The packed hillsides of the Circuit Raymond Demy saw perfect weather for the Qualifying Races today at the MXGP of France, and the atmosphere is building for the ninth round of the FIM Motocross World Championship as the French fans have many top contenders to cheer on towards victory this weekend!
The rider that looks most likely to spoil the French party, both here and in the Championship, did just that today as Lucas Coenen powered to the Fox Holeshot line first and commanded the entire race for Red Bull KTM Factory Racing, while Kevin Horgmo put in a stunning career-best ride in MXGP to claim second for Team Honda Motoblouz SR Motul ahead of crowd favourite, Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP’s Romain Febvre.
There was more success today for Red Bull KTM Factory Racing, whose riders scored a 1-2-3 in the MX2 class as Andrea Adamo took his third Qualifying Race victory of the year from Simon Laengenfelder andSacha Coenen, after a crash in Time Practice left Championship leader Kay de Wolf struggling to eighth for Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing.
The party atmosphere will continue through the night as the fans prepare to give full voice for their home heroes tomorrow!
Neither Frenchman got away well in the Qualifying Race, as Horgmo ran wide to allow Coenen to cross the Fox Holeshot line first, while Isak Gifting rounded the second corner in third on his return from injury for JK Racing Yamaha!
The TEM JP253 KTM Racing Team machine of Jan Pancar started in fourth, but nearly crashed through the waves in front of the packed valley, losing positions to Honda HRC rider Ruben Fernandez and a charging Febvre!
Halfway around the first full lap, Fernandez made a brave pass around the outside of Gifting at the top of the circuit, and the Swede made a mistake on a steep uphill shortly afterwards, allowing Febvre to move into fourth and raising the cheers from the fans!
It took until the third lap for the red plate holder to catch Fernandez, who let him through with an off-track excursion at the top of the finish line hill. With Horgmo ahead, Febvre set about hunting down the private Honda man.
Behind them, Aruba.it Ducati Factory MX Team rider Jeremy Seewer started ahead of Renaux, but the Yamaha man found his way through on lap four and charged after the top five. Dutch pair Glenn Coldenhoff, for Fantic Factory Racing MXGP, and Renaux’s teammate Calvin Vlaanderen, stayed in ninth and tenth for almost the entire race, before their countryman Jeffrey Herlings dived past Vlaanderen to steal the final point on the last lap for Red Bull KTM Factory Racing.
Fellow KTM man Coenen was not to be caught, however, and rode perfectly for a six-second margin of victory as the battles raged behind him! Renaux’s fitness and determination shone through as he passed both Pancar and Gifting in the last four laps to claim fifth by the flag, nearly surprising Fernandez on the final corner, who just held on to fourth at the end! Gifting lost seventh to Seewer on the last lap as Pancar rode superbly for sixth.
The vocal supporters roared Febvre up to Horgmo’s back wheel with three laps to go, but he was unable to make the pass, finally having to relent as he slid sideways at the bottom of the steepest uphill. Having finished fifth in Qualifying Races five times previously in MXGP, it was the Norwegian’s best ever race result in the Premiere class!
Coenen’s performance chipped two points away from Febvre’s series lead, which now stands at 47 in total. He will be out to rebuild that lead in the main races tomorrow!
Lucas Coenen: “The race went well overall. I spent a bit of time figuring out where I wanted to start, but once I committed to the outside, it worked out. I got out front early and just focused on doing my laps. The track was really sketchy, so it took a lot of concentration. It got tricky at times with backmarkers, but I kept it under control. Hopefully tomorrow’s race goes smooth and we can have some fun out there.”
MXGP – Qualifying Race Classification: 1. Lucas Coenen (BEL, KTM), 24:13.119; 2. Kevin Horgmo (NOR, Honda), +0:06.069; 3. Romain Febvre (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:07.582; 4. Ruben Fernandez (ESP, Honda), +0:19.680; 5. Maxime Renaux (FRA, Yamaha), +0:20.061; 6. Jan Pancar (SLO, KTM), +0:25.160; 7. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, Ducati), +0:28.319; 8. Isak Gifting (SWE, Yamaha), +0:29.712; 9. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, Fantic), +0:30.931; 10. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), +0:31.562
MXGP – World Championship Classification: 1. Romain Febvre (FRA, KAW), 394 points; 2. Lucas Coenen (BEL, KTM), 347 p.; 3. Tim Gajser (SLO, HON), 305 p.; 4. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, FAN), 279 p.; 5. Ruben Fernandez (ESP, HON), 268 p.; 6. Maxime Renaux (FRA, YAM), 265 p.; 7. Andrea Bonacorsi (ITA, FAN), 223 p.; 8. Kevin Horgmo (NOR, HON), 204 p.; 9. Calvin Vlaanderen (NED, YAM), 201 p.; 10. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, DUC), 183 p.
After setting fastest time in Free Practice, and clearly enjoying the circuit, Kay de Wolf fell awkwardly in Time Practice and finished the session early, ending up with 20th gate pick as Simon Laengenfelder took the top spot ahead of Sacha Coenen and Andrea Adamo. Rick Elzinga looked fast in fourth for Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MX2, with Valerio Lata fifth for Honda HRC.
