Repsol Honda Trial Team rider Toni Bou finished runner-up on the first day of the opening round of the TrialGP World Championship, held in l’Hospitalet de l’Infant. Team-mate Gabriel Marcelli, posted sixth.

High temperatures and demanding sections marked the 2022 TrialGP World Championship season opener. The Repsol Honda Trial Team riders struggled against the day’s tough race conditions.

Reigning world champion Toni Bou began his title defence with a hard-fought second place as the TrialGP World Championship got underway today in l’Hospitalet de l’Infant, Tarragona. On the first lap, the Repsol Honda Trial Team rider’s performance was hampered by the heat and the hardness of the sections. By the second lap, Bou had begun to improve on the sensations, rectifying some of the errors committed on lap one to eventually climb the order to second place.

In his debut with the Repsol Honda Trial Team in the TrialGP World Championship, Gabriel Marcelli finished sixth on the day’s final score-sheets, although the task was far from easy. On the first lap, the Galician rider made several mistakes, notching as many as seven marks for time penalties, thwarting any chances of a more favourable position. Despite this, Marcelli managed to pull back on the second lap to climb to sixth place.

Tomorrow sees day two of the Spanish TrialGP in l’Hospitalet de l’Infant, with the proceedings getting underway from 09:00 onwards.

Toni Bou

TRIAL: 2nd STANDINGS: 2nd

It's always better to start the TrialGP Championship winning, but, as far as the trial went, second position is not bad. I started the event pretty badly, but then I was able to recover. It was a tough trial, with a lot of heat and some very demanding sections. It was easy to make mistakes, in fact, I made a lot of errors and, physically, I wasn't at 100% either. So, after such a difficult day, I think that a second place today is a good result for the beginning of the championship. Besides, the rivals were very tight today and it's going to be a complicated championship. For tomorrow, the idea is to start stronger, to see if I can get my riding together and see if things go better for me. Today I was tired and it was difficult to pull back after making so many mistakes.

Gabriel Marcelli

TRIAL: 6th STANDINGS: 6th

I didn’t get the first lap off to the most energetic start - I think I lacked a little bit of spark, I was being passed by riders in front of me and, in the end, I got penalized a lot for the time. Almost all the riders had time penalties too, although I was hit the worst and that weighed on me quite a bit. I wasn't particularly nervous, although it's true that I made some mistakes, probably more than I should have. On the second lap, I was able to recover and regain some positions, although not as many as I would have liked. To be honest, sixth position is not enough; we wanted more, so tomorrow we will have to give it more gas and correct the mistakes, especially to avoid more time penalties.

Takahisa Fujinami

Team Manager

In such a high-level championship, there is no room for errors. Toni Bou made a mistake in the first section, which weighed on him and meant that he had to ride against the tide for the whole race. From then on, he had to take risks to try to recover points in the sections in which he could have taken advantage, although in sections 6 and 8 he took more risks than normal and was penalised again. In the second lap he rode much better than the first, recovering quite a few positions, although he had another fiasco in section 8 which made it easier for Jaime to win. In the end, starting the championship in second position isn’t so bad at all. It's true that everyone likes to get off to a winning start and, besides, the fans are used to seeing Toni win. But, seeing how badly he started the first lap, Toni was able to recover very well in the second and showed that he is capable of coming back. I'm sure that tomorrow, if he goes out at his best, everything will return to normal.
As for Gabri, he finished the first lap ninth, but then, in the second lap, he was able to recover quite a few positions. I was waiting a litte bit more from him, because he is at a top 3 level, although today was a difficult day in general. Now we will study the sections to correct the mistakes and hopefully tomorrow both riders can finish even higher.

TrialGP 2022
Trial Round TrialGP-1   Hospitalet de L'Infant

TrialGP of Spain - Results Day 1

Pos. Rider Num Nation L1 L2 L3 T3 Champ Team Constructor Points
1 Busto Jaime 69 SPA 20 5 4 0 Vertigo Factory Team Vertigo 29
2 Bou Toni 1 SPA 22 10 3 0 Repsol Honda Team Montesa 35
3 Gelabert Miquel 56 SPA 22 23 0 0 Gas Gas Factory Racing Gas Gas 45
4 Gelabert Aniol 28 SPA 23 27 1 0 Beta Factory Trial Team Beta 51
5 Raga Adam 68 SPA 23 24 4 0 TRRS Factory Team TRRS 51
6 Marcelli Gabriel 38 SPA 28 22 10 0 Repsol Honda Team Montesa 60
7 Fajardo Jeroni 47 SPA 33 27 2 0 Sherco Factory Team Sherco 62
8 Casales Jorge 33 SPA 27 29 7 0 Scorpa Factory Scorpa 63
9 Bincaz Benoit 73 FRA 30 34 0 0 Gas Gas Factory Racing Gas Gas 64
10 Grattarola Matteo 88 ITA 37 32 2 0 Beta Factory Trial Team Beta 71
11 Martyn Toby 21 GBR 36 38 0 0 TRRS Factory Team TRRS 74
12 Petrella Luca 64 ITA 46 34 2 0 Gas Gas Gas Gas 82
13 Colairo  Téo 13 FRA 50 48 0 0 Beta Beta 98
TrialGP 2022
Trial Round TrialGP-1   Hospitalet de L'Infant

Provisional Standings after Race 1

Pos. Rider Num Nation Team Constructor Points
1 Busto Jaime 69 SPA Vertigo Factory Team Vertigo 20
2 Bou Toni 1 SPA Repsol Honda Team Montesa 17
3 Gelabert Miquel 56 SPA Gas Gas Factory Racing Gas Gas 15
4 Gelabert Aniol 28 SPA Beta Factory Trial Team Beta 13
5 Raga Adam 68 SPA TRRS Factory Team TRRS 11
6 Marcelli Gabriel 38 SPA Repsol Honda Team Montesa 10
7 Fajardo Jeroni 47 SPA Sherco Factory Team Sherco 9
8 Casales Jorge 33 SPA Scorpa Factory Scorpa 8
9 Bincaz Benoit 73 FRA Gas Gas Factory Racing Gas Gas 7
10 Grattarola Matteo 88 ITA Beta Factory Trial Team Beta 6
11 Martyn Toby 21 GBR TRRS Factory Team TRRS 5
12 Petrella Luca 64 ITA Gas Gas Gas Gas 4
13 Colairo  Téo 13 FRA Beta Beta 3

Round 1, TrialGP of Spain 2022 - Race 1 - Repsol Honda Team

Location Information

 

TrialGP New venue for 2022
Trial des Nations 2015 Spain (1) - France (2) - Great Britain (3)

Passeig Marítim, L'Hospitalet de l'Infant, Spain - View in Google Maps