Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP’s Romain Febvre qualified fifth at a damp St Jean d’Angely as the hillside track in western France hosts the third round of the 2025 FIM World MXGP Motocross Championship.
The Frenchman chose a central gate after posting second-fastest time during Timed Practice but was pushed wide at turn one when several riders drifted wide on the slippery surface to emerge just outside the top-ten. By the end of the first lap he had moved into tenth but needed several laps to get around KRT teammate Pauls Jonass. Febvre was the only rider in traffic to post a sub 1-50 lap during the second half of the race, making a series of exhilerating passes to move into his eventual fifth with three laps remaining.
Romain Febvre: “I felt OK all day but I just lost too much at the start; my jump out of the gate was really good but I lost a little drive on the straight. I managed my way back to fifth even though it was difficult to see in the mud but we need to start better tomorrow; the gate is quite open so fifth is OK but I need to find better drive on the straight.”
Pauls Jonass, seventh in Timed Practice, was initially ninth in the the Qualifying race. The Latvian settled into a solid pace after being passed by his teammate on lap three and his perseverence paid dividends as he made a decisive pass to capture eighth on the final lap.
Pauls Jonass: “I felt good in practice but maybe I made a wrong decision with the tyre for Qualifying; I chose a scoop tyre and felt a little too much wheelspin during the early laps. But generally the feeling was good; hopefully it will stay dry tomorrow as there is more flow in the track this year.”
Kawasaki Racing Team MX2’s Mathis Valin bravely defied the discomfort from the sprained wrist he sustained last week in Spain to contest Qualifying for the FIM World MX2 Motocross Championship. He was content to post twelfth fastest time during practice and cleverly chose the unfavoured inside gate for the Qualifying race. A superb start on the KX250-SR saw the teenager approach the first turn with the leaders and he turned tight to emerge fourth, but the prospect of world championship points evaporated as he fell accelerating out of a slippery turn four in the light rain. Remounting at the back of the pack he eventually recovered to fourteenth at the finish.
Mathis Valin: “It was quite difficult with my wrist but we stay positive and I am just happy that I could ride. I had a really good start but unfortunately I crashed after a few corners; the track was really fast and quite slippery with the rain and it was quite hard after a few laps but I came back to fourteenth so I have a decent gate-pick for the GP and tomorrow is more important than today.”
Photocredits Full Spectrum Media
