- Brian Uriarte won both races in the European Talent Cup, the first with Rico Salmela and Hakim Danish accompanying him on a 100% Estrella Galicia 0.0 and Monlau Motul podium.
- The Valencian Ángel Piqueras finished second in the JuniorGP race, just two thousandths of the victory, and demonstrated his status as a candidate for the title.
- “At the end of 2022, we developed a new organizational chart together with a new operating method, which we applied in pre-season, and in sight it has worked, since we are stronger than ever. We will continue to work hard for the following dates and offer the best to our pilots and sponsors,” says Jaime Serrano, CEO of the team.
Team Estrella Galicia 0.0 began its journey in the FIM JuniorGP in the circuit of Estoril (Portugal) with a treble in the European Talent Cup (ETC) and the presence of at least one of its drivers on each of the three podiums that were at stake. The good performance of the Honda bikes, the work of the whole team and the talent of the riders allowed Angel Piqueras -in JuniorGPTM-, Brian Uriarte, who won both sleeves, and Rico Salmela -both in the ETC- to be in the Top 3 of the two championships.
With a single race planned for the JuniorGP category, all the drivers came out eager to fight for the front positions. With a development marked by the exchange of positions, Piqueras managed to impose his good pace and distance himself from his rivals (going first) until the fall of a pilot forced to raise a red flag and stop the race for a few minutes.
After the resumption, and despite having lost the advantage with which he counted, Piqueras again took the lead with four laps to go. The Valencian led the group until, in a final photo finish, the Italian Nico Carraro managed to enter first with just two thousandths advantage over Piqueras. Behind, the new Team Estrella Galicia 0.0 rider, Elia Bartolini, managed to climb positions in the second part of the race to finish in seventh position, ahead of his teammate Facundo Llambías, who was 17th, and also newly incorporated this year, Alex Gourdon, who finished 21st.
With these results, Ángel Piqueras is second in the general standings with 20 points, only five points behind the leader, Nico Carraro, while Elia Bartolini occupies the seventh position and adds 9 points.
The JuniorGP race was preceded by the first of the two races that the riders of the European Talent Cup (ETC) played, and that had three of the riders of Team Estrella Galicia 0.0 as main protagonists. With a high pace from the start, Brian Uriarte, Rico Salmela and Hakim Danish managed to escape and maintain the distance with their most immediate pursuers. The Santander rider was the first to cross the finish line, followed a few tenths by Salmela and Danish, and seven and a half seconds to the fourth place, Máximo Quiles. Thus, a historic triple was certified for Team Estrella Galicia 0.0 that joins the team achieved in 2011 in the Circuit of Albacete by Àlex Rins, Francesco Bagnaia and Àlex Márquez. Meanwhile, the fourth driver of the team, the British Amanuel Brinton, struggled to finish in 19th position.
With these precedents, Team Estrella Galicia 0.0 came out to repeat this success in the second round, although the rivals did not make it easy. This time, unlike the previous race, a very large group was setting the pace, with the presence of Uriarte, Salmela and Danish. With two laps to go, and with all the options on the table, a fall by Guido Pini led Danish, and finally it was Uriarte who took the victory, ahead of Máximo Quiles and David González. Salmela, who lost contact in the final part, finished in sixth position, while Brinton was 17th.
With the results achieved on the Estoril track, Brian Uriarte firmly leads the overall standings with 50 points, while Rico Salmela is third with 30 and Hakim Danish is seventh with 16.
“We extracted a great balance of the first weekend of the championship, with presence of the team on all the podiums. At the end of 2022, we developed a new organizational chart together with a new operating method, which we applied in pre-season, and in sight it has worked, since we are stronger than ever. We will continue to work hard for the following dates and offer the best to our pilots and sponsors,” says Jaime Serrano, CEO of the team.
Kev Coghlan, Team Manager of Team Estrella Galicia 0.0, highlights all the work done during the pre-season: “In Estoril we have collected the fruits of these months of preparation. In the ETC we had very good results, with Uriarte, Salmela and Danish helping each other and surrendering at a high level. Brinton did not have it easy in the qualifying session and fought as hard as he could in the race. In JuniorGP, Piqueras showed that he is one of the strongest riders in the category, while Bartolini was able to climb positions after the resumption and finally finish seventh. Llambías was not very comfortable during the weekend, but the season is long, just like for Gourdon”.
With a balance of four riders on the podium, Team Estrella Galicia 0.0 exceeds the first stop of the championship with note and already works on equalizing or surpassing the results in the second round of the calendar, which will take place at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo in Cheste (Valencia) on 21 May. A date where drivers will have to compete in two races, both in JuniorGP and in the European Talent Cup.
