Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MX2 team’s Thibault Benistant has placed eighth overall at what proved to be a gruelling second round of the 2025 MX2 World Championship. Heavy rain in the lead-up to the weekend and during the points-paying races resulted in one of the toughest Grands Prix in recent history. In Race One, Benistant secured a solid fourth place, but a crash in Race Two dropped him down to 12th. The Frenchman’s teammates endured a tough day at the office with Karlis Reisulis placing 14th and Rick Elzinga finishing 17th.
The hillside venue of the Cozar Motor Ranch in Spain hosted the final round of the 2024 campaign where Benistant signed off the season with third overall. Returning to the track for the second round of the 2025 season, the 22-year-old began the weekend with an impressive victory in Saturday’s MX2 Qualifying Race, securing 10 championship points and moving up to sixth in the series standings.
Lining up with confidence from his successful start to the weekend, Benistant gated well in the first race that took place in sodden conditions after persistent rain fell overnight. Taking full advantage of his strong start, Benistant ran fifth until he inherited fourth when his compatriot Mathis Valin fell from his machine. With a comfortable gap behind him and with the leaders out of reach, Benistant settled for fourth for his best GP race result of the season so far.
Fired up to claim a second overall podium at the Spanish venue, Benistant started up front in the second race before he crashed out of sixth on lap three. Fortunate to escape unscathed in the incident, he damaged his front wheel and had to pull into pit lane for a quick repair. Able to rejoin the race and finish 12th, Benistant placed eighth overall for the day and now heads to his home GP next weekend lying sixth in the MX2 World Championship standings.
Having placed eighth at the season-opener in Argentina, Reisulis was looking for another strong result in Spain. However, the likeable Latvian suffered from mid-pack starts in both races and could only recover to secure a 15-14 result for 14th overall. Reisulis now lies 13th in the championship standings.
Elzinga crashed early in Race One and was unable to continue due to damage to his Yamaha YZ250FM. Then in Race Two, the Dutchman battled through the heavy mud for 13th to place 17th on the day. Following two challenging rounds to start the MX2 World Championship, Elzinga now sits 17th in the series standings.
The FIM Motocross World Championship resumes next weekend with the MXGP of Europe that takes place at the legendary venue of Saint Jean d’Angely in western France.
Thibault Benistant
“Today was definitely tough. A good start in Race One made things a lot easier for me in that one, though. I didn’t want to crash so I rode a safe race and it seemed to work as I finished fourth. In the second one I had another good race going until I had a big crash and it damaged my front wheel. I had to call into the pits and the team fixed it quickly so I could carry on, and I ended up 12th. It was really tough as I then lost my gloves too, so gripping the bike was difficult. So, 12th in that one was OK. It could have been better but it could have been a lot worse, too.”
Karlis Reisulis
“I don’t have much to say about today. I think they were the two worst races of my life and hopefully next weekend in France I can bounce back and ride like I did in Argentina.”
Rick Elzinga
“Not a great day. I crashed in both races on the first lap. In the first one my bike was too damaged to continue so that wasn’t a good start to the day and then in Race Two I didn’t get the start I needed to stay out of trouble. So, I had goggle and glove problems because of how muddy it was. The conditions were really, really difficult today and now I’ll regroup and look forward to round three next weekend.”
