MEDIA INFORMATION
2025 UIM-ABP European Continental Aquabike Championship
FREE PRACTICE AND QUALIFYING SESSIONS GET GRAND PRIX OF HUNGARY UNDERWAY IN GYŐR
Friday, August 1: Entrants competing in 14 aquabike racing categories carried out their free practice and qualifying sessions in a hectic Friday’s action at the Grand Prix of Hungary off Zámoly Beach at an old quarry lake in Győrzámoly, near Győr.
Aquabike Promotion and the Hungarian Jet Sports Federation were delighted with the massive field of entrants who descended on the small Hungarian town for round three of the UIM-ABP Aquabike European Continental Championship.
Ski GP3 pole position for Jakopanec
Eleven Ski GP3 riders were first on to the water for their free practice and pole position sessions on Friday morning. Dorijan Jakopanec made the brightest start and a fastest lap of 1min 34.37sec gave the Croatian pole position by just 0.38 seconds.
Local star Csongor Jászai qualified in second ahead of Portugal’s Manuel Leite with the Belgian duo of Loris Lambert and Michael Van Reybroeck rounding off the top five. The entire top 10 raced Yamahas with 11th-placed Hungarian Péter Rátkai the sole Kawasaki entrant.
Late pole for Puzelevic in Runabout GP4
Eleven Seadoo riders also tackled the pole and free practice sessions in the Runabout GP4 category. Lithuanian Grantas Gurkšnys set the early pace in qualifying with a lap of 1min 32.81sec but he was displaced by fellow countryman Karol Puzelevic for a short time before regaining pole with a lap of 1min 32.22sec.
Puzelevic then hit back with a flyer of 1min 30.75ec to snatch pole and Jurica Marovic delivered a late flyer to snatch second place away from Gurkšnys. Arti Mölter had topped the times in free practice and qualifying in fourth place ahead of Henri Koppas and Erikas Butkus.
Erlach on top in Ski GP4
Ten riders lined up for the first foray on to the course for the Ski GP4 category. Marcus Erlach of Hungary topped the qualifying times with a fastest run of 1min 29.05sec on his Yamaha to claim pole position from the championship-leading Frenchman Mathys Mezière
Erlach ran for six laps and finished 1.22 seconds ahead of his closest rival with young Estonian Ander-Hubert Lauri, Grantas Gurkšnys, Vansiden Kay and Lucas Mouchotte rounding off the top six qualifiers.
Last gasp pole for Cadei in Runabout GP4 Ladies
Nikola Dryjakova arrived in Győr with a 38-point lead in the Runabout Ladies GP4 European Championship. After a slight delay while detached course buoys were restored to position, the Czech led a dozen rivals on Seadoos into free practice and qualifying.
Aurora Filiberti laid down the early gauntlet with a lap of 1min 34.54sec to move ahead of Michelle Dimov, Astra Gurkšnytė and Dryjakova. But the Italian’s hot lap was later chalked off for course cutting and a late run of 1min 33.87sec by Nicole Cadei earned pole position from Dimov, Gurkšnytė, Filiberti and Dryjakova. The Estonian duo of Kätriin Nilbe and Kimily Lepp qualified in sixth and eighth, sandwiching the seventh-placed Italian Ilaria Vanni.
Ski Junior GP3.2 pole for Beernout
Hungarian Noam Bíró Santos, Finland’s Topi Järvenpää and Belgian Milo Beernout lined up to compete for pole position on their Yamahas in the Ski GP3.2 World Championship category.
Beernout set the early benchmark lap of 1min 34.52sec and then improved his time with a run of 1min 33.47sec to claim pole position from Santos and young Järvenpää.
Pole in Ski Junior GP3.3 for Al-Ali
Ali Al-Ali, Maxime Arthebise, Marvin Bohuslav, Leo Kete, Francesco Mariani, Milán Rátkai, Aksel Rauhansalo and Pelle Stenborg fought it out for pole in the Ski GP3.3 World Championship section.
Several riders ran strongly in free practice but the pole position session was where it really mattered and Bohuslav hit the front early in the stint with a run of 1min 34min 32sec. Fellow Hungarian Kete struck back with a 1min 34.31sec run to claim top spot and Ali Al-Ali slotted into third place. The Emirati then hit the front with a flier of 1min 33.92sec and that was sufficient to earn pole position from his two Hungarian rivals, Arthebise and Stenborg. Stenborg was later disqualified for missing the technical inspection after qualifying had finished.
Runabout GP4 Junior pole for Vainio
Francesco Bassenghi, Ayrton Cecere, Aurora Filiberti, Rihard Leinsalu, Kimily Lepp, Katarina Sepp, Jose Vainio and Adas Zalagaitis registered for the stand-alone Runabout GP4 Junior World Championship round on their Seadoos.
Leinsalu topped the times in free practice but Filiberti hit the front early in the qualifying session with a lap of 1min 33.15sec and maintained a slender cushion over Lepp and Vainio. The Finn then managed to claim provisional pole with a lap of 1min 32.33sec from Filiberti, Lepp, Leinsalu and Bassenghi and held on to the end of the stint to earn top spot.
Kasza claims Runabout Veterans GP1 pole
Adam Wasilewski headed fellow Pole Arkadiusz Bartyzel by four points heading into the final round of the Runabout Veterans GP1 European Championship.
