CH Racing Husqvarna’s Seb Guillaume has claimed is sixth double Enduro 3 class podium result of the ’07 World Enduro Championship season, this time at the eighth and final round of this years WEC series staged in Noirtable, France.

Topping the competitive E3 class on day one to claim his first day win of the season Seb then went on to finish as runner-up to newly crowned E3 world champion Ivan Cervantes on day two to bring his ’07 WEC campaign to an impressive close.

A mixture of clear skies, warm temperatures, a demanding rock littered course and three challenging special tests resulted in the GP of France being one of the most physically demanding world championship races this year. For Seb it was his best event of the championship as he finally managed to beat Spain’s Ivan Cervantes and stand on top of the E3 class podium. Winning three special tests during the opening day things didn’t start in the best of ways for the Frenchman as a poor opening extreme test saw him place fifth in class. Forced to work his way back to the top of the class, after eighth special tests he finished just under eight seconds ahead of Cervantes.
Despite hoping to repeat his class winning result from day one Seb was unable to match the pace of his closest E3 championship rival on day two and after another demanding day he finished as runner-up. In doing so Seb secured the third place position in the ’07 Enduro 3 world championship. Seb’s E3 class team-mate Anders Eriksson produced much better results in France than he did at the GP of Slovakia as the seven-time world champion placed sixth in on day one before mistakes on the extreme test on day two saw him drop one position to seventh.

Husqvarna’s Enduro 1 class rider Bartosz Oblucki mad mixed results in France placing in fourth and seventh position. Winning two special tests on day one Bart’ was in contention for the E1 class win during much of first half of the day but narrowly missed out on a podium result. Eventually claiming fourth the Polish rider finished just six seconds behind Finland’s Juha Salminen who claimed the ’07 E1 class world championship title. On day two Bartosz was unable to push as hard as he was on day one and with little to gain in the E1 world championship standings opted simply to end the ’07 WEC season without accident or incident and finished seventh in class.

Competing as the CH Racing Husqvarna only Enduro 2 class rider Nicolas Deparrois had mixed fortunes in Noirtable placing inside the top 10 of the E2 class on day one in ninth position and then in 11th on day two. Starting the opening day with a disappointing extreme test Nico’ improved as the day went on before several mistakes on day two stopped him finishing higher than 11th.

In the Enduro Junior class Marc Bourgeois performed well in front of his home fans finishing fourth on day one and fifth on day two. Despite his best efforts to finish on the podium at his home race Marc rode consistently on day one but was unable to finish inside the top three. On day two Marc went all out to finish on the podium but saw his result spoiled by several mistakes.

Seb Guillaume: “It’s been a great weekend for me. Winning the first day was amazing – I have been pushing hard to win all season so to finally stand on top of the podium was great. Winning at my home GP just made things better. It’s been a really hard race, I think the hardest of the season. I had a really good battle with Ivan Cervantes on day one and I there was nothing between us for most of the day. I had no problems, made no mistakes, and enjoyed the day.
 “On the second day I felt good, like I did on the first day, but Ivan was just too fast. I pushed hard to try and win but I finished second so it was a good weekend.”

Anders Eriksson: “We made some changes to my bike following the GP of Slovakia, which worked really well. I was really pleased with the way I rode on the motocross test, but I made some mistakes on the enduro test on day one and on the extreme test on day two. I’m not overly pleased with my results but I was 100 times happier with my riding than I was in Slovakia two weeks ago, as well as being really happy with my bike.”

Bartosz Oblucki: “The first day was really good for me. I was able to push really hard during the morning and was getting some very good times on each of the special tests. As the tests started to get rougher I found it harder to push like I was when the tests were smoother. The second day was the same because it was really rough so I decided that there was no reason to push above my limit and I rode safely.

