Victory and title for Bou on first day in France
VertolayeThe Repsol Honda Trial Team rider wins his seventeenth outdoor title. Gabriel Marcelli achieves a podium finish in Vertolaye
The Repsol Honda Trial Team rider wins his seventeenth outdoor title. Gabriel Marcelli achieves a podium finish in Vertolaye.
The debut of Vertolaye as a TrialGP World Championship venue saw success for the Repsol Honda Trial Team riders on the first day of competition. Toni Bou earned another victory and was proclaimed Outdoor World Champion for the seventeenth time. His teammate, Gabriel Marcelli, rounded off the podium at the French event.
From the start of the first lap, Bou went all-out. The Repsol Honda Trial Team rider quickly took the lead after completing the first few zones with 0 penalty points. On a lap in which time was decisive, at the end of the twelve zones he accrued 5 points for exceeding the time limit -also something that happened to his direct rivals. On the second lap, the Repsol Honda rider maintained the lead and improved his time, which gave him a tenth win of the year.
It gave him his 17th consecutive World Title. The Repsol Honda Trial Team rider continues to increase his extensive record of achievements, which includes 33 titles -seventeen outdoor and sixteen indoor. In addition, he has a total of 142 TrialGP wins, 10 of them this season.
It was also a great day for Gabriel Marcelli. The Repsol Honda Trial Team rider began the first lap with some errors that took him down to fourth position, just two points behind third placed Matteo Grattarola -his rival in the overall standings. On the second lap he improved in the different zones and managed to make up ground to complete the podium. With this result, the Repsol Honda rider has a total of six rostrum finishes this season.
Marcelli remains third overall, and if the Montesa Cota 4RT rider places ahead of Grattarola on Sunday he will take third place in the championship -his best season to date in the TrialGP World Championship.
The action at the final round of the 2023 TrialGP World Championship will continue on Sunday from 9am.
I am very happy to win the title with a victory. It has been a very difficult year, with a difficult start in which Jaime Busto made it very tough for us. But we have achieved another title in the best way, with a victory, so I want to thank the team. As I always say, it would be impossible to maintain this level without all their support and effort
We are very happy with today's race. On the first lap I made a few too many mistakes, but luckily I had a very good second lap. In the end we took third place on the first day in France and were close to sealing third place in the championship, which if all goes well, we should achieve tomorrow. Furthermore, I want to congratulate my teammate, Toni, who had a magnificent race and, in general, a really good season. He has been more dominant as the races have gone by, which means that Toni will be the man to beat for many more years
First of all, I want to congratulate Toni, both for today's victory and for the title. He has made us accustomed to spectacular performances and we must appreciate this. Year after year he shows all the work, talent and effort he dedicates to be at the highest level. In addition, we must congratulate the entire team for this whole season, and Gabriel, who has managed to get another Montesa onto the podium today. He came back and improved on the second lap, showing that he can ride at a high level. Thanks to HRC, the sponsors and the whole team for making this possible.
