SCANDINAVIAN SATURDAY SUCCESS FOR FEBVRE AND BENISTANT AT THE MXGP OF SWEDEN!
The Glimminge Motorstadion outside the picturesque town of Uddevalla was bathed in glorious sunshine for the first day of action at the MXGP of Sweden, and packed hillsides of fans made for a stunning atmosphere during the Saturday Qualifying Races for the sixteenth round of the FIM Motocross World Championship! Any travelling French fans would have been particularly delighted as they celebrated a win in both Grand Prix classes!
Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP’s red plate holder Romain Febvre moved rapidly forward on the opening lap to take the lead and romp away to a win by over twelve seconds, and he had the two five-time World Champions behind him as Jeffrey Herlings claimed second for Red Bull KTM Factory Racing, and Tim Gajser took third on his first race back from injury for Honda HRC!
The MX2 class saw its first four-time Qualifying Race winner this season, in the surprise form of Thibault Benistant, who backed up his Time Practice pace with maximum points for Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MX2. Championship leader Simon Längenfelder took second for Red Bull KTM Factory Racing, marginally ahead of his main points rival Kay de Wolf, who claimed second for Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing.
The dry conditions made the circuit hard-packed and challenging, and more of the same is expected tomorrow for the MXGP elite at Uddevalla!
Jeffrey Herlings set the fastest lap time in both Free and Time Practice on a circuit which was being regularly watered to fight the dust. Red plate holder Romain Febvre was second in both sessions, while the returning Tim Gajser showed that his pace hasn’t dropped to get the third gate pick for his first race since April. His countryman Jan Pancar also showed his love for hardpack with fourth on his TEM JP253 KTM Racing Team machine, while Lucas Coenen took the fifth gate pick for Red Bull KTM Factory Racing.
Coenen didn’t get a particularly good jump from the gate, as the Fantic Factory Racing MXGP machine of Glenn Coldenhoff launched into a clear Holeshot ahead of Herlings and Gajser, before Febvre dived around the outside of the Honda on the second corner to take third! Coenen was down in seventh and fighting with Gajser’s teammate Ruben Fernandez.
On the first lap the big players all made their decisive moves, as Herlings took the lead at the bottom of the first long downhill, and Febvre also got past Coldenhoff at the next corner so as not to let “The Bullet” get away! On the new section of the circuit that was already deeply rutted, Gajser forced to the inside of Coldenhoff to take third, and Febvre simultaneously passed Herlings on the inside of a downhill dip to hit the front!
While Coenen was able to get past Fernandez into sixth, Gajser made a sweet outside move on Herlings in the corners before the finish line, but the Dutchman returned the favour with a great move back through the split lane at the start of the first full lap!
Calvin Vlaanderen was holding firm in fifth place for Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP, with Coenen unable to challenge him. Fernandez was set in seventh place to the flag, ahead of a solid Pancar, who took his seventh points haul in a Qualifying Race this year in eighth.
Behind them it was pure conflict, which held the crowd’s attention due to the battle including local hero Isak Gifting, as the JK Racing Yamaha man battled with Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP’s Pauls Jonass. The pair of them passed the JM Racing Honda of Brent van Doninck, but had to deal with a late charge from the second Monster Energy Yamaha of Maxime Renaux to stay in the points positions! Jonass took ninth on his return from injury, with Gifting a slightly disappointed tenth.
At the front, though, Febvre powered clear to a twelve-second win, while Herlings and Gajser ran close to each other all race without changing positions. With Coldenhoff and Vlaanderen completing the top five, a frustrated Coenen had to settle for sixth, which sees his gap to Febvre at the top of the Championship stretch out to 14 points before tomorrow’s Grand Prix!
While Febvre will look to have more of the same tomorrow, Coenen and his team will no doubt be working to improve his position, and the other top MXGP stars will also do all they can to get to the front. It should be a thrilling GP at Uddevalla on Sunday!
Romain Febvre: „I don’t know what Lucas did, but for me it was a really good race. The start was average, but I cut inside and already passed Jeffrey and Coldenhoff on the first lap. I found a really good line straight away and just rode my own pace. It’s been a long time since I enjoyed a race like this so much—the flow was perfect, and I was pulling a gap every lap. The first lap is always the key moment to make passes, and today it worked really well. I’m really happy with it, and now the goal is to do the same tomorrow.“
MXGP – Qualifying Race Classification: 1. Romain Febvre (FRA, Kawasaki), 24:14.979; 2. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), +0:12.171; 3. Tim Gajser (SLO, Honda), +0:13.568; 4. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, Fantic), +0:16.961; 5. Calvin Vlaanderen (NED, Yamaha), +0:18.391; 6. Lucas Coenen (BEL, KTM), +0:19.806; 7. Ruben Fernandez (ESP, Honda), +0:23.500; 8. Jan Pancar (SLO, KTM), +0:24.177; 9. Pauls Jonass (LAT, Kawasaki), +0:25.847; 10. Isak Gifting (SWE, Yamaha), +0:26.212;
MXGP – World Championship Classification: 1. Romain Febvre (FRA, KAW), 744 points; 2. Lucas Coenen (BEL, KTM), 730 p.; 3. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, FAN), 541 p.; 4. Ruben Fernandez (ESP, HON), 471 p.; 5. Calvin Vlaanderen (NED, YAM), 442 p.; 6. Andrea Bonacorsi (ITA, FAN), 405 p.; 7. Maxime Renaux (FRA, YAM), 387 p.; 8. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 362 p.; 9. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, DUC), 331 p.; 10. Tim Gajser (SLO, HON), 313 p.
