MEDIA INFORMATION
2025 UIM-ABP World Aquabike Championship
FREE PRACTICE AND POLE POSITION QUALIFYING GET THE WEEKEND’S BALL ROLLING IN SARDINIA
Friday, October 17: Free practice and pole position qualifying filled a hectic timetable of action on a revised race course at the Regione Sardegna Grand Prix of Italy in Olbia on Friday.
Aquabike Promotion and FIM announced a final entry list of 145 riders from 26 nations for the second round of the 2025 UIM-ABP Aquabike World Championship. They were further broken down into 24 in Runabout GP1 and 26 in the Ski GP1 classes, 23 in Runabout GP4, 17 in Runabout GP2, 13 in Runabout GP4 Ladies, 12 in Ski Ladies GP1, 10 in Ski GP4, eight in Ski GP2, eight in Ski GP3 and four in Freestyle.
Dorijan Jakopanec, Baptiste Calmels, Grantas Gurkšnys, Cyrielle Bramm, Mattias Reinass, Alessandro Fracasso, Jasmiin Ypraus, Quinten Bossche and François Medori claimed pole position for the first of the Motos in their respective categories.
Pole in Ski GP3 for Croat Jakopanec
Csongor Jäszai left it late in the session to initially get the better of Croatian Dorijan Jakopanec in the Ski GP3 category. The Hungarian’s lap of 1min 46.461sec looked set to beat his rival to the favourable starting position for Moto 1 but Jakopanec recorded a run of 1min 46.426sec to snatch pole position.
Eight riders took the start with Manuel Leite and Michael van Reybroeck qualifying in third and fourth ahead of Gabor Szabo, Dag Martin Drange, Gergo Simon and Alexandre Bourgeois. Jakopanec had earlier topped the free practice times from Szabo with a lap of 1min 50.661sec. Van Reybroeck was later disqualified for not presenting his ski at post-qualifying parc fermé. That decision moved his closest rivals up a place in the qualifying standings.
Ski GP4 pole for Frenchman Calmels
Baptiste Calmels of France prevailed over nine rivals to claim pole for the first of the Ski GP4 Motos. He topped the times in qualifying with a lap of 1min 47.436sec. That was 0.709 seconds quicker than the run set by pole runner-up and fellow countryman Mathys Meziere, who had a lap cancelled for missing a turn buoy.
Markus Erlach qualified in third with Daniils Potrivailo and Ander-Hubert Lauri rounding off the top five. Mansour Abuljadayel, Juraj Jadanec, Alberts Cupriks, Lino Brusadin and Massimo Cannizzo were the other qualifiers. Calmels had also been quickest in the earlier free practice session.
Late spurt gives Gurkšnys pole in Runabout GP4
Lithuanian racer Grantas Gurkšnys left it late to get the better of 22 rivals and grab pole in Runabout GP4 with a fastest lap of 1min 49.404sec. That run dislodged Ibiza-based Spaniard Alessandro Prats Palau from his earlier grip on pole position, although Prats Palau was pushed down to third by a late lap from Karol Puzelevic. Gurkšnys had also topped the times in free practice.
Henri Koppas and Davide Pontecorvo rounded off the leading five qualifiers. Jakob Wolfsmaier pipped Arti Mölter to sixth.
Runabout GP4 Ladies pole for Bramm
Cyrielle Bramm beat a dozen rivals to pole position in Runabout GP4 Ladies with a best lap of 1min 47.340sec. The French girl ran five laps during the qualifying session to get the better of Arianna Urlo, Luisa Beja, newly-crowned European champion Nikola Dryjakova, Nicole Cadei and Aurora Filiberti.
Astra Gurkšnytė, Michelle Dimov and Katriin Nilbe qualified in sixth, seventh and eighth. Urlo had topped the times in free practice that preceded qualifying.
Reinass gets the better of his Ski GP2 rivals in qualifying
Mattias Reinass was the only racer to break the 1min 38sec barrier in qualifying for the first Ski GP2 Moto. The Estonian ran a lap of 1min 37.086sec to grab pole from fellow countryman Karl-Joosep Steinberg and Hungary’s Csongor Jäszai.
Eight racers lined up for the session with Robin Ortner coming home in fourth ahead of Andy Trasmondi, Lukas Glanninger, Gianfranco Oliveri and Alessio Ascione. Steinberg had been slightly quicker than Jäszai in free practice.
Fracasso snatches Runabout GP2 pole
A lap of 1min 34.038sec enabled Alessandro Fracasso to top an Italian-dominated Runabout GP2 qualifying session with Manuel Reggiani and Davide Pontecorvo initially qualifying in second and third. Reggiani was later docked his quickest lap for dangerous driving and dropped back to 12th.
