This coming weekend sees the fifth round of the TrialGP season to be held in Gouveia, Portugal with Repsol Honda Team looking to continue their fine spell of results.
Parque Senhora dos Verdes, smack in the middle of the Sierra da Estrela, will this weekend (13th and 14th July) host round five of the TrialGP World Championship calendar with Repsol Honda Team fielding their factory rider duo of Toni Bou and Takahisa Fujinami.
Runaway leader Toni Bou, on 100 points compared to the 81 of the closest second-place rival, arrives keen to extend the margin at the top of the overall rankings even further. Bou is running a tally of eleven wins on the trot in TrialGP (from the Andorran TrialGP on 17th July 2018) and thirteen in all the combined 2019 events (X-Trial championship, TrialGP championship and the Spanish championship). Last year the same venue witnessed Bou take a 100th triumph in the elite class.
Bou’s Repsol Honda Team comrade Takahisa Fujinami, arrives in Portugal intent on displaying the same fine level of form that he has shown since the opening date of the season. Fujigas’ consistency has been rewarded with fourth overall spot in the championship standings, just a single point off third place.
The competition takes place in Parque Senhora dos Verdes, in Gouveia. The tiny village, which previously hosted the world championship in 2004 and 2018, is located some 150 kilometres to the south-east of the nation’s second largest city Porto. The nine most recent editions of TrialGP in Portugal, which have been held since 2005, have been won by Montesa riders: Toni Bou (2008, 2009, 2010, 2015 and 2018), Takahisa Fujinami (2006 and 2010) and Dougie Lampkin (2005).
Compared to the most recent edition, this year will feature a brand new route, with new sections in a river next to the park. Another of this year’s novelties will be the qualifying section to be held on Saturday evening (17:30) in the centre of the village. The first rider to take the start at the main event on Sunday will do so at 10:00 local time with the prize-giving podium scheduled for 16:45.
Toni Bou
Over the months of June and July we will dispute six consecutive races, but we hope that everything goes well and then we can take a well-deserved break. In the trials still remaining it will be important not to make mistakes and battle hard to win race by race without thinking what could come up in the next trail. I think we are very clear about the work involved: keep up the good dynamics that we have had so far this year; our goal is to get wins and the more we get the better.
Takahisa Fujinami
My goal in Portugal is clear: to be fighting for the podium. In Belgium I did not have any references from any of my rivals as I started from the front and I finished just off third place. I think that if I don’t repeat the same mistakes, I can make it. I'm in a good shape and you have to take advantage of it. We have worked a lot with the team and we are ready for the trial that we believe will be a complicated one.
Location Information
| Race format (until 2019) | 15 sections x 2 laps |
| Race format (2021) | 12 sections x 2 laps |
Gouveia, Portugal - View in Google Maps
Records
| Podium 2019 | Toni Bou (1) - Adam Raga (2) - Jorge Casales (3) |
| Podium 2018 | Toni Bou - Jeroni Fajardo - Jaime Busto |
| Podium 2015 - day2- | Toni Bou - Adam Raga - Albert Cabestany |
| Podium 2015 - day1- | Toni Bou - Adam Raga - Jeroni Fajardo |
| Podium 2010 - day2- | Takahisa Fujinami - Albert Cabestany - Adam Raga |
| Podium 2010 - day1- | Toni Bou - Albert Cabestany - Adam Raga |
| Podium 2009 | Toni Bou - Adam Raga - Albert Cabestany |
| Podium 2008 | Toni Bou - Jeroni Fajardo - Adam Raga |
| Podium 2006 | Takahisa Fujinami - Adam Raga - Dougie Lampkin |
