Romain Febvre sits on pole for tomorrow’s fourth round of the FIM World MXGP Motocross Championship at Pietramurata in the Trentino region of northern Italy after a dominant performance in Qualifying while the MX2 battle was won by home favourite Andrea Adamo.
The sun shone again for MXGP in the beautiful setting of the Garda mountains for round four, the MXGP of Trentino, and in front of the natural hillsides that were already crammed full of fans.
Calvin Vlaanderen topped the time sheets in Free Practice. His speed would carry into Time Practice where he grabbed third position behind Febvre in 2nd. The Frenchman’s late run brought him to within 0.816 seconds of the lead. However, with a mid-session surge that put him 1.8 seconds clear at the time, Jorge Prado once more took the first gate pick for the afternoon race and looked tough to beat once again.
As with last week, it was a green bike firing into the lead from the gate as Febvre took the holeshot this time, with Prado and Glenn Coldenhoff in hot pursuit! Valentin Guillod was up in 4th early but crashed dramatically after being passed by Tim Gajser! The Slovenian pleased his many fans present by then moving past Jeffrey Herlings.
After a fall in last year’s Qualifying Race at this circuit, Prado had further issues in 2024! Losing the seat from his machine over the finish line jump, he had to do a full lap stood on the pegs and lost positions dramatically before pulling into the pits where his technicians did their work quickly!
At around half-distance, Gajser managed to leap over Coldenhoff’s head as the Dutchman couldn’t clear the big uphill triple jump after turn two, but the Fantic man held Herlings back to claim his best finish of the year so far in third.
With Prado losing his seat for a second time on the final lap, after working his way back to 17th position, it means that his championship lead over Gajser is more than halved, from 17 down to just 8 points! Febvre’s win, a repeat of the result here last year, pulls the Frenchman into 3rd ahead of Herlings and now lies 41 behind the Spaniard, who will surely look for redemption in Sunday’s main Grand Prix races – not to be missed!
“I felt good with a good start too,” Febvre said. “It’s so important and what we need because on some track we match the speed. Time practice was really close and I knew I had to get a good start. In the end we made it! I made a good gap and how they say I controlled the race. I’m happy and we mark some good points so let’s go for tomorrow! “
MX2
It was that red plate holder again in MX2, the Kay de Wolf, who was fastest in Free Practice while his teammate Lucas Coenen struggled to just 12th. However, in Time Practice it was the turn of the series leader to taste some dirt, and he had to straighten out his machine before setting a time good enough for 5th place. A final lap dash for Thibault Benistant put Frenchman into pole position for the Qualifying Race. Mikkel Haarup and Camden McLellan again showed great pace to go 2nd & 4th, with Marc-Antoine Rossi splitting them in 3rd.
The frantic action continued in the Qualifying Race as the familiar sight of Sacha Coenen launched into the lead from the start, with his teammate Adamo right on his case! Rick Elzinga pushed past the World Champion briefly on the opening lap, with Everts and Haarup also close behind. Adamo got back through and chased after Sacha, while Lucas Coenen suddenly started touring and pulled into the pits, so far without an obvious explanation.
De Wolf had to work from outside of the top ten and got through to 6th at the flag, but on lap 7 Adamo was able to launch the big triple jump when Sacha Coenen couldn’t, and in the following corner the young Belgian clipped the Italian’s rear wheel and hit the floor! He would eventually recover to finish 8th.
Simon Laengenfelder moved forward passing Haarup in a great cutback move! Then, on the last lap, both riders went past Elzinga, who slipped from third to fifth in the space of two corners! Third for the German, with Haarup fourth, gave him a three-point gain over De Wolf to reduce the gap to 26 points in the chase for the Championship.
Everts showed his best speed so far this year to reel in his teammate in the closing laps, but in the end it was last year’s GP winner and Champion that took his first Qualifying Race win of the season to pass Benistant, who finished 9th after getting stuck on the gate, for 4th in the series. Adamo’s home fans are certainly looking forward to seeing if he can repeat his 2023 victory here tomorrow!
“It was a pretty strange race at the beginning I wasn’t feeling the best but then I went into my rhythm and I thought that it was my time,” Adamo explained. “I passed Sacha as the ones behind were catching up! I’m super happy. The track is not easy to make a difference but I am super happy with my first RAM Qualifying win, especially after last weekend and I’m pretty confident for tomorrow!”
MXGP – RAM Qualifying Race – Top 10 Classification:
1 Romain Febvre (FRA, Kawasaki), 23:59.700
2 Tim Gajser (SLO, Honda), +0:11.938
3 Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, Fantic), +0:17.103
4 Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), +0:20.379
5 Jeremy Seewer (SUI, Kawasaki), +0:22.054
6 Pauls Jonass (LAT, Honda), +0:24.532
7 Calvin Vlaanderen (NED, Yamaha), +0:43.021
8 Cornelius Toendel (NOR, KTM), +0:45.553
9 Valentin Guillod (SUI, Honda), +0:47.230
10 Ben Watson (GBR, Beta), +0:49.344
MXGP – World Championship – Top 10 Classification:
1 Jorge Prado (ESP, GAS), 174 Points
2 Tim Gajser (SLO, HON), 166 Points
3 Romain Febvre (FRA, KAW), 133 Points
4 Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 132 Points
5 Pauls Jonass (LAT, HON), 118 Points
6 Jeremy Seewer (SUI, KAW), 105 Points
7 Calvin Vlaanderen (NED, YAM), 94 Points
8 Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, FAN), 91 Points
9 Kevin Horgmo (NOR, HON), 64 Points
10 Maxime Renaux (FRA, YAM), 63 Points
MX2 – RAM Qualifying Race – Top 10 Classification:
1 Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), 24:15.482
2 Liam Everts (BEL, KTM), +0:00.470
3 Simon Laengenfelder (GER, GASGAS), +0:09.245
4 Mikkel Haarup (DEN, Triumph), +0:09.697
5 Rick Elzinga (NED, Yamaha), +0:15.397
6 Kay de Wolf (NED, Husqvarna), +0:17.791
7 Marc-Antoine Rossi (FRA, GASGAS), +0:18.454
8 Sacha Coenen (BEL, KTM), +0:20.584
9 Thibault Benistant (FRA, Yamaha), +0:21.137
10 Camden Mc Lellan (RSA, Triumph), +0:21.338
MX2 – World Championship – Top 10 Classification:
1 Kay de Wolf (NED, HUS), 175 Points
2 Simon Laengenfelder (GER, GAS), 149 Points
3 Lucas Coenen (BEL, HUS), 124 Points
4 Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), 110 Points
5 Thibault Benistant (FRA, YAM), 108 Points
6 Mikkel Haarup (DEN, TRI), 103 Points
7 Camden Mc Lellan (RSA, TRI), 96 Points
8 Liam Everts (BEL, KTM), 86 Points
9 Marc-Antoine Rossi (FRA, GAS), 84 Points
10 Rick Elzinga (NED, YAM), 84 Points
