- Máximo Quiles (second) and Casey O’Gorman (third) show their best level in JuniorGP™ and achieve their first podium of the year in the category.
- Pau Alsina, ranked sixth, is the team’s fastest rider in the only race held in the European Talent Cup.
- “ We are happy that the first podiums in JuniorGP have arrived because the team is working very hard. And in the ETC, our pilots have made an important change in mentality. The next race in Jerez is going to be a turning point and we will prepare it with the utmost enthusiasm ,” says Jaime Serrano, CEO of the team.
The FIM JuniorGP™ held, at the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve (Portugal), the fourth event on the calendar, which marks the halfway point of the championship. A weekend where Team Estrella Galicia 0,0 managed to get on the podium again, as it did in Estoril at the end of April, and twice, although this time in charge of the pilots of the JuniorGP™ category. In this way, Máximo Quiles and Casey O’Gorman achieved the first podiums for the team in this category of 2024.
In the first of the races scheduled in JuniorGP™, the three pilots of Team Estrella Galicia 0,0 demonstrated their level of driving , to the point that for a few laps O’Gorman, Quiles and Facundo Llambías led the race. The pace of the laps and the competitiveness of the rivals meant that, with the first two classified somewhat distanced, O’Gorman consolidated his position in third position. Just over three seconds behind came a second group with Máximo Quiles, who finished ahead of everyone in fourth position. Llambías was finally eighth, leading a third chasing group.
The second race of the day in the category was no different and once again showed the great equality that reigns between all the drivers and brands. A very competitive race, where the team’s three drivers started from the first two rows of the grid, which this time had Quiles as the most outstanding man.
The passing of the laps ended up forming a leading group of four drivers, among them the Murcian, who would end up risking victory in the last corners. And there Quiles once again demonstrated his talent in overtaking and overtook two rivals in the last seconds of the race to finish in second position. In the chasing group, O’Gorman was sixth, just ahead of his teammate Llambías.
After the dispute of the double race in JuniorGP™, Quiles is seventh in the general classification with 64 points and closes the gap on his rivals thanks to the 33 points added in Portugal. Just behind is O’Gorman, with 51 points, and Llambías is 11th with 36.
For their part, the European Talent Cup drivers competed in a single race, where Enzo Bellon started from fourth position, Marianos Nikolis and Pau Alsina did so. from intermediate positions and Fernando Bujosa somewhat further back. The one who was not at the start was Jesús Torres , who suffered an injury in Saturday’s qualifying round.
As the laps passed and with seven to go, Alsina confirmed a solid comeback that allowed him to climb from 15th position to seventh. A very remarkable performance by the Catalan driver who in the end fought for podium places, although he narrowly missed it and was sixth. Behind, Nikolis and Bellon fought head to head with numerous rivals in chasing groups and were 10th and 11th, respectively. Bujosa went from less to more as the laps went by and managed to finish 17th, twelve positions less than the start.
Despite his absence in Portimão, Torres remains the team’s best classified driver, sixth with 52 points, while Alsina rises to eighth position with 37. Bellon also stands out, obtaining his first five points in the box.
“ We are happy that the first podiums in JuniorGP have arrived because the entire team is working very hard and the drivers have had an impeccable weekend. And in the ETC, our drivers have made an important change in mentality, working very well since Thursday. The next race in Jerez is going to be a turning point and we will prepare it with the utmost enthusiasm ,” says Jaime Serrano , CEO of the team.
Good collective work is one of the most highlighted points by Max Moro , Team Leader Project: “ The podiums in JuniorGP are synonymous with the good harmony that reigns between drivers and staff and the result of the great work that both parties are doing. In the ETC, the drivers have shown their talent by facing different situations in the race and supported by the work completed in the pit. We hope for a speedy recovery for Jesús Torres, who fractured his collarbone in Q2. Now we face the summer break with the desire to arrive very well prepared for the last part of the championship .”
After the fourth round, the FIM JuniorGP™ will face, after the summer, the final stretch of the championship with three rounds scheduled in Jerez, Aragón and Valencia. The first of them will be at the Jerez-Ángel Nieto Circuit on September 15, where the JuniorGP™ drivers and the ETC drivers will compete in two races.
