A top-ten ranked TrialGP competitor from 2010 until 2017, thirty-two-year-old Matteo Grattarola dropped down to the Trial2 category in 2018 and took the title that year on a four-stroke Honda after a hard-fought season that saw him only win on a tie-break at the final round.
• All the 2020 FIM World champions
He slipped to second in 2019, however a switch to a two-stroke Beta appeared to revitalise him this season and he returned to the top with a string of dominant performances that put the title out of reach of his rivals with one day of competition still to go.
At the opening round in France he traded wins and runner-up positions with Alexandre Ferrer (TRRS) and then added another win and a second-placed finish at the Spanish TrialGP. With his rivals starting to crack under the pressure, Grattarola set himself up for his second Trial2 title with a double win at the penultimate round in Andorra.
Heading into his home event – the Italian TrialGP – at Lazzate, located twenty miles north of Milan in the country’s industrial heartland, Grattarola had one hand on the trophy and a comprehensive twenty-seven-mark victory from Aniol Gelabert (TRRS) on the opening day was good enough for him to regain the championship.
With the title in the bag, Grattarola could relax on day two in Italy and even though he ended the final day of competition in third – his worst finish of the season – he still ran out champion by the huge margin of fifty-two points ahead of France’s Ferrer.
PALMARES
FIM Trial2 World Champion: 2018, 2020