Takahisa Fujinami won the first race of the FIM Trial World Championship held today in Australia. Toni Bou accompanied him on the second step of the podium.
The Outdoor Trial World Championship could not start better for the new Repsol Honda Team: a 1-2 in the first day of the Australian Grand Prix held today at Mount Tarrengower. The winner of the race was Takahisa Fujinami, who, with a lot of confidence and no pressure, was able to get on highest step of the podium, taking his 32nd World Championship win. The Japanese rider of the Repsol Honda Team is the first leader of the 2014 World Championship.
The second place was for his team mate, Toni Bou. The current Champion made a small mistake in the second-to-last zone and was penalized. The effects of the penalty on the classification, despite nearly faultless second and third laps, he was not able to recover.
This first day of the Australian Grand Prix was composed by easy, non-selective zones where any mistake could have a very high cost, as there was little chance to recover it. The surface was in perfect conditions despite the rain of the previous days. Tomorrow, Sunday, the second and last day of this first round will take place on the same itinerary as today —14 zones and three laps—.
Toni Bou,
“I am happy, in some way, because I was able to get on the podium despite finishing fifth in the first lap. I made a mistake in a very easy trial and I wasn’t able to recover it. It was in zone 13. A stone broke and I lost balance when accelerating. I got nervous and uncomfortable, but then I focused and was able to recover some places. I’m disappointed for losing, but I’m happy victory went to Fujinami”.
Takahisa Fujinami,
“Everything went well. I’m very happy for the first victory of the season and even more with the new Repsol Honda Team, which is more manufacturer team than ever. It was very important to succeed in this first race. It was a fairly easy trial, as we saw in the scores, but I didn’t expect Toni to fail. I was ahead of the other riders, without any pressure and doing my own race. I focused and I was able to win. The feeling is as I felt last year in Japan: fantastic. I must thank the team for their hard work”.
