Aubert double runner-up at home GP

UFO Corse Yamaha's Johnny Aubert continues to lead the competitive Enduro 2 world championship following his home round of the series, the Grand Prix of France staged in Uzerche; the sixth round of eight in the current campaign Having taken control at the top of the E2 championship following the third round of the series in Spain, Aubert finished in 2nd position on both days in France and saw his closest rival Juha Salminen move just one point closer in the all important E2 championship standings.

Pleased that the slippery conditions of the GP of Wales were behind him Aubert was confident of a strong result in France but also knew that winning would be anything but easy, and he was proved correct after a thrilling opening day's competition. Johnny missed claiming victory by just over five seconds as former two-time motocross world champion Michael Pichon managed to top the podium.

Winning four of the day's tests Johnny and countryman Pichon battled it out at the head of the E2 class while Salminen, the only rider able to match the leading duo, held 3rd throughout the day. Knowing that finishing ahead of title-rival Salminen was more important that risking a crash while trying to beat wild-card rider Pichon, Johnny claimed a solid runner-up result.

With the sun blazing down on all riders during the second day, Pichon found things simply too tough and withdrew from the competition after nine special tests, leaving Aubert and Salminen to battle it out, with Salminen setting the fastest pace. Aubert recognised that finishing second to the Finn, having placed ahead of him on day one, he would lose just one championship point and again rode safely to be runner-up. As a result he maintains a healthy 16-point lead in the standings with two rounds of the series remaining.

Aubert's UFO Corse Yamaha team-mate, Fabrizio Dini, was among a number of riders to find the extreme test at the GP of France hard-going, and as a result of mistakes on Day1 finished 12th in the E2 class. On Day2 Dini improved his result to 10th but due to more small mistakes was unable to place higher.

"I knew that this race would be difficult because there was just one week to recover from the GP of Wales, which was really difficult! But the special tests in France didn't look that tricky when I walked them so it was a surprise that they got as rough as they did. It would have been nice to have won at least one of the days but the most important thing was that I only lost one-point to Salminen in the championship.

It was very, very close between Michael Pichon and I on the first day so it was a little bit disappointing not to win. But second, and then second again on day two to Salminen, is a good weekend. Now I must work hard ready for the GP of Italy. The last two years that race has been a disaster for me, and I need to make sure it goes well this year."

"Although I enjoyed the race more than the GP of Wales it has been a very hard event. I didn't do as well as I wanted to, especially on day one. My first lap wasn't the best but then I lost a lot of time on the final extreme test, which put me outside the top 10. Day two was a little better but again I had some disappointing tests that stopped me finishing higher than 10th"

1 Mickael Pichon KTM FRA 50'2.440

2 Johnny Aubert Yamaha FRA 0'5.530

3 Juha Salminen KTM FIN 0'25.840

4 Antoine Meo Husqvarna FRA 1'51.820

5 Rodrig Thain TM FRA 2'2.480

6 Alessandro Belometti KTM ITA 2'19.880

7 Fabio Mossini Honda ITA 2'21.580

8 Simo Kirssi BMW FIN 2'27.920

9 Nicolas Deparrois GasGas FRA 2'28.630

10 Nicolas Paganon Aprilia FRA 2'39.400

11 Joakim Ljunggren HusaBerg SWE 2'52.260

12 Fabrizio Dini Yamaha ITA 3'6.760

13 Jari Juha Mattila Honda FIN 3'24.690

14 Valtteri Salonen HusaBerg FIN 3'38.240

15 Felipe Zanol Yamaha ESP 3'57.610

1 Juha Salminen KTM FIN 58'55.720

2 Johnny Aubert Yamaha FRA 0'54.970

3 Antoine Meo Husqvarna FRA 2'47.630

4 Rodrig Thain TM FRA 2'51.990

5 Simo Kirssi BMW FIN 3'15.470

6 Alessandro Belometti KTM ITA 3'46.590

7 Jari Juha Mattila Honda FIN 4'8.130

8 Nicolas Paganon Aprilia FRA 4'36.190

9 Emmanuel Albepart Honda FRA 5'2.550

10 Fabrizio Dini Yamaha ITA 5'18.680

11 Felipe Zanol Yamaha ESP 5'21.220

12 Aaron Bernandez Husqvarna ESP 5'38.710

13 David Fretigne Yamaha FRA 6'6.620

14 Amel Advokaat KTM NED 7'0.110

15 Olivier Pain Yamaha FRA 8'54.870

Rider Standings 26/07/2008

1. Johnny Aubert Yamaha FRA 272

2. Juha Salminen KTM FIN 256

3. Alessandro Belometti KTM ITA 185

4. Joakim Ljunggren HusaBerg SWE 165

5. Rodrig Thain TM FRA 160

6. Antoine Meo Husqvarna FRA 153

7. Fabrizio Dini Yamaha ITA 142

8. Simo Kirssi BMW FIN 129

9. Valtteri Salonen HusaBerg FIN 126

10. Nicolas Paganon Aprilia FRA 115

11. Jari Juha Mattila Honda FIN 110

12. Fabio Mossini Honda ITA 96

13. Nicolas Deparrois GasGas FRA 87

14. Alessandro Zanni Honda ITA 78

15. Felipe Zanol Yamaha ESP 54

1. KTM 281

2. Yamaha 272

3. HusaBerg 191

4. Husqvarna 178

5. Honda 170

6. TM 160

7. BMW 148

8. Aprilia 115

9. GasGas 87

10. Beta 41

11. Suzuki 26

- Yamaha Racing -