Gajser stays strong as Zanchi impresses in Galician return
Lugo
MXGP
Team HRC’s Tim Gajser continued his excellent qualification race results, with a second-placed finish, just 0.6 seconds behind the leader at the MXGP of Galicia. The Lugo circuit in north-west Spain, hosting a world motocross championship round for the first time provided an excellent challenge for the riders and Gajser showed that after the deep mud of last week, he can still ride to an extremely high standard in normal conditions.
The Slovenian had a strong day all round, opening off by posting the fastest lap in Free Practice, before finishing just 0.05 off the fastest time in Timed Practice. This gave him second gate-pick, which he used to his advantage to sneak around the first turn on the inside and quickly emerge in the lead. After an intense first few laps, the #243 was unable to break away and although he fought hard, he had to relinquish the lead midway through the moto. Hoping to study the lines of the new leader, he did mount a charge at the end of the race and crossed the line within touching distance to score nine points and keep a good grip on the championship red-plate.
With the two GP-scoring motos tomorrow, Gajser still has an excellent chance to claim the overall, and with his improved starts, he’ll be looking to lead-out this highly competitive MXGP class in what should be slightly cloudier conditions.
MX2
After missing the last three rounds through injury, Ferruccio Zanchi returned with a bang, by storming out of the gate on his Honda CRF250R, narrowly missing out on the holeshot. The Italian had posted good times in the two earlier sessions, showing that he hadn’t lost any speed in the enforced layoff, but he was most impressive in the qualification race, holding onto third place for a large proportion of the moto, before slipping to fourth just a couple of laps before the finish.
It was still the youngster’s best finish of the season and he’ll be extremely encouraged by both his speed and his fitness for the two longer races which take place tomorrow afternoon.
It was a good day, on what was a fun track. I enjoyed riding here and I found myself in a good rhythm early-on which is promising. Even in the race, I put in some good laps and even though I didn’t win, I am still pleased with my riding and my consistency and I’m looking forward to tomorrow.
It is great to be back with the team and I’m really happy with how I rode. I know the team have been working hard, even though I haven’t been at the races, so it was really nice to get a good start and show that the work has paid off. Even then, I felt strong in the race when I was in third, surrounded by riders who are much more experienced and I just tried to keep calm and tick off my laps. Fourth place is an excellent result and gives me a lot of motivation to do it again tomorrow.
It was a good day for both Tim and Ferro and it was very pleasing to see how well they performed. Obviously, we know the levels that Tim can reach, but it is still good to see him fighting hard for the victory and keeping such a high level in all his races. We will keep helping him find that extra 1% and hopefully that will allow him to win the GP, something that he fully deserves.
As for Ferro, we really weren’t sure what to expect because it is always difficult to make a return and come-back at a high level, but he proved that he stayed active during the break and his start was great to see for a lot of reasons. The MX2 programme is in it’s infancy, but it’s moments like this that really give us motivation to keep pushing.
