Bou secures 19th victory at Palau Sant Jordi

The Repsol Honda HRC rider takes another win in the Barcelona X-Trial, with Gabriel Marcelli completing the podium.

There was a magical night for Repsol Honda HRC at the X-Trial Barcelona in the seventh round of the indoor World Championship. Toni Bou claimed his nineteenth victory at the Palau Sant Jordi, whilst Gabriel Marcelli finished third in his home race.

On the first lap, Bou completed the opening six sections with just one penalty point to his name, which propelled him to the top of the standings and secured his place in the final against Jaime Busto and Marcelli. In Super Pole, which determines the starting grid for the decisive sections, he once again demonstrated his immense dominance, setting the fastest time across all four sections with a time of 1:24.8.

The final featured seven sections -adding a further challenge for the riders. Bou proved unstoppable, however, and with 12 points to his name, the Repsol Honda rider secured the win with one section to spare. The result extends Bou’s lead in the overall standings to 135 points, 42 ahead of his teammate Gabriel Marcelli.

It was also a great night for Marcelli, who returned to the podium after his fourth-place finish in Leeds, Great Britain, last time out. The Montesa Cota 4RT rider went all out from the first lap, and despite it not being his best performance, he qualified for the final. In the Super Pole session, he set a time of 2:41.5, which placed him second in the starting order for the final, behind Harry Hemingway.

In it, Marcelli battled for second place with Jaime Busto until the final section, ultimately securing third by just a single point. After seven rounds of the X-Trial World Championship season, the Repsol Honda rider maintains second place in the overall standings with 93 points, four points ahead of third.

The next round will be on March 6th in Chalon-sur-Saône, where Bou will have his first mathematical opportunity to clinch his 39th world title -his 19th in the indoor discipline. To achieve this, he must finish ahead of Marcelli, making it one of the most important rounds of the season.