- A third and sixth position allow Ángel Piqueras to extend his lead at the head of the JuniorGP championship.
- Facundo Llambías and Elia Bartolini scored points in both races, and Gourdon debuted in the box.
- Amanuel Brinton was the team’s best driver in the European Talent Cup, where Brian Uriarte remains one point behind the leader.
- “We enjoyed the home race with the whole team, and the balance of results is positive, with drivers and technicians giving the most of themselves”, says Jaime Serrano, CEO of the team.
Team Estrella Galicia 0.0 completed a resistance exercise against obstacles at the fifth stop of JuniorGP, which took place last weekend at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. The riders had in the high temperatures experienced in the environment and on the asphalt one more ingredient to deal with in race, which did not prevent Angel Piqueras to extend his advantage to the head of the classification of JuniorGP.
With two races on the morning of last Sunday, the Valencian rider faced the Catalan test with 54 points advantage, which after his third and sixth positions in Montmeló have been extended to 68.
In the first race, Piqueras started from pole position and had to deal with a large group of drivers who remained until the last laps, where he went from sixth to third position. A leading group where Llambías was also, in a very regular race that ended in eighth position. For his part, Elia Bartolini recovered positions from the 23rd initial and crossed the checkered flag in 11th, his best classification during the race. Alex Gourdon finished in 25th place.
With a few more degrees of heat on the asphalt, the riders of the category returned to play the second leg, which stood out for having a large group of heads, with around fifteen riders. In it were Piqueras, Llambías and Bartolini, who managed to stay until the end in the fight for the podium. In the last two laps there were multiple exchanges that made Piqueras finish in 6th place, just ahead of Llambías and Bartolini, who was 9th. Gourdon went from low to high and in the last four laps managed to climb from 19th to 14th position.
With these results, Piqueras remains leader of the JuniorGP general classification with 166 points and a solid advantage. Bartolini and Llambías gain a position and are in the 13th and 18th, respectively. Gourdon, with his first two points of the season, is 25th.
Between the two races, the only one planned for the European Talent Cup category was played, which kept emotion until the last seconds and where Team Estrella Galicia 0.0 fought at all times.
Brian Uriarte, who returned to the competition after his absence in Portimão due to injury, completed a hard-fought comeback that allowed him to finish in 16th place, after suffering a track start with nine laps to go. Uriarte was, at the time, in the leading group, like his teammate Rico Salmela, who was out when he played the podium. The best rider of Team Estrella Galicia 0.0 was the British Amanuel Brinton, who finished 11th after a very regular test, while Hakim Danish was 17th. Some results that keep Uriarte in the second position of the championship with 123 points, only one of the first, while Salmela maintains the 5th position with 88 points. Danish is 17th with 24 and Brinton, 18th with 19.
“Barcelona is the home race and we enjoyed it a lot in Team Estrella Galicia 0.0 with the whole team. The final balance is positive, with Ángel Piqueras as a solid leader of the JuniorGP championship, with intact options to get the title in the ETC and the whole team giving the maximum of himself”, says Jaime Serrano, CEO of the team.
“Piqueras has once again demonstrated his strength and is a little closer to proclaiming himself champion. We are also happy for Llambías, who completed his best test; for Bartolini, who showed a high pace; and for Gourdon, who added his first points thanks to a good weekend,” says Kev Coghlan, Team Manager. “In the ETC, Uriarte had it very difficult to score points, after a touch with another pilot who took him to the gravel, and still stayed at the gates. Salmela is working very well, but this time she had very bad luck. Brinton struggled to the end and scored good points, and Danish had to do two long lap hits that hurt him”.
After the stop made on the Catalan track, the World FIM JuniorGP takes a vacation, which drivers and the team will take advantage to recharge their batteries and work hard to get in the best possible conditions to the final straight, where they will wait for the last two races. The first one, on 7 and 8 October at MotorLand Aragon.