After reigning Champ Kay de Wolf took the quickest time in the morning Free Practice, it was the turn of the hardpack lovers to stake their claim to the top gate picks, as Thibault Benistant claimed the top spot in Time Practice, ahead of red plate holder Simon Längenfelder and the Kawasaki Racing Team MX2 lone warrior Mathis Valin!
Honda HRC’s Valerio Lata and the Monster Energy Triumph Racing pilot Guillem Farres would complete the top five from Time Practice, with De Wolf claiming the sixth gate pick for the Qualifying Race.
The confidence from his Practice performance pushed Benistant into his first Holeshot of any kind for over three months, just forcing Längenfelder to back off the throttle with a lead-keeping wide exit from the first corner. Lata was initially third but shuffled back by Farres and De Wolf through turn two, before the Dutchman muscled past the Spaniard in the twisty sections at the bottom of the first half of the circuit.
Farres then had to deal with the attentions of his Monster Energy Triumph teammate Camden McLellan, who had passed Valin for fifth on the first full lap. The returning Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing star Liam Everts and Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Sacha Coenen had also worked past Lata, who had slipped to ninth ahead of the BTS Racing KTM of Jens Walvoort.
On lap three, Walvoort succumbed to the pressure from the third Red Bull KTM of Andrea Adamo, who had suffered an uncharacteristically poor start and was struggling to make up the ground.
At the front, Längenfelder and De Wolf did all they could to hold onto Benistant, as McLellan attacked Farres, eventually working past his teammate through the new set of corners to take fourth on lap eight of twelve. Almost simultaneously, Coenen blasted around the outside of Everts to take seventh in the battle of the Belgians!
Adamo had passed Lata for ninth by half-distance, and the two Italians finished in those positions, leaving the frustrated former Champ now 17 points down on De Wolf for second in the Championship, and a significant 56 behind Längenfelder.
Benistant held on to the flag ahead of Längenfelder and De Wolf, the leading three finishing a little over two seconds apart, with McLellan and Farres taking a Triumph 4-5 ahead of Valin.
This leaves Längenfelder with a slightly-increased Championship lead of 39 points, and with tomorrow likely to bring more hardpack and dry conditions, the fight between the title rivals could truly ignite in Sweden on Sunday, with plenty of other players keen to get in the mix! This should be a Sunday worth tuning in for!
Thibault Benistant: „It’s the fourth win and I hope not the last. I was feeling good, but it wasn’t easy with Simon right behind me. In some sections he was faster, in others I was quicker, so I was trying to find solutions all race long. In the end, it worked out, and it’s nice to see the hard work paying off. I just want to keep building like this throughout the season.“
MX2 – Qualifying Race Classification: 1. Thibault Benistant (FRA, Yamaha), 24:15.599; 2. Simon Längenfelder (GER, KTM), +0:01.421; 3. Kay de Wolf (NED, Husqvarna), +0:02.119; 4. Camden Mc Lellan (RSA, Triumph), +0:19.198; 5. Guillem Farres (ESP, Triumph), +0:21.293; 6. Mathis Valin (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:22.234; 7. Sacha Coenen (BEL, KTM), +0:23.033; 8. Liam Everts (BEL, Husqvarna), +0:24.752; 9. Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), +0:24.911; 10. Valerio Lata (ITA, Honda), +0:46.173;
MX2 – World Championship Classification: 1. Simon Längenfelder (GER, KTM), 713 points; 2. Kay de Wolf (NED, HUS), 674 p.; 3. Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), 657 p.; 4. Sacha Coenen (BEL, KTM), 563 p.; 5. Thibault Benistant (FRA, YAM), 523 p.; 6. Camden Mc Lellan (RSA, TRI), 474 p.; 7. Liam Everts (BEL, HUS), 467 p.; 8. Valerio Lata (ITA, HON), 349 p.; 9. Guillem Farres (ESP, TRI), 330 p.; 10. Mathis Valin (FRA, KAW), 314 p.;
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