Honda HRC’s Tim Gajser made it four victories in a row at the St Jean D’Angely circuit in France, taking the 2025 MXGP of Europe overall after another one-one performance in the mixed conditions at the hillside venue. After three rounds of racing in 2025, the Honda CRF450R rider is already 29 points ahead of his nearest rival and has won five of the nine gate-drops so far, which is one of the strongest openings in what is already a record-breaking career.
After the second-place finish in yesterday’s muddy qualification race, Gajser knew that starts were critical to his chances of winning today, and as showers hit the facility, he stormed out of the gate in the first moto, narrowly missing out on the holeshot but quickly moving himself into the lead as they rounded the second corner. He quickly pulled out a comfortable gap and despite some late pressure, took the chequered flag in first place.
In race two, things didn’t go so smoothly as he was buried in the pack early-on. He made his customary first lap passes to get into fourth, but there was still plenty of work to do, if he wanted to win race two. However, as the showers continued to fall on the venue, he made a pass every lap, and by lap five had taken control of the race once again, before pulling out a lead no-one came close to. His 50-point effort means that only two other riders are within a GP of him in the points standings, and while he will have plenty of challenges to come, this is a great start to the season for the five-time champion.
Things were also looking promising for teammate Ruben Fernandez after race one, when the Spaniard rode a consistent moto – much like his third place in qualification – to work his way forward into fifth place. With another strong result in race two, he stood a good chance of landing himself on the podium, but those chances were ended on the first lap as he had to withdraw from the racetrack due to an unfortunate incident. Thankfully, there is a weekend off to recover, before the series returns in Riola Sardo, Sardinia where he’ll be tackling the deep sand circuit.
In the MX2 class, both CRF250R riders ended the day with 20 points, in what wasn’t really a fair reflection of the speed they brought to the table. Both riders went seven-15, in alternating motos, with Valerio Lata looking good in race one as he hounded the reigning world MX2 champion around the track. Then in race two it was Ferruccio Zanchi’s turn to put in a good performance as he moved through the field to score good points.
However, overall, both riders would be aiming for more and know that they still have work to do in order to challenge regularly at the front of this highly competitive MX2 field. Still, the team is working hard to help them with their efforts, and both riders are less experienced than their rivals, and with some good tracks coming up for the duo, the confidence is high that they will get there sooner, rather than later.
That starts on April 5-6 when the team make the short flight across to the island of Sardinia, where the deep sand of Riola Sardo awaits. It is the first test in the soft stuff this year and all four riders will be looking to make a point that they excel at one of the toughest tracks they will face all year.
MX2 Race 1
- Simon Längenfelder (GER, KTM), 35:28.696; 2. Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), +0:03.930; 3. Liam Everts (BEL, Husqvarna), +0:19.095; 4. Sacha Coenen (BEL, KTM), +0:22.976; 5. Thibault Benistant (FRA, Yamaha), +0:28.003; 6. Kay de Wolf (NED, Husqvarna), +0:28.436; 7. Valerio Lata (ITA, Honda), +0:45.809; 8. Cas Valk (NED, KTM), +0:50.146; 9. Quentin Marc Prugnieres (FRA, KTM), +0:56.271; 10. Camden Mc Lellan (RSA, Triumph), +0:57.210; … 15. Ferruccio Zanchi (ITA, Honda), +1:29.119;
MX2 Race 2
- Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), 35:08.618; 2. Thibault Benistant (FRA, Yamaha), +0:00.568; 3. Simon Längenfelder (GER, KTM), +0:06.135; 4. Kay de Wolf (NED, Husqvarna), +0:17.832; 5. Liam Everts (BEL, Husqvarna), +0:22.113; 6. Cas Valk (NED, KTM), +0:30.180; 7. Ferruccio Zanchi (ITA, Honda), +0:37.816; 8. Mathis Valin (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:43.088; 9. Camden Mc Lellan (RSA, Triumph), +0:48.596; 10. David Braceras (ESP, Honda), +1:00.126;… 15. Valerio Lata (ITA, Honda), +1:34.837;
