Toulouse Indoor Trial: a 40th anniversary that promises to be spectacular
Bernard Estripeau, major organizer of the World X-Trial, promises an anniversary edition that will seduce the 5,000 spectators at the Zénith de Toulouse on Saturday evening.
May 31, 1983: the indoor trial made its first appearance in the Pink City, at the Sports Palace. Over the years, this event organized by Bernard Estripeau, a passionate trialist, excellent tracker and above all an incomparable visionary, has become an unmissable event on the international calendar. From year to year, its best reputation is a grandiose one to the point of making it “the place to be” for the pilots of the planet.
40 years later (with 4 months in advance), Toulouse will blow out the 40 candles of this meeting which does not belong to the world circuit of X-Trial but which magnificently celebrates the indoor and its spectacular sequences.
Saturday evening, in a full Zenith in Toulouse (the 5,000 tickets sold out in a few weeks from the end of November), the trial enthusiasts of the Pink City will reconnect with this great show which had not taken place at the Zenith since 2018 “We felt that the Toulouse public was waiting for that, I had never seen such enthusiasm”, notes Bernard Estripeau, happy with this return to celebrate the 40th anniversary of an appointment that he particularly likes.
On to the clock!
Promoter of the X-Trial world circuit, the 2023 vintage of which will be launched on February 5 in Barcelona, Bernard Estripeau will take advantage of the Toulouse meeting to continue testing a somewhat special “but very spectacular” competition format, he promises. . A format in three chapters with a classic first lap where the pilots make their passage by chaining the zones and are noted for foot faults (fault points); then a second passage, timed this one. “And that’s where it gets even more spectacular,” says Bernard Estripeau. “There, we give time penalties to each foot placed. A zone passed in 60 seconds in the first round, is crossed in 15-20 seconds with this system. It met with a great rhythm and a great atmosphere in the stands! At the end of these two rounds, the three best-ranked drivers will compete in the final, zone by zone, to determine who will be the winner of this very promising anniversary edition.