Sixteen of the 17 entrants took part in the stint and Spaniard Ruben Jimenez Riquelme and Domantas Vaznys rounded off the leading four qualifiers after Abdullah Al-Fadhel was also penalised for course cutting. Vaznys had topped the times in free practice and finished qualifying ahead of Pierpaolo Terreo, Mattias Siimann, Al-Fadhel, Karl Keskula, Davide di Maio and Michel Marras. Patrick Moora was also penalised for dangerous driving and was the last of the qualifiers in 16th.
Ypraus grabs Ski Ladies GP1 pole
World Champion Jasmiin Ypraus got a fast Q1 lap of 1min 39.358sec in early to take the advantage from Benedicte Drange and Estelle Poret in qualifying for the Ski Ladies GP1 opener and then powered to pole position by winning Q2 with a fast lap of 1min 35.526sec.
Chavanne had stormed to the top of the Q1 rankings with a late dash to a 1min 39.143sec to grab the early bragging rights. That run by the French girl demoted Ypraus to second with Drange, Poret and Naomi Benini settling into third, fourth and fifth. Heloise Delcluze pipped Virginie Morlaes to sixth and Sofie Borgström, Joana Graça, Lou Dardillat, Siiri Salonen and Janina Johansson rounded off the finishers in Q1, with the latter two missing out on Q2.
Ypraus made the early headway in Q2 with a 1min 35.526sec lap and stayed ahead of Poret, Morlaes and Drange with Q1 winner Chavanne not posting a time after being towed back to the pontoon. Benini and Delcluze qualified in fifth and sixth of the nine riders who started Q2.
Ypraus said: “P1 was great. I really tried to nail it and was lucky to get a good lap in when it was flatter. At the end, there were more waves, so I am super happy and happy with the team work we had before qualifying.”
Bossche tops the charts to take Ski GP1 pole
Defending World Champion Quinten Bossche posted an unbeatable lap of 1min 31.616sec to snatch pole position for the first of the Ski GP1 Motos. Matteo Benini delivered a superb performance to grab second from title contender Jéremy Poret and Kevin Reiterer but series leader Oliver Koch Hansen qualified down in sixth.
Sixteen riders were eliminated in the 15 minutes of Q1. Bossche laid down the early gauntlet with a lap of 1min 41.168sec before that time was beaten by a 1min 40.941sec run carded by Anthony Beernaut. Bossche then hit the front again shortly after a brief yellow flag stoppage when Axel Courtois took a tumble and was helped back to his ski by a course official.
Bossche held on to take the session from Kevin Reiterer, Jéremy Poret, Mickael Poret, and Oliver Koch Hansen with a fastest lap of 1min 40.199sec. Beernaut was sixth. Courtois, Ander-Hubert Lauri, Benjamim Scharff and Valentin Dardillat were among the riders who missed out on Q2.
Bossche stormed to the top of the leader board after three minutes of Q2 with a run of 1min 31.616sec and that displaced Matteo Benini with Jéremy Poret, Reiterer and Beernaut holding places in the top five heading into the final few minutes of the 10-minute stint. Koch Hansen held sixth. Mickael Poret took a tumble near the finish and spoiled his chance of improving on 10th, as the top six held station to the chequered flag.
Bossche said: “Very good. Q1 is very hectic with 26 riders and tight tracks. I got some good laps in and got P1 in Q1 and then on to Q2. I had a good lap and had it wide open all the time. The ski worked great. I still feel we are not at 100% with what the machine can do. Hopefully, we can do some more development during the weekend and I can get better.”
Medori in control to take Runabout GP1 pole
Championship leader François Medori took full advantage of early water conditions to set a pole-winning lap of 1min 15.431sec in final Runabout GP1 qualifying. That put him in prime position ahead of Jéremy Perez and Mattias Siimann for Saturday’s opening Moto.
Fourteen of the 24 riders were eliminated in the opening 15-minute Q1 session. Jéremy Perez moved ahead of Medori early in Q1 with a run of 1min 25.397sec to book his place in Q2. Pierre-François Savelli, Mattias Siimann and Robin Laforge also carded strong times to assure their progress into the second stint.
Perez confirmed the heat bragging rights with the quickest time but Andrzej Wisniewski, Petr Dryjak, Linus Lindberg, Florian Bardoux and Mario Lamy were among the riders who missed out on Q2. Four riders had one of their laps knocked off for missing turn buoys.
Siimann got a fast Q2 lap in early to top the standings with a 1min 16.015sec but his lead was short-lived and Medori hit the front with a 1min 15.431sec run. Krzysztof Olszewski had qualified among the top 10 riders but failed to take the start.
Medori held on to take pole from Perez, Siimann, Savelli, Johansson, Martin Doulik, Guillaume Hemain, György Kasza and Laforge, who had two laps cancelled for missing turn buoys. Perez had topped the times in the morning practice from Savelli and Ruben Jimenez Riquelme.
Medori said: “Pole position was really good for us. We finished in first place after a really good battle with Jéremy. It will be a really good race tomorrow. P1 is always the best position. We need to make a strong race and I need to stay focused.”
Ends