Barely 5 weeks ago the entire team was concerned about the state of health of its rider Christophe PONSSON and the question of a possible end to the season following his impressive fall, still unexplained to this day, during of the very first free session of the 2nd round of the season at the Valencia circuit.

Again this Tuesday July 2 at the final meeting and a specific training test for the effort of Christophe PONSSON the team was not sure of making the trip for the 3rd round of the championship which took place this weekend at the circuit of Estoril in Lisbon, Portugal.
It was at the end of this meeting on Tuesday and after validation of our rider that we made the decision to still go to Estoril, but in the spirit of a full-scale test and evaluation of the pilot’s physical capabilities. to maintain the effort over the duration of a race of course but above all over an entire weekend of completion which includes 4 free sessions, 1 qualifying session and 2 races, because it is a very exhausting program for these athletes who require to be at 100% of these physical means to claim to appear well.

In the end, we went from our Tuesday in doubt about going to Estoril to a magnificent and unexpected 7th place during the qualifying session and given the circumstances, being barely 0’957 seconds behind the reigning Champion Ivo Lopes equipped of the official Dunlop BMW and in good momentum because it was he who won the previous round in Valencia, it is a feat from the Gil Motor Sport rider Christophe PONSSON.

Race 1 : Christophe PONSSON gets off to a good start and immediately gains a place since he turns at the first turn in 6th position, however he will not finish this first lap because a technical problem occurred with the front brakes.
He does not bring the motorcycle into the box because it is a sign of abandonment and parks his BMW Pirelli in front of the box so that the mechanics can repair his brake problem.

The rider Christophe PONSSON will leave 7 laps behind, only to validate the intervention of these mechanics. Unfortunately, the regulations provide that a rider who does not complete 75% of the race will not be classified and his qualifying time will be retained for the pre-grid of the second race and given that the qualification had passed on a wet/drying track, during this first race the riders who were able to improve their time will start in front of Christophe who will ultimately start in the second round from 10th position.
An unfair regulation since Christophe, like all these competitors on a dry track, also improved his time on his qualifying time.
A double punishment that the rider Christophe PONSSON did not deserve, who is not at 100% of his physical capabilities.

Race 2 : The Gil Motor Sport rider once again got off to a good start in this 2nd race as he took the first turn in 8th position and thus gained 2 places.
Over the first 3 laps Christophe PONSSON can physically fight with these competitors and passes 2 other riders to take 6th place which will not leave until the checkered flag.

However, as the Gil Motor Sport rider announced before the start of the weekend, it was impossible to follow the pace of the leading group for more than 2 to 3 laps given the pain which quickly reminded him that these Valencia injuries were still very present and not yet a bad memory.

In Conclusion : No regrets for having made the trip to Estoril, even if a 6th place is far from the objective and especially from the real potential of the rider Christophe PONSSON that we know him to be.
However, given the circumstances, this 6th place, all the Gil Motor Sport staff as well as the rider would have signed it on Tuesday July 2 before hitting the road towards the Estoril circuit in Portugal.

The whole team is proud of its rider because, physically diminishing, it was necessary to stop the BMW launched at almost 320 km/h at the end of the Estoril straight and congratulations to Christophe PONSSON for all the hard work he carried out in terms of rehabilitation to consider his presence in Estoril when certain doctors had announced to him the impossibility of riding 5 weeks after his heavy fall in Valencia. Big thanks to his doctor and osteopathic sports physiotherapist who helped him so that he could win his bet to participate in the Portuguese round this weekend.

Now rider Christophe PONSSON has 2 weeks ahead of him to finish his rehabilitation and to prepare as best as possible for the next round which will take place in Catalonia at the Spanish circuit of Barcelona from July 25 to 28.