MEDIA INFORMATION
2025 UIM-ABP European Continental Aquabike Championship
WASILEWSKI, REINASS, MIHALCEA, DRANGE, KOCH HANSEN, KASZA AND MARIANI EARN GRAND PRIX WINS IN HUNGARY
Sunday, August 3: The remaining seven Motos to determine the winners of the Grand Prix of Hungary took place on Sunday afternoon.
Poland’s Adam Wasilewski sealed Grand Prix success in the Runabout Veterans GP1 category and also confirmed victory in the European Championship. Mattias Reinass was the class of the Ski GP2 field and victory in the final Moto confirmed his Grand Prix victory.
Romania’s Alexis Mihalcea was pipped to the Moto 3 win in Runabout GP2 by Domantas Vaznys but duly confirmed the Grand Prix win with second place. The in-form Norwegian rider Benedicte Drange continued her consistent form to take victory in the third Moto and seal Grand Pris glory in Ski Ladies GP1.
Oliver Koch Hansen saw off a fierce challenge from European Championship leader Mickael Poret to earn his Grand Prix success in Ski GP1, despite Poret winning Moto 3. György Kasza won the final Runabout GP1 Moto to prevail in the last of the races on the course. Defending European champion Roberto Mariani remained on course to retain his Freestyle title after pipping Domen Kerman to the Grand Prix win on a tie-breaker after each rider had secured a Moto win apiece.
Wasilewski seals Runabout Veterans GP1 European Championship and Grand Prix success with Moto 3 win
Adam Wasilewski needed to defend a four-point lead over Hungarian racer György Kasza and a five-point advantage over Hansi Reichardt if he was to clinch Grand Prix victory in the Runabout Veterans GP1 category. The Pole also headed into the Moto with a comfortable European Championship lead over Arkadiusz Bartyzel.
Sergei Prokofjev was quick out of the blocks but Wasilewski found a way through and began to pull clear of the Estonian, Bartyzel, Sándor Major and Reichardt after Kasza failed to start.
Wasilewski powered off into the distance and reached the chequered flag 26.01 seconds ahead of Prokofjev to seal the Grand Prix win and overall victory in the 2025 European Championship. Bartyzel finished third to end the campaign as European Championship runner-up and Major and Reichardt rounded off the finishers in fourth and fifth. Reichardt pipped Bartyzel to the runner-up spot in the Grand Prix.
Reinass takes Ski GP2 Grand Prix win after Moto 3 success
Mattias Reinass needed to defend an eight-point lead over Csongor Jászai to top the Grand Prix weekend in Ski GP2. Daan Hoeke and Marlon Tiik had outside chances of snatching the win but Hoeke was also focused on defending his comfortable European Championship lead over Karl Joosep Steinberg and Marlon Tiik.
The Estonian got the better of Jászai and Marlon Tiik from the start and led by 2.30 seconds after the opening lap. Daan and Luuk Hoeke languished at the rear of the 13-ski field. Reinass managed to fend off Jászai for the duration of the Moto to take the win by 2.54 seconds with Marlon Tiik, Tanawid Mollee, Steinberg and Marten Tiik rounding off the top six.
The win secured the Grand Prix win for Reinass from Jászai and Marlon Tiik. Daan Hoeke climbed through the field to seventh and maintained a useful European Championship lead to take to the final round in France.
Mihalcea wins Runabout GP2 Grand Prix; Moto 3 win for Vaznys
Pole-sitter Alexis Mihalcea took an eight-point lead over Justin Patzner into the final Runabout GP2 Moto. Alejandro Prats Palau headed Tom Claerhout by two points in the European Championship standings.
The Romanian maintained his advantage with local rider Marcell Major slotting into second place ahead of Manuel Reggiani, Domantas Vaznys, Daniel Lasselsberger and Prats Palau. Claerhout and Patzner were down in 11th and 12th of the 15 starters.
Vaznys passed Reggiani to take third and then overtook Grand Prix winner Mihalcea to take the Moto win. Major initially rounded off the podium finishers until he, like Mihalcea, was given a 25-second penalty for a jump start and slipped back to sixth. Mihalcea ended the heat in third and fifth place for Prats Palau behind Walter Seiberl enabled the Spaniard to move further clear of ninth-placed Claerhout in the European standings. Prats Palau and Reggiani finished second and third in the Grand Prix behind Mihalcea.
