UFO Corse Yamaha mounted Spaniard Cristobal Guerrero produced two well deserved podium finishes at the GP of Portugal, staged in Marc de Canaveses, to once again show that he is the most exciting young talent in the Enduro 1 class in '07. Having claimed a career best result of fourth and third at his home round of the '07 WEC series, the GP of Spain, the former Enduro Junior World Champion placed in third and second in Portugal to claim his first ever double podium result.
With Finn Juha Salminen topping the E1 class results in Portugal as he has in both Spain and Sweden, it was Yamaha France rider Marc Germain who placed as runner-up on day one placing just under one and a half seconds ahead of Guerrero. Placing as runner-up in the three opening special tests on day one Cristobal set himself up well for a good result despite then falling in the opening enduro test. Despite his small mistake the Spaniard went on to perform consistently and placed a creditable third.
On day two Cristobal started in the best possible way by winning the first extreme test and in doing so made his intensions of another good result crystal clear. Going on to post the second fastest E1 class time on three of the day's tests Cristobal spent much of day two locked in a battle with Poland's Bartosz Oblucki. With little to separate the two riders Cristobal managed to claim the upper hand as the day neared its close and in beating Oblucki in the final three tests he ensured that he had done enough to claim the runner-up spot behind Juha Salminen and claim a career best result.
Also performing well in Portugal, despite failing to make it onto the podium on either day, was UFO Corse Yamaha rider Simone Albergoni. Fourth on both days Simone placed less than 11 seconds behind second placed rider Marc Germain on day one and then just 10 seconds away from team-mate Guerrero on day two. Performing well on the second and third laps on both days Simone's slow start to both days ultimately affected his results.
Disappointingly for the UFO Corse Yamaha team's third rider Maurizio Micheluz a seventh place finish on day one was followed by an 18th place finish on day two as the Italian's WR250 took water into its engine as he crossed a river. Due to losing time while working on drying out his bike's engine Maurizio received a 10 minute penalty, which dropped him to 18th position.
Cristobal Guerrero (UFO Corse Yamaha) Enduro 1 class - Day 1 Third, Day 2 Second:"It's been a really good race for me and to finish on the podium on both days is fantastic. At the start of the season I wanted to finish inside the top five so finishing third on day one and second on the second day is great, I'm really happy with my results. I didn't have too many problems although I had a few small crashes on both days. The start of the season has been great so I hope I can continue to finish with good results."
Simone Albergoni (UFO Corse Yamaha) Enduro 1 class - Day 1 Fourth, Day 2 Fourth:
"My problem this weekend has been my first laps. On both days I was sleeping a little on the opening lap and lost some time there. After that I was able to find my rhythm and my speed. My problem was not being fast enough in the first lap. I won one test on day one and had some good times on both days but I can't afford to be slow on the first lap, not against a rider like Juha Salminen. My results weren't so bad but if my first laps were better then my result would have been better."
Maurizio Micheluz (UFO Corse Yamaha) Enduro 1 class - Day 1 Seventh, Day 2 18th:"It's not been a good weekend for me. The first day wasn't so bad but I had a really bad extreme test on the second lap, which cost me a lot of time. Day two was a disaster. I managed to get some water into my engine on one of the river crossings and I took a 10 minute penalty trying to fix it. After that I had some ok tests but with a 10 minutes penalty there was no way I could get a good result. I finished so at least I took some points."
Circuit Length: 4555
Crowd: 6500
Weather: Sunny
2007 Enduro 1 Portugal 07/05/2007
1. Juha Salminen - KTM - FIN 44'17.800
2. Marc Germain - Yamaha - FRA 0'31.430
3. Cristobal Guerrero - Yamaha - ESP 0'32.800
4. Simone Albergoni - Yamaha - ITA 0'42.720
5. Alessandro Belometti - KTM - ITA 0'45.340
6. Bartosz Oblucki - Husqvarna - POL 0'48.040
7. Maurizio Micheluz - Yamaha - ITA 1'42.040
8. Mike Hartmann - KTM - GER 2'16.150
9. Anthony Roberts - Honda - AUS 2'31.150
10. Damien Miquel - Kawasaki - FRA 2'56.590
11. Luca Cherubini - TM - ITA 3'20.510
12. Danielle Tellini - KTM - ITA 3'32.720
13. Jordi Figueras -KTM - ESP 3'43.890
14. Joan Jou -Yamaha - ESP 3'48.930
15. Pedro Enes - Yamaha - POR 3'52.910
Race 2:1. Juha Salminen - KTM - FIN 54'41.680
2. Cristobal Guerrero - Yamaha - ESP 0'40.090
3. Bartosz Oblucki - Husqvarna - POL 0'41.720
4. Simone Albergoni - Yamaha- ITA 0'48.940
5. Marc Germain - Yamaha - FRA 0'49.640
6. Alessandro Belometti - KTM - ITA 1'40.520
7. Anthony Roberts - Honda - AUS 3'21.860
8. Damien Miquel - Kawasaki - FRA 3'37.930
9. Mike Hartmann - KTM - GER 4'5.840
10. Danielle Tellini - KTM - ITA 4'48.490
11. Jordi Figueras - KTM - ESP 5'4.190
12. Pedro Enes - Yamaha - POR 5'13.450
13. Fernando Ferreira - Yamaha - POR 5'47.380
14. Joan Jou - Yamaha - ESP 5'50.460
15. Tim Lewis - TM - GBR 6'2.250
18. Maurizio Micheluz - Yamaha - ITA 12'31.120
Rider Standings:1. Juha Salminen - KTM - FIN 150
2. Cristobal Guerrero - Yamaha - ESP 108
3. Bartosz Oblucki - Husqvarna - POL 104
4. Alessandro Belometti - KTM - ITA 103
5. Simone Albergoni - Yamaha - ITA 98
6. Marc Germain - Yamaha - FRA 97
7. Mike Hartmann - KTM - GER 66
8. Maurizio Micheluz - Yamaha - ITA 66
9. Anthony Roberts - Honda - AUS 59
10. Damien Miquel - Kawasaki - FRA 40
11. Tomi Peltola - Suzuki - FIN 38
12. Frederik Georgsson - KTM - SWE 36
13. Danielle Tellini - KTM - ITA 36
14. Luca Cherubini - TM - ITA 34
15. Niklas Gustafsson - KTM - SWE 34
Manufacturer Standings: 1. KTM 150
2. Yamaha 116
3. Husqvarna 104
4. Honda 69
5. Kawasaki 40
6. TM 40
7. Suzuki 38
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