Laengenfelder entered turn one first, but ran wide slightly to allow Adamo to cross the Fox Holehot line in the lead, with the German rescuing the corner to run second ahead of Coenen. Elzinga and Lata did their gate picks justice in fourth and fifth, while De Wolf was near the back from his unfavourable starting position.
At the top of the first uphill section, in a long right-handed corner, Liam Everts, seventh for Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing, clipped the rear wheel of Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MX2’s Thibault Benistant and tipped over, bringing down the Kawasaki Racing Team MX2 machine of Mathis Valin, plus Honda HRC’s Ferruccio Zanchi!
Oriol Oliver gratefully accepted seventh position for Gabriel SS24 KTM Factory Juniors, ahead of Benistant’s teammate Karlis Reisulis and Van Venrooy KTM Racing lone star Cas Valk. There was disaster on the first full lap for Monster Energy Triumph Racing, as Camden McLellan fell trying to pass Valk, while Guillem Farres suffered a big crash over a tabletop at almost exactly the same time!
Elzinga tragically tumbled out of fourth on lap five, and has been found to have broken his clavicle bone, ruling him out for the near future. We wish him all the best in his recovery.
His crash put Lata fourth, with Benistant chasing after him. Oliver and Valk rode to solid sixth and seventh placed results, while De Wolf worked his way through the pack, as did Everts! On the final lap, the pair caught Reisulis, and Everts brilliantly powered around the outside of both of them on a long uphill corner! Unbelievably, a mistake just two turns later cost the Belgian both of those positions, just as suddenly as he had gained them! The Champ made one last move on the Latvian to claim eighth, with Everts a frustrated tenth.
With the crowd urging on Benistant, he made a strong move past Lata to take fourth with three laps to go, as the young Italian matched his best Qualifying Race in MX2 so far from his wild card appearance at Maggiora last year. Coenen stayed a lonely third, while Laengenfelder got right to the rear wheel of Adamo at one point, but the former Champ held firm to take a solid victory, and get to within five points of the German in the Championship. Laengenfelder has closed the gap to De Wolf down to nine points, and will look to take advantage if the reigning Champion is not at 100% for the two GP races tomorrow.
With the leading contenders all incredibly close in pace, tomorrow’s races are set to be instant classics around the iconic Norman hillsides! We’ve had a taste of the “hors d’oeuvres”, but the full French feast of five star MXGP action is being made ready to serve for all fans of World Championship Motocross at one of its finest venues! Do not miss the experience of the electrifying atmosphere at Ernée as the home favourites try again to raise the crowd to fever pitch!
Andrea Adamo: “It was a good race. I got a strong start and took the lead early, but Simon (Laengenfelder) was right there putting pressure on me. I knew where I was faster and where I was losing time, so I just focused on managing the gap without pushing too much, because it’s really easy to make a mistake on this kind of track. In the end, it was a solid race, and now we get ready for tomorrow.”
MX2 – Qualifying Race Classification: 1. Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), 24:13.701; 2. Simon Längenfelder (GER, KTM), +0:02.770; 3. Sacha Coenen (BEL, KTM), +0:08.891; 4. Thibault Benistant (FRA, Yamaha), +0:18.553; 5. Valerio Lata (ITA, Honda), +0:26.877; 6. Oriol Oliver (ESP, KTM), +0:29.008; 7. Cas Valk (NED, KTM), +0:39.169; 8. Kay de Wolf (NED, Husqvarna), +0:46.295; 9. Karlis Alberts Reisulis (LAT, Yamaha), +0:47.402; 10. Liam Everts (BEL, Husqvarna), +0:47.804
MX2 – World Championship Classification: 1. Kay de Wolf (NED, HUS), 383 points; 2. Simon Längenfelder (GER, KTM), 374 p.; 3. Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), 369 p.; 4. Liam Everts (BEL, HUS), 314 p.; 5. Thibault Benistant (FRA, YAM), 278 p.; 6. Sacha Coenen (BEL, KTM), 272 p.; 7. Camden Mc Lellan (RSA, TRI), 241 p.; 8. Ferruccio Zanchi (ITA, HON), 203 p.; 9. Cas Valk (NED, KTM), 200 p.; 10. Valerio Lata (ITA, HON), 188 p
MXGP OF FRANCE QUICK FACTS:
Circuit length: 1670m
Type of ground: Hard Pack
Temperature: 18°
Weather conditions: Cloudy
TIMETABLE
SUNDAY: 09:40 EMX125 Race 2, 10:25 MX2 Warm-up, 10:45 MXGP Warm-up, 11:30 EMX250 Race 2, 12:20 MXE Race 2, 13:15 MX2 Race 1, 14:15 MXGP Race 1, 16:10 MX2 Race 2, 17:10 MXGP Race 2.
For more news check out our dedicated MXGP/MX2 News page
Or visit the official MXGP website mxgp.com
©Words/Images are from an official press release posted courtesy of www.mxgp.com