2007 World Enduro Championship
Grand Prix of France – Day 1

Enduro 1 class
1. Marc Germain (Yamaha) 49:51.44; 2. Simone Albergoni (Yamaha) 49:54.06; 3. Juha Salminen (KTM) 50:10.15; 4. Bartosz Oblucki (CH Racing Husqvarna) 50:16.12; 5. Cristobal Guerrero (Yamaha) 50:26.38; 6. Alessandro Belometti (KTM) 50:57.51; 7. Julien Gauthier (Honda) 50:57.97; 8. Maurizio Micheluz (Yamaha) 51:06.76; 9. Damien Miquel (Kawasaki) 52:09.18; 10. Mike Hartman (KTM) 52:17.81; 11. Pierre Duzellier (KTM) 52:54.55; 12. Daniele Tellini (KTM) 52:55.68; 13. Peter Bergvall (KTM) 53:29.86; 14. Nicolas Brousson (KTM) 55:01.47; 15. Juraj Dozsa (KTM) 55:22.06; 16. Joan Jou (Yamaha) 58:50.43

Enduro 2 class
1. Johnny Aubert (Yamaha) 49:48.35; 2. Fabien Planet (KTM) 50:06.50; 3. Samuli Aro (KTM) 50:12.46; 4. Mika Ahola (Honda) 50:29.96; 5. Emmanuel Albepart (Honda) 50:38.83; 6. Xavier Galindo (KTM) 50:47.47; 7. Nicolas Paganon (Aprilia) 51:07.98; 8. Stefan Merriman (Aprilia) 51:25.52; 9. Nicolas Deparrois (CH Racing Husqvarna) 51:34.54; 10. Rodrig Thain (TM) 51:58.21; 11. Fabrizio Dini (Yamaha) 52:02.44; 12. Felipe Zanol (Yamaha) 52:26.04; 13. Jari Mattila (Beta) 52:44.51; 14. Mickael Metge (Husaberg) 53:05.12; 15. Valtteri Salonen (Husaberg) 58:20.37; 16. Joel Smets (BMW) 1.07:03.91

Enduro 3 class
1. Seb Guillaume (Husqvarna) 50:01.32; 2. Ivan Cervantes (KTM) 50:09.02; 3. Marko Tarkkala (KTM) 50:17.81; 4. Bjorne Carlsson (Husaberg) 50:46.09; 5. Jean-Francois Goblet (KTM) 51:09.09; 6. Anders Eriksson (CH Racing Husqvarna) 51:12.66; 7. Alessandro Botturi (Honda) 51:46.56; 8. Marcus Kehr (KTM) 51:52.56; 9. Euan McConnell (TM) 52:23.56; 10. Vita Kuklik (KTM) 52:25.46; 11. Alessio Paoli (Beta) 52:36.02; 12. Rudy Cotton (Beta) 54:02.46; 13. Erwin Plekkenpol (Honda) 54:21.58; 14. Alessandro Zanni (TM) 54:28.73; 15. Gordon Clarke (TM) 59:57.37; 16. Andrea Belotti (KTM) 1.00:43.19

Enduro Junior class
1. Joakim Ljunggren (Husaberg) 50:33.78; 2. Christophe Nambotin (Gas Gas) 50:35.21; 3. Tom Sagar (KTM) 51:00.07; 4. Marc Bourgeois (CH Racing Husqvarna) 51:10.13; 5. Thomas Oldrati (KTM) 51:27.62; 6. Mirko Gritti (Beta) 51:43.74; 7. Oriol Mena (Yamaha) 51:57.04; 8. Benoit Fortunato (Husqvarna) 52:06.31; 9. Jeremy Joly (Sherco) 52:28.33; 10. Lucas Puerta (KTM) 52:37.58; 11. Armand Monleon (KTM) 53:01.57; 12. Jean-Charles Gilbert (Kawasaki) 53:20.53; 13. Romain Boucerdey (KTM) 53:25.91; 14. Carlod Andreu (KTM) 53:33.79; 15. Adrien Matge (Honda) 53:55.27; 16. Pierre Pallut (KTM) 54:42.76; 17. Edoardo D’Ambrosio (TM) 55:04.77; 18. Mathieu Gagnoud (Honda) 55:07.20; 19. Jakub Horak (KTM) 55:25.30; 20. Elie Vecchi (KTM) 55:47.61