Moto 3 winner Drange seals Ski Ladies GP1 Grand Prix triumph
Benedicte Drange lined up on pole for the final Ski Ladies GP1 Moto with a lead of eight points in the Grand Prix standings over Jasmiin Ypraus and Jonna Borgström. Jessica Chavanne continued to lead the European Championship from Virginie Morlaes and Ypraus, despite a disappointing weekend thus far in Hungary.
Drange continued her sensational form to take the lead from Chavanne, River Varner and Ypraus with Morlaes, Lou Dardillat and Naomi Benini trailing in their wake. Borgström crashed on the opening lap, injured her hand and was taken to hospital for an x-ray and possible stitches. Drange began to edge away from her rivals but the other six riders maintained their positions through three laps.
Benini passed Dardillat to take sixth but the leading five riders held their order into the closing minutes of the race and Drange duly secured her third Hungarian Moto win and Grand Prix success by 11.52 seconds. Chavanne and Varner wrapped up the podium positions with Ypraus and Varner finishing second and third in the weekend’s Grand Prix. Chavanne now leads the European Championship by 24 points.
Drange said: “Three out of three here in Hungary. It is just an amazing feeling and I am super happy for my team and my mechanics now.”
Koch Hansen confirms Ski GP1 Grand Prix success; Moto 3 triumph for Perez
European Championship leader and pole sitter Mickael Poret headed into the final Ski GP1 Moto showdown trailing Oliver Koch Hansen by four points in the Grand Prix standings.
Koch Hansen made the strongest start and moved ahead of Poret, Mattias Reinass, Quinten Bossche and Alec Enderli. Bossche displaced Reinass to snatch third but Koch Hansen extended his advantage to 10.08 seconds heading into lap five. Yoni Hameli moved up to fifth at the expense of Enderli and Kevin Reiterer and then Bossche managed to find a way passed Poret to take second.
Koch Hansen held his nerve to finish 13.93 seconds in front of Bossche with Poret in third. Reinass, Hamelin and Reiterer rounded off the top six places in the Moto.
But Koch Hansen and Bossche were both deemed to have not maintained the lanes at the start and Reiterer and Lucas Binar were also handed 25-second penalties for start violations. The adjustments to the results meant that Poret was handed the Moto win from Koch Hansen, Bossche, Reinass, Hamelin and Reiterer.
That enabled the Dane to take the Grand Prix win by a single point and close a little on Poret in the European Championship. Poret beat Bossche to the runner-up spot over the weekend.
Koch Hansen said: “That was hard. I am a little bit tired. So far so good. Now we will see what happened in Vichy.”
Kasza wins Moto 3 to take Runabout GP1 Grand Prix win
György Kasza headed into the final Runabout GP1 showdown with Jéremy Perez with a two-point lead in the Grand Prix and the Hungarian started well to lead from Pierre-François Savelli, Perez, Florian Bardoux and Robin Laforge. Andrzej Wisniewski and Levente Kacor were non-starters.
Kasza headed off into the distance with his four closest rivals maintaining their positions into the remaining eight minutes of the Moto. Perez then passed Savelli on lap eight but the Frenchman trailed the Hungarian by 20.60 seconds and was too far behind to challenge for the win.
Kasza guided his Seadoo to the finish with a winning margin of 15.77 seconds to seal Grand Prix success and Perez settled for second to extend his lead in the European Championship. Savelli, Laforge, Petr Dryjak and Bardoux filled the remaining places in the top six with Laforge retaining second in the overall series standings and finishing third in the Grand Prix.
Kasza said: “It was an easy win. I learned from the mistake in the last Moto and I compared the two splits and this time I took the fastest (route).”
Moto 3 Freestyle win gives Mariani Grand Prix success
Slovenian Domen Kerman had taken victory in the opening Freestyle Moto on the Danube-Rába confluence in front of the Kossuth Bridge in Győr on Friday evening. He had a three-point lead over the defending European Champion Roberto Mariani for the final showdown.
But Mariani dug deep into his vast array of somersaults, flips and spins and impressed the judges to the extent that he was awarded 24 points more than his Slovenian rival in the final act of the Grand Prix of Hungary. Mariani excelled in variety and quality, earned a total of 182 points from the judges and secured Grand Prix success on a tie-breaker. Massimo Accumolo finished third in the Moto and the Grand Prix and the Austrian duo of Maximilian Martha and Wolfgang Strasser finished fourth and fifth.
Ends