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All content © Bob MuIIins | |||
  
The Outsiders Yamaha Official Enduro Team enjoy a successful EnduroGP of Finland With the 2017 FIM Enduro World Championship kicking off with the EnduroGP of Finland, Outsiders Yamaha Official Enduro Team riders went face to face against the international elite in what proved to be a challenging weekend of racing in winter conditions. Following a complete makeover that reduced the number of major classes to just two, there was a lot of anticipation for the season opening GP around Finland's frozen Lake Paijanne. With all race machines equipped with special spiked tyres the GP of Finland featured one single and long lap per each day and a total of 22 hours of racing for both days. Living up to the challenges of this tough GP Loïc Larrieu and Jamie McCanney remained fast and consistent throughout the weekend. The two Outsiders Yamaha Official Enduro Team riders were involved in a weekend-long battle against the best international enduro riders and a number of Scandinavian riders who were a lot more familiar to these extreme conditions. Enjoying two solid days of racing aboard their Yamaha machines Loïc and Jamie wrapped up the season opening GP with top eight results in their respective classes. Aboard Yamaha's WR450F machine Loïc claimed 7/8 results in EnduroGP class, with Jamie racing his WR250F to a set of 8/4 results in Enduro 2 class. With both team riders wrapping up a tough GP without any problems Loïc now finds himself seventh in the provisional EnduroGP championship standings, with his team-mate Jamie currently placed sixth in Enduro 2. Marc Bourgeois – Outsiders Yamaha Official Enduro Team manager: "This first GP for the season involved a lot of logistics planning from our side and we're glad everything worked pretty well. We decided to arrive in Finland ten days before the start of the event to better prepare ourselves for the extreme conditions and make all the necessary adjustments to our race machines. It was just the right amount of time to get everything planned for the race weekend. We approached this first GP having very clear goals on our minds… our major objective was to help both our riders reach the finish of each day without any issue while also making sure they were well in contention for the top in their classes. We wanted them to collect as more points as possible in order to kick off the championship on a positive note. I'm satisfied we managed to achieve all our main goals and that is also very encouraging for the rest of the season.” Loïc Larrieu – Outsiders Yamaha Official Enduro Team rider: "It was a long and tiring GP but I'm happy with how everything worked out in the end. "This was my first race in snow and everything was completely new for me. 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.”
"What a GP! We've worked hard during the winter and there was lots of anticipation for this GP. We took a wise decision with the team to arrive in Finland a week earlier and managed to make some great improvements with the bikes and our riding in snow. In saying that, obviously local riders had a clear advantage in these conditions, but nevertheless we did our best on both days. Knowing it was going to be a long weekend I started day one more on the safe side, not taking too many risks. I started fine and got some top five times in some tests. But not having walked the tests beforehand it was hard to know where to push. I started pushing at the end of the day but my times were not improving. I decided to approach day two differently. It was a better day for sure and I was involved in a fight for the top three throughout the day, which is positive. Ending up fourth in these conditions shows the speed is there."
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