Six riders lined up for the practice and pole position sessions and Hungarian racer György Kasza drew first blood in qualifying with a flying lap of 1min 10.67sec to storm ahead of Wasilewski, Bartyzel, Sergei Prokofjev, Sándor Major and Hansi Reichardt. The Hungarian was the class of the field and held on to earn pole position by 4.54 seconds from series leader Wasilewski and Bartyzel in third.
Mariani cruises to Freestyle pole
Runaway Freestyle championship leader Roberto Mariani cruised to pole position for the opening Hungarian Moto with a score of 173 points from the judges for his on-water programme. Nearest rival Domen Kerman of Slovenia was 37 points adrift of the Italian, while Massimo Accumolo qualified in third ahead of the Austrian duo of Maximilian Martha and Wolfgang Strasser.
Championship leader Daan Hoeke earns pole in Ski GP2
Thirteen Kawasaki riders lined up for Ski GP2 qualifying and the number included series leader Daan Hoeke and his closest European Championship rivals Karl Joosep Steinberg and Marlon Tiik.
Mattias Reinass was the class of the field in free practice and he carded the target lap of 1min 31.26sec on his first run in qualifying. Csongor Jászai slotted into second place ahead of Thailand’s Tanawid Mollee and Marlon and Marten Tiik of Estonia. Daan Hoeke then found some form at the right time and hit the front with a tour of 1min 30.33sec to claim provisional pole, as Austrian Robert Ortner moved between the two Tiik family members and into sixth.
Steinberg also made a late move and qualified second behind Daan Hoeke with Reinass, Jászai and Marlon Tiik rounding off the final top five qualifiers.
Reggiani holds off Castronovo to earn Runabout GP2 pole
Tom Claerhout headed into qualifying in the Runabout GP2 category with a six-point advantage over Domantas Vaznys in the European Championship points’ standings and a lead of 10 points over Alejandro Prats Palau. Fourteen Seadoo riders and two on Bellasi skis lined up for their opening stints on the water.
Vasnys topped the times in free practice but Manuel Reggiani moved ahead at the start of qualifying with a lap of 1min 20.72sec. That put the Italian 1.11 seconds in front of fellow countryman Stefano Castronovo with Claerhout, Prats Palau and Soma Pozsonyi filling the top five places. Romanian Alexis Mihalcea then moved into fourth place at the expense of Prats Palau but Reggiani held on to win the pole session by 1.11 seconds with the leading quintet holding station to the end of the stint.
Drange stuns rivals to snatch Ski Ladies GP1 pole
Jessica Chavanne topped the Ski Ladies GP1 standings by 24 points over Virginie Morlaes, as she lined up for qualifying for the opening Hungarian Moto with seven rivals who included the returning Swede Jonna Borgström.
Defending World Champion Jasmiin Ypraus was on top form in free practice with a flying lap of 1min 27.11sec on her Kawasaki but it was the pole session that really mattered. The defending European Champion Benedicte Drange drew first blood with a lap of 1min 24.97sec and the Norwegian Fast Powersports rider stormed to the top of the times, closely followed by Ypraus, Chavanne, Borgström and River Varner.
Varner climbed to fourth midway through the session and then Chavanne snatched provisional pole with a lap of 1min 23.31sec to move ahead of Drange, Varner, Ypraus and Borgström with the clock ticking down. The French girl held on to take pole by 0.78 seconds on her Kommander.
But Chavanne’s best lap was later cancelled for course cutting and she dropped back to third place behind Drange and Ypraus and ahead of Borgström, Morlaes and Naomi Benini. Varner and Lou Dardillat were disqualified for racing in the opposite direction on the race course.
Ski GP1 pole for series leader Mickael Poret
Mickael Poret headed into qualifying for the opening Ski GP1 Moto with a lead of 11 points over a tying younger brother Morgan and Oliver Koch Hansen in the European Championship. Quinten Bossche was a distant fourth after two non-finishes in Portugal.
A massive 25-ski field lined up for free practice and qualifying and Mickael Poret moved to the top of the early pole standings with a lap of 1min 26.46sec that put him 0.47 seconds ahead of Matteo Benini. Bossche, Morgan Poret, Koch Hansen and Kevin Reiterer rounded off the top six.
Koch Hansen then displaced Benini to snatch second place and was then overtaken again, as Poret held on to take pole by just 0.19 seconds with Bossche, Morgan Poret and Reiterer filling the top six qualifying places.
Championship favourite Perez storms to Runabout GP1 pole
Frenchman Jéremy Perez lined up for his Runabout GP1 qualifying session with a commanding 33-point European Championship cushion over a tying Pierre-François Savelli and Robin Laforge. Fifteen of the 16 Seadoo riders took the start of qualifying.
Andrzej Wisniewski laid down the early qualifying gauntlet with a lap of 1min 19.06sec but Perez stormed into pole soon after with a flier of 1min 12.43sec, as Savelli, Florian Bardoux and Laforge slotted into second, third and fourth.
Pole Kamil Fadrowski then displaced Laforge to snatch fourth place but no-one was a match for Perez and he earned pole from Savelli by 0.32 seconds. Laforge fought back to qualify third ahead of Bardoux, Fadrowski and Levente Kacor.
Perez said: “In am happy to win the pole position here in Hungary. It is a good start for the weekend. I am happy with the jet ski and the set-up. We will see in the first race tomorrow.”
Ends