| Having been cancelled last year due to the Coronavirus pandemic, the Yamaha YXZ1000R European Cup SuperFinale returns with a vengeance in 2021, with YXZ1000R crews gearing up to contest the season-ending event in Portalegre, Portugal from 28-30 October.
Featuring 19 drivers and their co-drivers from seven nations, including a crew from Israel, the SuperFinale will see YXZ1000R crews contesting three different classes in Portalegre. Crews fielding a standard Yamaha YXZ1000R will race in the stock class, while those with modified vehicles will race in the open class.
For the first time the SuperFinale will also see a Yamaha YXZ1000R racing in the FIA Category, as the Italian pairing of Amerigo Ventura and Mirko Brun will contest the event in the GYTR kitted YXZ1000R in which they finished on the podium in the T4 Class at the recent Italian Baja.
Also racing with a GYTR Kitted YXZ1000R, but this time in the stock class, will be former Yamaha MXGP star, Gautier Paulin. The 31-year-old Frenchman, five times a member of the winning team at the prestigious Monster Energy Motocross of Nations, will be on driving duties at the SuperFinale, with former Dakar racer and experienced Baja competitor, Manuel Lucchese, navigating from the co-driver’s seat.
“I’m really excited about racing at the SuperFinale in Portugal later this month,’ declared Paulin. “From what I’ve seen of YXZ1000R racing it is a lot of fun with a great community spirit amongst the competitors. For me it will be a steep learning curve, as I don’t know the YXZ1000R at all, but I’m ready for the challenge. The plan will be to start easy, to learn the characteristics of the vehicle, and then hopefully get faster as we put more kilometres under our wheels. I want to thank Yamaha for giving me this opportunity, I’m really looking forward to getting behind the wheel.” |
| Held alongside the Baja Portalegre 500, the YXZ1000R SuperFinale will cover over 500Km of special stages across two days. As well as competing for victory honours, each class offers some tantalising prizes for the winners.
The ten teams contesting the Stock class are Javier Alarcón and Francisco Javier Perez, Edesio and Juan Jose Caamaño, Eduard Iborra and Albert Blanco, Perfecto de Arriba and Antonio Angulo, Luis Sainero and Amir Kouch from Spain, Lea Gautier and Delphine Delfino from France, Kreshnik Gjezi and Roberto Briani from Italy, Sean and Kevin Haran from the United Kingdom, Francisco Palmela and Lauro Joaquim from Portugal and Gautier Paulin and Manuel Lucchese from France and Italy respectively.
The Open class features eight teams, consisting of Mario Franco, Pedro and Manuel Breyner, Luis Caseiro and Joao Azeiteiro, Andre Rodriguez and Ricardo Porto Nunes from Portugal, William Buller and Chris McPhee from the United Kingdom, Thomas Ziegltrum and Luis Vaz from Germany, Alessandro and Emiliano Tinaburri from Italy and Shai Regev and Duby Bofman from Israel.
The SuperFinale action begins on Thursday 28th with a ceremonial start in the centre on Portalegre, ahead of the first competitive running on Friday, starting with a 5km Prologue stage and followed by more than 500km of special stages. |
