With a gruelling Portuguese GP in the books, Team HRC head north to the city of Lugo, in the Galicia region of Spain with fresh impetus as they apply the championship-leading red-plate to Tim Gajser’s Honda CRF450R and make sure Ferruccio Zanchi’s Honda CRF250R is ready for action again after missing the last few rounds through injury.
Thankfully, after the Agueda mud-bath, the weather forecast for Lugo looks a lot better, and it will be good to see Gajser running the red-plate, like he did on the Sunday of the opening round in Argentina. His one-one-ten results were good enough for a 27-point swing in the championship standings and he’ll be hoping to increase his 14-point lead in what is a brand-new circuit on the world championship series.
MXGP teammate Ruben Fernandez is very familiar with the track, having grown up nearby and having won races here this year and in the past, but unfortunately the Spaniard still isn’t recovered from his knee injury and will instead be cheering on from the sidelines. However, youngster Zanchi will be returning after missing three rounds with a shoulder issue, and the Italian is very much looking forward to racing again.
In what is a building year for both him, and the 250cc programme, it was decided that Portugal would have just been an event too soon, and that with five races in six weekends, it was better to heal completely, than to rush back and potentially miss more races. As always, there is no pressure on his results, but once the gate-drops, the #73 has already shown this year that he is fully capable of mixing it up inside the top 10 and that will no doubt be the riders’ own target across the weekend’s motos.
Tim Gajser 243
Portugal was a really tough test, but it was good to escape with the red-plate. It is definitely a nice thing to have at this stage of the season but there is a long way to go and I need to keep pushing, especially as I want to put in three strong motos and get myself on the top step of the podium. Twice now I’ve won two of the three races over the weekend so it’d be nice to make it three and win the GP. A big thanks to all the work the team did with the starts because they were excellent in Agueda and I’m looking forward to repeating them again in Lugo this weekend.
Ferruccio Zanchi 73
It’s great to be back with the team and going to the races again. It’s been a frustrating few weeks dealing with this injury but I wanted to make sure I was 100% before returning, especially with all these races coming up in a short space of time. I’ve raced in Lugo with Ruben (Fernandez) at the beginning of the year in the Spanish championship, so I know the track a bit and it is fun, so it is good to come-back to a track I am familiar with. I won’t be putting too much pressure on myself for results but I can’t wait for that first gate-drop
Marcus Pereira de Freitas
HRC General Manager – MXGP
After a mud race like in Portugal, there is always a big clean-up operation that needs to take place, to make sure everything is ready for the next race. Thankfully Lugo is close to Agueda, so there isn’t too much travel but there was still a lot of work and as always, our team have done an excellent job. Tim also did an excellent job last weekend and it is a nice thing to be applying a red-plate to his Honda CRF450R for this weekend. It’s also good that Ferruccio is back with us after missing the last few rounds. It won’t be easy to get back up to speed, but he will be fresh and he is young and raring to go.
Rider Standings
Pos. Rider Num Nation Points Team
1 Gajser Tim 243 SLO 252 Team HRC – MXGP
2 Prado Garcia Jorge 1 SPA 238 Red Bull GasGas Factory Racing
3 Febvre Romain 3 FRA 220 Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP
4 Herlings Jeffrey 84 NDL 198 Red Bull KTM Factory Racing
5 Jonass Pauls 41 LAT 192 Standing Construct Honda MXGP
6 Seewer Jeremy 91 SWI 157 Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP
7 Vlaanderen Calvin 10 NDL 151 Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP Team
8 Coldenhoff Glenn 259 NDL 149 Fantic Factory Racing MXGP
9 Horgmo Kevin 24 NOR 108 Team Ship To Cycle Honda SR Motoblouz
10 Watson Ben 919 GBR 92 MRT Racing Team Beta
11 Guillod Valentin 92 SWI 91 Team Ship To Cycle Honda SR Motoblouz
12 Tondel Cornelius 17 NOR 74 Schmicker Racing
13 Bogers Brian 189 NDL 68 Fantic Factory Racing MXGP
14 Renaux Maxime 959 FRA 63 Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP Team
15 Gifting Isak 517 SWE 60 JK Racing Yamaha Active
16 Pancar Jan 253 SLO 54 TEM JP253 KTM Racing Team
17 Östlund Alvin SWE 48
18 Monticelli Ivo 128 ITA 40 MRT Racing Team Beta
19 Koch Tom GER 40
20 Paturel Benoit FRA 35
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