2007 World Enduro Championship
Grand Prix of France – Day 2

Enduro 1 class
1. Juha Salminen (KTM) 51:46.07; 2. Simone Albergoni (Yamaha) 51:53.69; 3. Marc Germain (Yamaha) 52:04.67; 4. Cristobal Guerrero (Yamaha) 52:51.61; 5. Maurizio Micheluz (Yamaha) 52:56.74; 6. Alessandro Belometti (KTM) 53:14.18; 7. Bartosz Oblucki (Husqvarna) 53:24.34; 8. Mike Hartman (KTM) 53:49.42; 9. Julien Gauthier (Honda) 54:01.06; 10. Damien Miquel (Kawasaki) 54:57.31; 11. Daniele Tellini (KTM) 55:11.37; 12. Pierre Duzellier (KTM) 55:56.49; 13. Goncalo Reis (KTM) 58:11.14; 14.Nicolas Brouson (KTM) 59:45.80; 15. Helio Santos (Yamaha) 1.00:22.71

Enduro 2 class
1. Johnny Aubert (Yamaha) 50:43.14; 2. Mika Ahola (Honda) 51:03.15; 3. Fabien Planet (KTM) 52:24.05; 4. Stefan Merriman (Aprilia) 52:37.15; 5. Xavier Galindo (KTM) 52:37.96; 6. Samuli Aro (KTM) 53:00.89; 7. Emmanuel Albepart (Honda) 53:08.61; 8. Nicolas Paganon (Aprilia) 53:36.37; 9. Fabrizio Dini (Yamaha) 53:38.59; 10. Jari Mattila (Beta) 53:44.79; 11. Nicolas Deparrois (Husqvarna) 53:54.77; 12. Thierry Klutz (Husqvarna) 54:03.19; 13. Rodrig Thain (TM) 54:15.42; 14. Felipe Zanol (Yamaha) 55:37.20; 15. Joel Smets (BMW) 56:17.38; 16. David Cadek (KTM) 56:25.75; 17. Mickael Metge (Husaberg) 56:40.42

Enduro 3 class
1. Ivan Cervantes (KTM) 51:36.33; 2. Seb Guillaume (CH Racing Husqvarna) 52:26.49; 3. Alessandro Botturi (Honda) 52:59.85; 4. Bjorne Carlsson (Husaberg) 53:03.67; 5. Marko Tarkkala (KTM) 53:07.50; 6. Jean-Francois Goblet (KTM) 53:10.41; 7. Anders Eriksson (CH Racing Husqvarna) 53:38.34; 8. Euan McConnell (TM) 53:38.79; 9. Marcus Kehr (KTM) 53:42.73; 10. Andrea Belotti (KTM) 53:55.01; 11. Vita Kuklik (KTM) 54:15.70; 12. Alessandro Zanni (TM) 55:07.39; 13. Rudy Cotton (Beta) 56:33.42; 14. Gordon Clarke (TM) 59:36.70; 15. Erwin Plekkenpol (Honda) 59:48.70

Enduro Junior class
1. Christophe Nambotin (Gas Gas) 52:33.65; 2. Joakim Ljunggren (Husaberg) 52:39.79; 3. Tom Sagar (KTM) 53:21.25; 4. Thomas Oldrati (KTM) 53:50.38; 5. Marc Bourgeois (CH Racing Husqvarna) 54:05.05; 6. Lorenzo Santolino (KTM) 54:52.57; 7. Benoit Fortunato (Husqvarna) 54:54.74; 8. Carlos Andreu (KTM) 54:55.02; 9. Romain Boucardy (KTM) 55:05.49; 10. Victor Guerrero (Yamaha) 55:18.68; 11. Jean-Charles Gilbert (Kawasaki) 55:23.12; 12. Sylvain Lebrun (Husqvarna) 55:24.24; 13. Mirko Gritti (Beta) 55:24.24; 14. Yannick Bossi (Husqvarna) 56:46.45; 15. Armand Monleon (KTM) 56:20.50; 16. Pierre Pallut (KTM) 57:01.98; 17. Kevin Gauniaux (KTM) 57:28.44; 18. Adrien Metge (Honda) 57:34.06; 19. Arnaud Devisy (Husqvarna) 57:34.55; 20. Edoardo D’Ambrosio (TM) 57:34.65