FONTANESI SHINES IN AFYON AHEAD OF AUSTRALIA SHOWDOWN.
The penultimate round of the 2025 FIM Women’s Motocross World Championship in Afyon promised to be a huge decider in the title chase, with everything still to play for before the grand finale in Australia. Just 20 points separated red plate holder De Baets MX-Yamaha Team’s Lotte van Drunen from the resurgent RFME Spain National Team’s Daniela Guillén, while MX FontaRacing’s Kiara Fontanesi remained firmly in contention, sitting only a single point behind the Spaniard. With the stakes so high and the pressure mounting, the Turkish round was set to shape the destiny of this thrilling championship battle.
The WMX served up plenty of performance in Race 1 at the MXGP of Türkiye. Martine Hughes got the jump out of the gate on her Kawasaki and briefly led the opening lap after capitalising on a small mistake from Fontanesi. But it didn’t take long for the championship contenders to make their presence felt, with Guillén and Fontanesi both charging past Hughes, while red plate holder van Drunen quickly slotted into third.
With the top three separated by only 20 points in the standings coming into Afyon, the tension was high. Fontanesi took over the lead early on, but Guillén refused to let her go, probing lap after lap with aggressive moves down the inside. On lap five, the Spaniard finally made her pass stick, pulling away steadily as Fontanesi lost ground before regrouping to maintain second. Van Drunen kept her composure to finish third, limiting the damage in the championship battle.
Behind the leading trio, Hughes held on for fourth ahead of Amandine Verstappen in fifth, while Lucy Barker, Team Honda Motoblouz SR’s April Franzoni and SYE Racing Team 423’s Larissa Papenmeier completed the next group of riders. KL Racing Team’s Malou Jakobsen and Shana van der Vlist rounded out the top ten.
At the flag, it was Guillén who celebrated her third race victory of the season, crossing the line five seconds clear of Fontanesi, with Van Drunen securing third to keep her championship lead cushion still manageable
Race 2 produced another thrilling showdown. Papenmeier made the best jump out of the gate, but it was Fontanesi who quickly asserted herself at the front, taking the lead after a couple of turns. Guillén started further back in fifth and had to push hard through the first lap, climbing into third position in quick succession. Meanwhile, red plate holder van Drunen was caught in the chaos of the first corners and found herself outside the top ten, leaving her with a big effort to produce to climb up the ranks.
Fontanesi set a fast pace at the head of the field, building a cushion over Papenmeier while Guillén started to reel back the german. By lap five the Spaniard had moved past Papenmeier to go second, opening the door for a head-to-head with Fontanesi that would decide not only the race but the overall classification. Behind them, Martine Hughes was enjoying one of her strongest rides in recent years, running solidly in third and on course for a first podium since 2022.
While Fontanesi maintained the lead, Guillén was the quickest rider on track, cutting the gap down to just a couple of seconds in the closing stages. Van Drunen, after a nervous moment where she almost lost control in a corner, regrouped to fight her way through the field, eventually salvaging fourth place to minimise the cost in the championship.
At the checkered flag, Fontanesi crossed the line first after a stella last lap which was the fastest of the race to take the Race 2 win ahead of Guillén, with Hughes securing a strong third-place finish and Van Drunen in fourth after passing several riderslike Franzoni and Papenmeier. Papenmeier in the end completed the top five, followed by Barker in sixth and De Baets MX-Yamaha Team’s Danee Gelissen in seventh.
However, late in the race Fontanesi and Guillen were handed a penalty for failing to respect a waved yellow flag, costing them five points in the championship standings. Crucially, the sanction did not affect their race results or the Grand Prix overall, as they respectively claimed a 2-1 and 1-2 score to tie on points. Fontanesi took the victory thanks to her race win in the second one.
In the championship fight, van Drunen leaves Türkiye with a 16-point advantage over Fontanesi and 17 over Guillén. With one round to go in Australia, the title battle is not over.
Kiara Fontanesi: “I felt amazing the whole weekend here. I liked the track and I knew I could feel pretty comfortable here, and that’s the result of enjoying riding. I took two good starts, two good races, found a good rhythm. It was definitely a big pressure with Daniela (Guillen) behind me for basically all the race, but it’s where we improve, it’s where we learn, it’s where we get better, and races like this are just amazing. I’m pretty happy to win three GPs out of five, it’s just an amazing season for me.”
WMX – Race 1 – Top 10 Classification: 1. Daniela Guillen (ESP, GASGAS), 24:28.129; 2. Kiara Fontanesi (ITA, GASGAS), +0:05.606; 3. Lotte Van Drunen (NED, Yamaha), +0:12.133; 4. Martine Hughes (NOR, Kawasaki), +0:51.820; 5. Amandine Verstappen (BEL, Yamaha), +0:54.694; 6. Lucy Barker (GBR, KTM), +0:57.347; 7. April Franzoni (FRA, Honda), +0:58.052; 8. Larissa Papenmeier (GER, Honda), +1:07.862; 9. Malou Jakobsen (DEN, KTM), +1:30.781; 10. Shana van der Vlist (NED, Yamaha), +1:36.848
WMX – Race 2 – Top 10 Classification: 1. Kiara Fontanesi (ITA, GASGAS), 25:58.767; 2. Daniela Guillen (ESP, GASGAS), +0:02.293; 3. Martine Hughes (NOR, Kawasaki), +0:36.501; 4. Lotte Van Drunen (NED, Yamaha), +0:36.836; 5. Larissa Papenmeier (GER, Honda), +0:59.280; 6. Lucy Barker (GBR, KTM), +1:19.927; 7. Danee Gelissen (NED, Yamaha), +1:23.055; 8. Shana van der Vlist (NED, Yamaha), +1:23.182; 9. Amandine Verstappen (BEL, Yamaha), +1:32.569; 10. Malou Jakobsen (DEN, KTM), +1:38.084
WMX Overall – Top 10 Classification: 1. Kiara Fontanesi (ITA, GAS), 47 points; 2. Daniela Guillen (ESP, GAS), 47 p.; 3. Martine Hughes (NOR, KAW), 38 p.; 4. Lotte Van Drunen (NED, YAM), 38 p.; 5. Lucy Barker (GBR, KTM), 30 p.; 6. Larissa Papenmeier (GER, HON), 29 p.; 7. Amandine Verstappen (BEL, YAM), 28 p.; 8. Shana van der Vlist (NED, YAM), 24 p.; 9. Danee Gelissen (NED, YAM), 23 p.; 10. Malou Jakobsen (DEN, KTM), 23 p.
WMX World Championship – Top 10 Classification: 1. Lotte Van Drunen (NED, YAM), 218 points; 2. Kiara Fontanesi (ITA, GAS), 202 p.; 3. Daniela Guillen (ESP, GAS), 201 p.; 4. Shana van der Vlist (NED, YAM), 147 p.; 5. Larissa Papenmeier (GER, HON), 137 p.; 6. Amandine Verstappen (BEL, YAM), 136 p.; 7. Martine Hughes (NOR, KAW), 133 p.; 8. Danee Gelissen (NED, YAM), 129 p.; 9. Lynn Valk (NED, KTM), 118 p.; 10. April Franzoni (FRA, HON), 106 p
WMX Manufacturers – Top 10 Classification: 1. GASGAS, 228 points; 2. Yamaha, 220 p.; 3. KTM, 181 p.; 4. Honda, 142 p.; 5. Kawasaki, 133 p.; 6. Fantic, 63 p.; 7. Triumph, 40 p
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