From Yamaha Motor Europe NV–Successfully battling his way through challenging winter conditions, Outsiders Yamaha Official Enduro Team’s Loic Larrieu wrapped up the opening round of the 2017 Enduro World Championship in Finland with two top eight place results in the premier EnduroGP class.
With the EnduroGP of Finland taking place around the frozen Paijanne Lake north of Helsinki, the Outsiders Yamaha Official Enduro Team rider remained fast and consistent aboard Yamaha’s WR450F machine throughout the weekend.
Enjoying a strong start to event in Finland, Larrieu posted times inside the top five in the EnduroGP class in four different special tests during day one. Showing his speed in varied conditions the Frenchman even got the third best time in the 21-minute-long special test seven. Wrapping up day one with a seventh-place result, he was less than 20 seconds behind the top six in EnduroGP.
With conditions changing on Sunday, Larrieu’s highlight for the second day of competition was posting the fastest time in the final test of the day. Enjoying a mistake free day aboard his WR450F he ended day two with an eighth-place EnduroGP result.
“This was my first race in snow and everything was completely new for me,” Larrieu said. “Luckily we got here a week earlier so had the chance to get a few training sessions in these extreme conditions. We worked a lot with our team and also got some good help from Yamaha Finland. More or less the whole weekend was a learning experience for me. There were some tests with snow but there were also some others with ice or even mud. Conditions were changing so often you had to remain 100% focused on your riding at all times. Overall, it was a good weekend for me. This was also my first GP after my knee injury from the end of last year and I was glad to see that physically I’m fine. We leave Finland with two top eight results and start working for the races to come.”
Larrieu and the Outsiders Yamaha Official Enduro Team will return to action in Puerto Lumbreras, Spain, for the second round of the 2017 Enduro World Championship April 21/23.
2017 FIM Enduro World Championship
2017 GP of Finland
Helsinki, Finland
Results: March 25-26, 2017
EnduroGP Day 1
1. Antti Hellsten (FIN)-Hus/3:03’25.490
2. Marko Tarkkala (FIN)-Hus/3:04’49.380
3. Aleksi Jukola (FIN)-KTM/3:05’21.660
4. Matthew Phillips (AUS)-She/3:05’32.620
5. Steve Holcombe (GBR)-Bet/3:06’50.930
6. Christophe Nambotin (FRA)-Hus/3:07’16.890
7. Loic Larrieu (FRA)-Yam/3:07’29.780
8. Nathan Watson (GBR)-KTM/3:08’46.480
9. Christophe Charlier (FRA)-Hus/3:08’55.350
10. Giacomo Redondi (ITA)-Hon/3:09’15.600
EnduroGP Day 2
1. Antti Hellsten (FIN)-Hus/2:14’22.630
2. Steve Holcombe (GBR)-Bet/2:15’01.160
3. Matthew Phillips (AUS)-She/2:15’22.250
4. Nathan Watson (GBR)-KTM/2:15’39.440
5. Marko Tarkkala (FIN)-Hus/2:16’43.960
6. Giacomo Redondi (ITA)-Hon/2:17’19.990
7. Aleksi Jukola (FIN)-Hon/2:17’24.640
8. Loic Larrieu (FRA)-Yam/2:17’27.680
9. Christophe Charlier (FRA)-Hus/2:19’30.300
10. Alex Salvini (ITA)-Bet/2:21’27.920
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