WEC GP of Spain '09

Hoping to improve the performances of their four team riders Juha Salminen, Simo Kirssi, David Knight and Marko Tarkkala the BMW Motorrad Motorsport team took to the start of the GP of Spain – round two of the ’09 World Enduro Championship – knowing that the event would be a challenging one for them. With the opening round of the series having unexpectedly delivered less than welcome results, with just one week to work on the difficulties encountered in Portugal all concerned knew that significantly better results would be hard to achieve.

In complete contrast to the season opener the GP of Portugal was an extremely wet and largely muddy event, with heavy rain during the second half of the opening day and then throughout Saturday night making day two particularly demanding. Despite hoping for better Juha Salminen claimed the team’s best result with fifth in the Enduro 2 class on day one while David Knight claimed sixth in the Enduro 3 category on both days and Simo Kirssi claimed sixth on day two as well.

In the Enduro 2 class Juha Salminen’s event frustratingly got off to a less than perfect start, as he placed 18th in class on the Friday night Super test following a fall. Thankfully, day one started well with a solid second in class on the opening extreme test. Performing consistently during the first half of the first day the seven-time world champion wasn’t quite able to maintain his pace during Saturday afternoon with mistakes on the extreme test hampering his result. Eventually Juha placed ninth in class. In contrast to Juha’s fortunes Simo Kirssi’s day ended much better than it started. Failing to find his rhythm early in the day the Finn placed an impressive fifth, sixth and second in the three final special tests and ended the first day’s competition in 11th.

Day two saw a vast improvement in the results of both Salminen and Kirssi. Performing well on the extreme, motocross and enduro tests Juha finished inside the top 10 of the E2 class on all but one of the day’s special tests, where a fall resulted in him placing 13th in class. Ending day two an eventual fifth in the Enduro 2 category, were it not for his mistake the Finn would certainly have been close to a podium result. Just one place behind Salminen in sixth BMW’s second Enduro 2 class rider Simo Kirssi jumped five places up the E2 class results from his day one finishing position.

For David Knight the GP of Spain ended with the Manxman finishing sixth in the Enduro 3 class on both days. Claiming the same position in class at the end of the Friday night Super test, Knight was quickly up to speed at the start of day one and finished third in class on the opening extreme test. Knowing that the GP of Spain would be a challenging one David continued to perform well on the extreme test while improving his results on both the motocross and enduro tests. David finished less than nine seconds adrift of defending Enduro 3 world champion Samuli Aro at the end of the day. David’s E3 class mate Marko Tarkkala ended the first day’s competition 10th.

Day two also saw Knight finish sixth in class. Hopeful of improving his day one result a costly mistake on the man-made section of the extreme test on lap three ended Knight’s chances of finishing any higher. Improving his day one result by two places Marko Tarkkala finished eight in the Enduro 3 class on day two.

Markus Theobald – BMW G 450 X Project Leader: “It goes without saying that everyone in the team hoped that we would have better results this weekend than we did at the first round of the championship, but realistically that was always going to be difficult to achieve. Despite knowing that we were coming to a race where the terrain would be different to that in Portugal, we only had a few days to test between the two events. We worked hard to improve things for the riders but we knew it would be difficult to greatly improve our results.”

“We do now have a clearer picture of what our riders are experiencing. We know that on some special tests they are able to put in fast special test times, but mistakes are common, and these mistakes are holding them back. We need to understand why in some situations they are fast and can ride freely and to their full potential, and why on other occasions they are unable to give 100 per cent without experiencing mistakes.”

“Despite the event being such a demanding race we didn’t experience any mechanical problems, which is extremely positive. We now have a few weeks before the next round of the world championship and despite having a lot of work to do we are confident that at the GP of Italy all the team riders will be more confident and able to ride harder on all tests.”

Simo Kirssi: “Sunday started with exceedingly muddy conditions, nevertheless the first extreme test was ok for me, but in the following first enduro test it was really difficult and I lost pretty much time.
During the rest of the day my riding was getting better; solely in the penultimate extreme test I crashed in the stone section. After the improvement in the weather also the track got some more traction and therefore I could push harder and was able to maintain in 6th position. My bike was working well; we made some changes for suspension over the day, which gave me more confidence in these muddy conditions. Thanks to the team and all sponsors. I'll see you in Italy!”


The ’09 World Enduro Championship now takes a three-week break before heading to Iglesias, Sardinia for the GP of Italy.


2009 World Enduro Championship
Grand Prix of Spain - Day 1

Enduro 2 Class:
1. Johnny Aubert (KTM) 38:23.72; 2. Cristobal Guerrero (Yamaha) 39:01.47; 3. Bartosz Oblucki (Husqvarna) 39:15.07; 4. Joakim Ljunggren (Husaberg) 39:27.45; 5. Oscar Balletti (Honda) 39:37.63; 6. Rodrig Thain (TM) 39:46.81; 7. Matti Seistola (Husqvarna) 39:54.52; 8. Alessandro Belometti (KTM) 39:59.09; 9. Juha Salminen (BMW Motorrad Motorsport) 39:59.12; 10. Luca Cherubini (TM) 39:59.83; 11. Simo Kirssi (BMW Motorrad Motorsport) 40:05.74

Enduro 3 Class:
1. Ivan Cervantes (KTM) 38:40.52; 2. Sebastien Guillaume (Husqvarna) 38:42.91; 3. Christophe Nambotin (Gas Gas) 38:44.00; 4. Alessandro Botturi (KTM) 39:34.32; 5. Samuli Aro (KTM) 39:34.66; 6. David Knight (BMW Motorrad Motorsport) 39:43.62; 7. Marcus Kehr (KTM) 39:48.23; 8. Fabio Mossini (Honda) 39:49.90; 9. Bjorne Carlsson (Husaberg) 40:26.59; 10. Marko Tarkkala (BMW Motorrad Motorsport) 40:27.60


2009 World Enduro Championship
Grand Prix of Spain - Day 2

Enduro 2 Class:
1. Johnny Aubert (KTM) 48:40.02; 2. Joakim Ljunggren (Husaberg) 50:41.06; 3. Rodrig Thain (TM) 51:01.88; 4. Alessandro Belometti (KTM) 51:12.51; 5. Juha Salminen (BMW Motorrad Motorsport) 51:35.17; 6. Simo Kirssi (BMW Motorrad Motorsport) 52:20.61; 7. Cristobal Guerrero (Yamaha) 52:27.37; 8. Oscar Balletti (Honda) 52:29.37; 9. Bartosz Oblucki (Husqvarna) 52:47.09; 10. Valtteri Salonen (Husaberg) 52:51.59

Enduro 3 Class:
1. Ivan Cervantes (KTM) 50:27.01; 2. Samuli Aro (KTM) 50:55.02; 3. Christophe Nambotin (Gas Gas) 50:55.77; 4. Sebastien Guillaume (Husqvarna) 51:36.64; 5. Marcus Kehr (KTM) 51:50.39; 6. David Knight (BMW Motorrad Motorsport) 52:29.09; 7. Alessandro Botturi (KTM) 54:27.37; 8. Marko Tarkkala (BMW Motorrad Motorsport) 54:46.12. 9. Fabio Mossini (Honda) 55:39.74; 10. Mark Wassink (KTM) 56:53.88


Photo: Jonty Edmunds