The FIM Motocross World Championship third round is coming back to Switzerland after 4 years and it will mark the first stop of the season in Mainland Europe. MXGP is heading to Frauenfeld for the MXGP of Switzerland Presented by iXS on the 8th and 10th April, being Easter day of break on the Sunday 9th.
The riders will come back to a brand-new circuit at Frauenfeld which will add to the challenge as they will have to adapt to the new design. The Swiss track has hosted the MXGP series three years in a row between 2016 to 2018 and it was pretty successful for KTM in the MXGP class as Antonio Cairoli won in 2016 while Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Jeffrey Herlings won back-to-back in 2017 and 2018.
Along with MXGP and MX2, the supporting classes will also be competing in Switzerland with the second round of the FIM Women’s Motocross World Championship and the first round of the season for the FIM Motocross European Championship EMX125 presented by FMF.
In WMX, RFME GASGAS WMX Team’s Daniella Guillen won her first GP of her career in Sardinia with a 2-1 and showing a strong and skilful riding throughout the weekend. Other riders to watch will be the young Lotte Van Drunen who started the season incredibly by winning the first race of the season and finishing second overall while Ceres 71 Racing’s Nancy Van de Ven showed that we can count on her to be competing for the top spot again this year as she finished second in race 2, despite a crash on race 1 and DRT Kawasaki’s Courtney Duncan going 4-3 and the third place overall.
In EMX125 Presented by FMF Racing, it will be really open this year with many new riders coming to the category for the first time. This first round will be a good time to get some clues on who will be fighting for the top spots this season.
This season, the circuit of Frauenfeld will be hosting MXGP of Switzerland Presented by iXS for the 4th time in its history. The last edition was 4 years ago and Jeffrey Herlings was the one who took the victory in front of Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP’s Romain Febvre and Clement Desalle. The Dutchman was on his way to win his first World Title in the MXGP class.
Coming into the third round of the season, we are already seeing that this season is going to be very competitive with many riders showing great skills and determination throughout the first two rounds. Herlings is coming to Switzerland with plenty of confidence as he won the last GP in Sardinia, winning his 100th GP along the way. The ‘bullet’ is showing that he is already up to speed after missing the 2022 season and being 2ndoverall in the Championship standing.
The Red Plate holder Red Bull GASGAS Factory Racing’s Jorge Prado has been riding superbly so far, taking the maximum points in RAM Qualifying Races in Argentina and Sardinia and winning 2 races out of 4, the Spaniard is on a great form and is determined to win his first GP this season. Having won the last edition in Switzerland in MX2 will certainly help him in his quest to keep the Red Plate.
Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP Team’s Glenn Coldenhoff, 2nd on the last podium in Sardinia with a 5-1 has shown that he is finding his rhythm on his new bike while his teammate Maxime Renaux and Romain Febvre, 3rd and 4th in the Championships respectively, both showed loads of quality ridings since the season started and will definitely fight for the top spots this season even if they both narrowly missed the podium so far in 2023.
After winning his first GP in Argentina Team HRC’s Ruben Fernandez was not at his best during the MXGP of Sardegna as the Spaniard crashed few times and could not find a way to ride back up the ranking order. He will surely look for redemption in Switzerland and be prepared to display a great performance this weekend.
Riding at home this week, Jeremy Seewer from Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP Team is the rider who will want to get back to the top after combining high and lows so far this season with 17-3 in Argentina and 7-6 in Sardinia. The swiss was often fighting for the first places but crashed too many times to remain consistent. Riding in front of his fans could be the perfect opportunity to really kick-start his season.
The other home riders Team Ship To Cycle Honda SR Motoblouz’s Valentin Guillod and JK Racing Yamaha’s Kevin Brumann will be the ones to be carried by the home crowd and could use that to get some great opportunities to score big points. Guillod with two top 20s so far has shown some glimpse of his potential and could capitalise on riding at home while Brumann could really kickstarts his first full MXGP season this weekend at Frauenfeld.
