A CHAMPIONSHIP’S WEEKEND

It’s finally time for the First Bike Academy to join the Europe Hawkers European Talent Cup’s championship.

This contest represents an unmissable step for every young riders who wants to become the future Fabio Quartararo. For our MotoGP students, it’s an amazing to show their talent on the track.

Indeed, it’s to provide the best chances for our students that the Academy have decided to join the championship. Elie Rousselot and Guillem Planques – our French representatives – are supported by two Spanish pilots (Alvaro Fuertes et Blai Trias) who are present to improve their riding technique.

The first round is on the Estoril route (Portugal), and allows the pilots to be places in the ranking. Every weekend are actually the same. The official tests are done on Thursday, the two free practice sessions take place on Friday, the qualifications are on Saturday, and, finally, the race is on Sunday.

Besides, we are delighted to welcome one of our partners on this weekend : Baxter Injection. Motorcycle enthusiasts, they come to discover the new talents of this year.

Friday’s tests !

Our four drivers finally have the opportunity to establish official times on their performance. Guillem Planques is the fastest one, followed by Alvaro, Blai, and Elie. We can feel their will to improve their techniques. Indeed, their performances are better than the last year : they manage to won more than two seconds !

Guillem Planques – ©Anthony Ahunon-Munoz

Satuday’s qualifications…

The purpose of qualifying is to determine the starting positions in the next day’s race. Guillem and Blai are in the A group, and Elie and Alvaro are in the B group.

The grid is made up of the fourteen best from each group, to which are added the first two drivers from the repechage race on Saturday evening.
The level is high, and the results very tight. Indeed, the first fourteen are held by only 2.7 sec. Obtaining qualification is truly more difficult in this 2022 season. The results are mixed for our young riders.

Blai finished in 15th place in his group, and go then to the repechages. This is also the case for Elie, although he finds himself further down the clock. Meanwhile, Guillem finished 10th in his group. Taking into account the accumulation of the fifty drivers entered, he will only be in 18th position at the start the next day. Finally, Alvaro obtains 13th place in his group, and will therefore start 24th on the starting grid.
For the “Last Chance” race, Blai Trias started from the front row and took second place ; and qualifies for tomorrow’s race ! Concerning Elie, and despite a very good start, the rider struggled to do the right laps. The Portuguese weekend ends here for the speed enthusiast, who had the opportunity to see the incredible level of the championship.

Sunday’s first races

A warm-up and two races are on the program for this sunny Sunday. We can particularly note the very good performance of Guillem for the warm-up : he takes the 4th fastest time.The long-awaited moment finally comes. However, the first round turns out to be chaotic. Guillem suffered a power failure during the warm-up lap, and was unable to do any laps. Alvaro meanwhile had a very good start to the race, but ended up crashing and breaking his collarbone. We take this opportunity to wish him a speedy recovery.
For his part, Blai scores the two points for 14th place. Between various crashes and mechanical problems, only fifteen of the thirty pilots crossed the finish line.
Then begins the second race. Starting from 19th position, Guillem impresses us with his start as well as throughout the first lap. He then comes in front of us to start the second round in 10th position. But luck is obviously not on the side of our young rider from the motorcycle school. Indeed, a competitor falls violently in front of him, and forces him to shoot straight into the gravel trap. For his part, Blai increases his level and obtains a very good 10th place.

See you soon !

It is therefore a mixed weekend for the First Bike Academy that is coming to an end. These few days confirm that we can be satisfied with the potential of our pilots, our technical teams, and our qualified instructors. Unfortunately, success failed us during the weekend, preventing us from achieving very good results.

We look forward to seeing you on May 21 and 22 on the Ricardo Tormo track in Valencia (Spain), for the second round of the championship.

A big thank you to all those who supports us, as well as to our partners – in particular Baxter Injection, who came to experience an entire weekend of races from the inside.

Rédaction : Mélanie Farré