The Gas Gas Factory Pons Team starts the Enduro GP World Championship with a podium for Diogo Ventura in the Moroccan GP

Diogo Ventura steps up onto the podium after a tough first round inthe World Championship held on unusual terrain for the riders. The Portuguese rider takes on both the good and the bad sides of racing in the same weekend, while Jonathan Barragantries to forget what has been a tricky Moroccan GP for him. The man from Madrid turns his attention to the Portuguese GP.

The truth is that the Enduro GP World Championship got off to what was, to say the least, a chaotic start with Friday’s Superspecial. The lack of planning meant that the senior categories found themselves floundering in the dark which meant the organisers had to make the decision to cancel their times and only take into account the times of a junior category, where Diogo Ventura made the third fastest time. This great start was a great motivation on the first day for the Portuguese rider. However, his luck abandoned him from the beginning. Ventura fell on the first leg of the extreme, which caused him to lose almost a minute before he could get back into stride. He was unable to recover completely from this setback and only managed a 9thplace.

The next day however, the young Portuguese rider on his Gas Gas EC250 Racing, was able to recover his dented pride from the day before by making some of the best times in his category.The Gas Gas Factory Team Pons rider stayed in the top position of the classification all day finally getting a 3rd place on the podium as a reward after a bitter-sweet Moroccan GP.

Jonathan Barragán had worse luck with the tricky terrain as agreed by all the riders. Hiding under a layer of dust covering the Moroccan specials was extremely hard slippery ground without much grip.

And in truth this tricky terrain showed up in the times achieved by the man from Madrid, especially on Saturday when Barragán finished 9^th. The next day on a course which had been worn in much more, the Spanish rider and his Gas Gas EC300 Racing went a lot better. Bit by bit he found his pace. In fact up to the midway point the Gas Gas Factory Pons Team rider was up with the best in the category, E3, until a heavy fall caused by the dust ended up by ruining Barragán’s excellent performance, finishing 10^th by the end of he weekend. Luckily, despite the seriousness of his fall, the rider from Madrid is leaving Agadir without serious injuries and eager to get back the good feeling at the next GP.

This week the Gas Gas Factory Teamis coming home, from where in five days, with no time to rest, they will be off to the Enduro GP World Championship when it links up with the Portuguese Enduro GP, the second round of the calendar being held in Gouveia.

Diogo Ventura: “The first day I had a bit of bad luck, I fell in the first extreme and lost almost a minute. Then I made a good comeback, proving that I can go fast and be among the best. The same as on Sunday, which also went very well and I got on the podium, which is what both myself and the teamare working for. We are looking good and hopefully we can get onto the podium in every race. Thanksto allof you.”

Jonathan Barragán:“The truth is that it hasn’t been a good weekend for me. The first day I struggled to pick up the pace because of falls and small mistakes. After the good last lap on Saturday I thought I’d do better onSunday because I liked the circuit and I was adapting to it. And the truth is that until last half of the race I was doing good times, but in the last lap I suffered a fairly bad fall in thatsection. I could have finished further up, but there was only one timed section left and I didn’t have enough time. Now we have to think in the Portugal GP, which is closer to home, which we are really looking forward to getting out teeth into”