Championship Standings
1. Jorge Prado (ESP, GAS), 100 points;
2. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 93 p.;
3. Maxime Renaux (FRA, YAM), 78 p. ;
4. Romain Febvre (FRA, KAW), 78 p. ;
5. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, YAM), 75 p.;
6. Calvin Vlaanderen (NED, YAM), 65 p.;
7. Ruben Fernandez (ESP, HON), 63 p.;
8. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, YAM), 57 p.;
9. Pauls Jonass (LAT, HON), 56 p.;
10. Mattia Guadagnini (ITA, GAS), 55 p.;
2018 MXGP of Switzerland MXGP Top 3:
- Jeffrey Herlings
- Romain Febvre
- Clement Desalle
In 2018, it was Jorge Prado who clinched the victory in Frauenfeld in front of Standing Construct Honda MXGP’s Pauls Jonass and Hunter Lawrence. With none of these riders still present in this category, the 2023 edition of the MXGP of Switzerland will see a new MX2 winner.
The start of the 2023 campaign in MX2 has seen the near total dominance of Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MX2 Team’s Jago Geerts so far. The Belgian won the first 2 GPs with a perfect 1-1 in Argentina and 2-1 in Sardinia, along with topping both RAM Qualifying Races. However, like Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MX2 Team’s Thibault Benistant fighting with Geerts in Argentina, Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing’s Kay de Wolf showed his great potential in Sardinia as he went 1-2 and could have been the one to win the GP. Benistant also got to the last step of the podium for the second time this season. This demonstrates that de Wolf and Benistant are up there with Geerts and could be the ones to upset the Belgian’s lead so far.
Just behind the trio are teammates Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Andrea Adamo and Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Simon Laegenfelder, 4th and 5th respectively, who also have shown that they can compete at time with the front three. Adamo is consistent so far with 2nd place overall in Argentina and 6th in Sardinia while Laengenfelder improved on his 7th place on the first round by going 3-7 in Sardinia and getting the 4thoverall.
The other riders who could well battling for the top points will be F&H Kawasaki MX2 Racing Team’s Kevin Horgmo, Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing’s Roan Van de Moosdijk and Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Liam Everts who are 6th, 7th and 8th in the Championships respectively and have all found themselves fighting at the top at one point during the first two rounds. They all could use their experience of this beginning of the campaign to find the ways to move up in the Championship standing after Switzerland.
Championship Standings
1. Jago Geerts (BEL, YAM), 117 points;
2. Kay de Wolf (NED, HUS), 87 p.;
3. Thibault Benistant (FRA, YAM), 86 p.;
4. Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), 83 p.;
5. Simon Laengenfelder (GER, GAS), 79 p.;
6. Kevin Horgmo (NOR, KAW), 68 p.;
7. Roan Van De Moosdijk (NED, HUS), 67 p.;
8. Liam Everts (BEL, KTM), 61 p.;
9. Lucas Coenen (BEL, HUS), 52 p.;
10. Jan Pancar (SLO, KTM), 40 p.;
2018 MXGP of Switzerland MX2 Top 3:
- Jorge Prado
- Pauls Jonass
- Hunter Lawrence
TIMETABLE
SATURDAY: 08:00 EMX125 Free Practice Group 1, 08:25 EMX125 Free Practice Group 2, 08:50 WMX Free Practice, 09:20 EMX125 Qualifying practice Group 1, 09:55 EMX125 Qualifying practice Group 2, 10:30 MX2 Free Practice, 11:00 MXGP OAT Free Practice, 12:10 WMX Qualifying Practice, 12:45 MXGP Wildcard Free/Qualifying practice, 13:45 MX2 Time Practice, 14:20 MXGP OAT Time Practice, 15:05 WMX Race 1, 15:45 EMX125 Race 1, 16:35 MX2 RAM Qualifying Race, 17:20 MXGP RAM Qualifying Race.
Monday: 09:45 WMX Race 2, 10:25 MX2 Warm-up, 10:45 MXGP Warm-up, 11:30 EMX125 Race 2, 13:15 MX2 Race 1, 14:15 MXGP Race 1, 16:10 MX2 Race 2, 17:10 MXGP Race 2.
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