The curtain was raised on the 2023 TrialGP World Championship in Arteixo with a fine TrialGP of Spain, showing promising results for Vertigo, particularly on the opening day of competition, with a podium finish for Alfie Lampkin.
The Vertigo team got the world championship underway with some pleasant surprises from the young riders Alfie Lampkin and Pau Martinez. The British rider started the world championship season very well in Trial3, the category dedicated to young riders with 125cc engines, claiming a podium on Saturday and fourth spot on Sunday, just one point shy of replicating the podium. Meanwhile, Pau Martínez took a huge leap forward on day two, moving up from 13th place on Saturday to 6th in the hotly contested Trial2 category. Italian Mattia Spreafico, 20th on Saturday, also improved on Sunday, to finish 8th. Adrià Mercadé and Emile Mattheeuws also performed better on Sunday, moving up several positions in the standings.
Meanwhile, in the championship’s top category, TrialGP, Vertigo’s Matteo Grattarola, despite not getting off to the best of starts, was in the battle amongst the frontrunners, although various mistakes hampered his position in the table, posting sixth on Saturday and tenth on Sunday.
The next world championship trial will be held this coming weekend in Gouveia, Portugal.
MATTEO GRATTAROLA, Vertigo Factory rider: “The final result doesn’t do justice to the good feelings I had with the bike. The sections today were much harder than yesterday and also more physically demanding. I struggled a bit to get into the trial on Saturday where the sections looked easy although they weren’t. There was a very particular type of terrain. On the second lap I did a lot better. We will continue to battle to improve on our results. Many thanks to the team for all the work they’ve done.”
Photos: Pep Segales/Vertigo
