The Repsol Honda Team rider won the first of the two days of the Swedish Grand Prix. Takahisa Fujinami was third and Jaime Busto, ninth.
Toni Bou achieved today in Sweden his fifth consecutive victory from the five races already held of the Trial World Championship. As it happened in the last Czech Republic Grand Prix, the several times Champion yielded the provisional lead after the first lap due to a couple of mistakes. But during the second pass, Bou recovered the lead of the race. In the third and last lap today, the Repsol Honda Team rider was able to keep his advantage and ended again on the highest step of the podium.
It was also a good day for Takahisa Fujinami. The Japanese rider showed his most technical side and was all the time on podium positions. During the last lap – in which he improved his two previous performances – Fujinami finished in the third position by only 2 points.
After several races with excellent results, today Jaime Busto found out how hard the zones that do not fit his riding style can be and made more mistakes than usual, finishing in ninth position. Up to now, the rookie of the World Championship’s Absolute class had achieved the best results ever for a Junior Champion in his first year in the category.
Tomorrow, Sunday, the second day of the Swedish Grand Prix will be held. The itinerary will be identical to that of today: 12 zones to be tackled 3 times.
Toni Bou
1st, 42 points
“Today I didn’t have a bad start, but I made a mistake very soon – in the fifth zone – that was difficult to recover and finished the first lap with another mistake, in the 11th zone. During the second lap, that was once again very good, I was able to recover and in the third I had to secure in some places, apart from some mistake. Nevertheless, I’m happy with the result and for my fifth consecutive victory. I want to thank my assistant in this race, Didac Cercos, who just returned to the World Championship, and wish Joan Cordon a speedy recovery.”
Takahisa Fujinami
3rd, 53 points
“I’m very happy. It didn’t go bad from the first lap and I kept my focus. The zones were very slippery and I tried to secure some of them before making a mistake. I felt comfortable on the bike. I felt well, but in the second lap I hit one toe. The last lap was great. I tried to finish second, but Jeroni Fajardo was strong and I wasn’t able to follow him. But I’m very happy to be again on the podium and to keep a good pace.”
Jaime Busto
9th, 97 points
“Today it was that day that had to arrive sooner or later. The trial was complicated, very slippery, and I don’t like that kind of zones. I tried to learn how to do it well, but wasn’t able to. I’m not happy with my riding and I know I need to improve under these conditions, because today nothing went my way.”