus Koch Hansen delivered a surprise challenge to the category’s more decorated riders, beating all of them to take the Q1 top spot with a time of 1:28.268 seconds.
Johansson put in a blistering first lap to start Q2 on top, delivering a lap of 1:21.443 seconds. But it was Kasza who was first to break the sub-80 seconds barrier, achieving a lap of 1:19.975 seconds on his third attempt of the session. But current World Champion Medori was not going to allow himself to be outdone, delivering a third lap of his own that was 0.804 seconds ahead of Kasza’s and put him in the driving seat with only one lap left. Kasza accepted the challenge though, proving why this year the Hungarian is in the best form of his life and in the best position to take a first world title. With only seconds left of Q2, he delivered a lap of 1:17.055 seconds, meaning he takes pole position for tomorrow’s Moto 1, having achieved the course’s fastest lap by a margin of almost two seconds. Medori starts in second place, with Johansson behind him in third.
Ski GP1
Matteo Benini delivered the best opening lap of Q1 with a time of 1:46.623 seconds, just beating current Championship leader Quinten Bossche by 0.082 seconds. As the full cast of twenty-six riders hit the water, the waters became ever more choppy and conditions more difficult. Nonetheless, Valentin Dardillat was able to surf over and through the growing waves to move into first place with a time of 1:44.869 seconds on his third lap, with Bossche also pushing but falling slightly short, moving into second place with a lap of 1:45.906 seconds. Raphael Maurin and Alec Enderli delivered their best laps on their final way around the course, but neither were able to overtake Dardillat, as the two moved up to second and third place respectively.
With only the top ten riders making it into Q2, the last few minutes of the session were hectic, as riders at the bottom of the pack pushed to move up the ranks, and those above the drop zone sought to fortify their places. Yoni Hamelin occupied the tenth spot with two minutes left, and the Belgian was displaced in the closing moments of the session by Anders Keller who waited until his last lap to achieve his best pace. Title challenger Jeremy Poret failed to start the session, dampening his chances of the title as he starts tomorrow’s Moto 1 in last place.
Bossche stepped up a gear for Q2, securing the fastest opening lap with a time of 1:37.175 seconds. Enderli was once again the primary challenger for the top spot, but once again could not do better than second place, which he slotted into after an opening lap of 1:37.291 seconds. As riders sought to mount a late challenge for the pole, Bossche secured his position further, achieving a lap of 1:36.457 seconds to put him firmly in the clear and deliver him the pole position.
Ski Ladies GP1
Benedicte Drange achieved the best opening lap of Q1 with a time of 1:50.689 seconds, with Ypraus slotting into second place with a time 0.511 seconds behind Drange’s. The Italian Naomi Benini was soon able to dethrone Drange from the top spot on her third lap with a time of 1:50.518 seconds, but Drange was pushing for glory, even though she was sure to make it into Q2. On her last lap, Drange retook the top spot with a time of 1:49.275 seconds to win Q1, pushing Benini into second place and Ypraus into third.
As usual in the first session, the real battle was at the other end of the table, as the riders fought to make it into the top ten places and into Q2. On her World Championship debut, Mami Kaneko held onto the tenth spot with five minutes left, as Siiri Salonen and Janina Johansson remained in the drop zone. With Kaneko having finished her session, Salonen left it until the very last moment to achieve her best lap of the session, overtaking Kaneko and pushing the Japanese rider out of Q2 alongside Johansson.
The beginning of Q2 was a slow one, as riders slowed to avoid Benini who had fallen into the water within a few turns. Once back on her bike, the session began in earnest, and former World Champion Jessica Chavanne came in hot with a lap of 1:43.934 seconds that saw her take the top spot. Drange put up the strongest challenge, with a time of 1:44.985 seconds on her first lap, but amidst the increasingly choppy conditions no riders could provide a challenge for Chavanne, who secured the pole position, with Drange taking second place and Emy Garcia in third.
Single-event categories
Jerry Olin claimed pole position in Ski GP2 with a best lap of 1:46.135 seconds, while current European Champion Leo Kete continued his fine form to take the pole in Ski GP3. In Ski GP4, the best qualifying time also went to the current European Champion, as Csongor Jászai secured a lap 1.501 seconds ahead of his competitors.
Of the twenty-two riders in Runabout GP2, Vaznys Domantas came out on top with a best lap of 1:31.668 seconds, almost a full second better from the rest of his competitors. Current Runabout GP4 European Champion Jose Vainio’s best lap of 1:44.930 seconds was only strong enough to get him second place in Runabout GP4, as the pole position was snatched by Grantas Gurksnys who managed a best lap that was 0.183 seconds faster. In a remarkable improvement on her performance in Olbia last year in which she came eleventh overall, Annemarie Oiemets achieved the fastest lap in qualifying to take pole position in Runabout Ladies GP4, edging out Aurora Filiberti by 0.131 seconds.