Repsol Honda Team highly charged for French TrialGP

TrialGP 2017   Round TR4 , Preview 1

After last Sunday’s result in Andorra, Repsol Honda Team go into this weekend’s French TrialGP in Lourdes more motivated than ever for the fourth date of the world championship.

Toni Bou, Takahisa Fujinami and Jaime Busto, the trio of Repsol Honda Team riders, have more than enough reasons to be fired up for the fourth date in the TrialGP World Championship in Lourdes, France. Primarily Toni Bou, who seeks to get back on track for another victory after the win slipped through the champion’s fingers in Sant Julià de Lòria for a single error in the trial’s thirty sections.

The incumbent champion will be hoping for a more demanding trial than the one disputed last weekend in Pyrenees. Bou prefers to battle it out in high-technical level sections that show the class of the top riders, rather than an easy race which evens out competitor’s scorecards and gives everyone a chance. A mere two marks separated the top three riders in Andorra.

Among these top guns last week featured one Jaime Busto, rubbing shoulders with the elite on the final podium. The Basque rider currently showing good form, will be looking to consolidate his place amid the leading group in the dates remaining this season.

Japanese Repsol Honda Team rider, Takahisa Fujinami was another rider who came away from last weekend’s event dissatisfied with the fifth-place result. The score leaves ‘Fujigas’ holding fourth in the tightly packed overall rankings. The rider will be pleased to be back at the site which allowed him to win the world championship with the veteran rider arriving at the event as podium-hungry as ever.

In the constructor’s championship Montesa continues to lead with 142 points, a margin of 29 points over the nearest manufacturer.

ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE FRENCH TRIALGP

• The Trial World Championship has visited France on 44 occasions, although Lourdes itself has hosted TrialGP one time only, last year. That trial saw Toni Bou take victory on Saturday and Takahisa Fujinami Sunday.
• Toni Bou (7) and Takahisa Fujinami (4) have already won in France and have accumulated 18 and 17 podium places respectively. However the rider with the most ever wins on French soil is Dougie Lampkin, who has made it on to the top of the rostrum on no less than seven occasions with Montesa.
• The course of the trial is a very reduced one of some four kilometres per lap given that 13 of the 15 sections are situated on a mountain very close to the city.
• TrialGP France Timetable:
• Friday
  15:00 Inspection of the sections
  Saturday
  10:30 to 11:00 Scrutineering
  11:00 to 13:00 Free training
  12:15 to 12:45 Qualifying round
  14:30 Autograph signing
  15:00 to 16:30 Qualifying section
  Sunday
  09:00 First rider start
  12:05 Start of second lap
  15:20 End of race
  15:45 Podium ceremony

· Toni Bou Stats
92 wins in the world championship
189 GP participations
135 podiums
2993 points

· Takahisa Fujinami Stats
33 wins in the world championship
315 GP participations
159 podiums
4281 points

· Jaime Busto Stats
36 GP participations
1 podium
396 points

Rider Standings