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Friday, August 1: Hungarian racing star Csongor Jászai, Lithuanian Grantas Gurkšnys and local rider Markus Erlach earned Moto 1 success in their Ski GP3, Runabout GP4 and Ski GP4 categories at the Grand Prix of Hungary, near Győr, on Friday afternoon.

Opening Ski GP3 Moto win for Jászai

Dorijan Jakopanec lined up for the opening Ski GP3 Moto on pole from Csongor Jászai, Manuel Leite, Loris Lambert and Michael Van Reybroeck. Eleven riders took the start with local racer Péter Rátkai bringing up the rear of the field on his Kawasaki.

Jászai made the better start and edged clear of Leite and Jakopanec through the first lap. Lambert held fourth but Alexandre Bourgeois passed Van Reybroeck to take fifth.

The leading quintet held their positions through two-thirds of the Moto and Jászai was not to be denied: the Hungarian reached the chequered flag 8.21 seconds in front of Jacopanec with Leite rounding off the podium places. The valuable points enabled the Portuguese to extend his lead over Lambert to five points in the European Championship standings. Bram Hoeke retired after eight   of the 10 laps and Gergo Simon was docked 25 seconds for a jump start and finished eighth.

Gurkšnys takes European Championship lead with opening Runabout GP4 Moto win

Karol Puzelevic had earned pole in the Runabout GP4 category and was aiming to take advantage of a favourable starting position for the first Moto. Jurica Marovic and Grantas Gurkšnys were his closest rivals with Arti Mölter starting from fourth ahead of Henri Koppas and Erikas Butkus. Seven of the 11 entrants came from the Baltic countries of Estonia and Lithuania.

Gurkšnys was the quickest out of the blocks and forged into the lead on lap one from Mölter, Marovic, Koppas and Alejandro Prats Palau. He increased his lead to 4.35 seconds after two laps but Marovic slipped out of contention and Butkus moved up to fourth at the expense of Prats Palau. Pole-sitter Puzelevic was down in sixth and series leader Juliusz Roman was seventh.

Gurkšnys held on to secure a priceless 5.05-second win over Mölter and that enabled the Lithuanian to overhaul Roman and take the European Championship lead. Koppas, Butkus and Puzelevic rounded off the top five with Prats Palau and Roman in sixth and seventh. Dovydas Kutra failed to finish.

Erlach wins restarted opening Ski GP4 Moto

Marcus Erlach led nine Yamaha rivals into the opening Ski GP4 Moto with Mathys Mezière, Ander-Hubert Lauri, Grantas Gurkšnys, Vansiden Kay and Lucas Mouchotte lining up behind. The leading trio held their positions through the opening turn buoys and Erlach emerged from lap one with a useful advantage. Daniils Potrivailo also made a strong start and moved up to fourth but the race was stopped after an accident involving local rider Osman Min.

The Moto was restarted with the field reduced to nine and the leading trio all made good getaways with Erlach leading the way from Mezière, Lauri, Kay, Mouchotte and Potrivailo. Erlach led from start-to-finish and passed the chequered flag to record a 3.23-second win over Lauri. Mezière slipped to third but the Frenchman increased his lead in the European Championship, while Kay, Potrivailo and Gurkšnys rounded off the top six. Kay was later awarded a 25 second time penalty for not maintaining his lane at the start and that lifted Potrivailo and Gurkšnys into fourth and fifth with Kay slipping to sixth.