MX2 Classification
- Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), 47 points; 2. Simon Längenfelder (GER, KTM), 45 p.; 3. Thibault Benistant (FRA, YAM), 38 p.; 4. Liam Everts (BEL, HUS), 36 p.; 5. Kay de Wolf (NED, HUS), 33 p.; 6. Cas Valk (NED, KTM), 28 p.; 7. Sacha Coenen (BEL, KTM), 25 p.; 8. Camden Mc Lellan (RSA, TRI), 23 p.; 9. Mathis Valin (FRA, KAW), 21 p.; 10. Ferruccio Zanchi (ITA, HON), 20 p.; 11. Valerio Lata (ITA, HON), 20 p.;
MX2 World Championship
- Liam Everts (BEL, HUS), 135 points; 2. Simon Längenfelder (GER, KTM), 132 p.; 3. Kay de Wolf (NED, HUS), 130 p.; 4. Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), 124 p.; 5. Thibault Benistant (FRA, YAM), 111 p.; 6. Sacha Coenen (BEL, KTM), 101 p.; 7. Cas Valk (NED, KTM), 91 p.; 8. Ferruccio Zanchi (ITA, HON), 74 p.; 9. Camden Mc Lellan (RSA, TRI), 72 p.; 10. Valerio Lata (ITA, HON), 65 p.;
Tim Gajser 243
It was a really good weekend, on what was a sketchy track. The rain made things difficult but I kept things steady, and I got good starts, especially in race one when I was leading from almost the beginning. It wasn’t easy out there, but I’m very happy with how it went and I’m excited to go to Riola Sardo and the first sand race of the year. We have been working hard in the sand and I’m excited to show off what we’ve done.
Ruben Fernandez 70
Unfortunately, not a good ending, for what was looking like a promising weekend. Third in the qualification race, then fifth in race one and I was looking to challenge for the podium in race two. In the end, having to pull off the track after a lap isn’t how I wanted to end my day but that’s motocross and now I need to just make sure I’m all good before preparing for Riola Sardo in a couple of weeks’ time.
Ferruccio Zanchi 73
My speed was better than my results show, but I know that starts are very important in these races, and I need to improve in that area. Still, we are making progress around the rest of the track and I’m happy with my riding, so I don’t want to be too critical of myself. The podium in Spain definitely raised my expectations, so that is the goal now and that starts again in Sardinia next time out.
Valerio Lata 18
I had a really good race one, pursuing the world champion around the track, and finishing in seventh place. I felt comfortable and I was excited for race two. Unfortunately I couldn’t put it together and got involved in some battles that didn’t make things easy and I could only finish 15th. It’s not how I wanted to end the race, but I now have a weekend off to prepare for Riola and the deep sand, so it should be a good challenge and I’m looking forward to it.
Marcus Pereira de Freitas
HRC General Manager – MXGP
Another great day for Tim, winning both races to take his 51st GP overall. It also extends his points lead to 29pts after just three GPs, so we are all very happy with how things are going and will keep working hard to make sure they continue in the same way. Unfortunately Ruben wasn’t able to finish the second race, so we will see how he is doing in the next few days and plan around those updates.
For Ferro and Valerio, it was a weekend full of promise and potential, which perhaps didn’t quite end up how we wanted. We know that it can happen though, but the important thing is to learn from this and improve the next time we go racing. Now we have a weekend off, before the trip to Sardinia which is a home GP but a completely different challenge than we’ve faced so far, which hopefully will stay dry!
Race 1
Pos. Rider Num Nation Points Team Time/Gap
1 Gajser Tim 243 SLO 25 Honda HRC – MXGP 33:57.468
2 Febvre Romain 3 FRA 22 Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP 0:03.930
3 Coenen Lucas 96 BEL 20 Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 0:30.497
4 Guadagnini Mattia 101 ITA 18 Ducati Factory MX Team 1:15.133
5 Fernandez Ruben 70 SPA 16 Honda HRC – MXGP 1:24.811
6 Jonass Pauls 41 LAT 15 Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP 1:31.140
7 Guillod Valentin 92 SWI 14 Wildcard Rider 1:47.480
8 Vlaanderen Calvin 10 NDL 13 Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP Team 1:51.615
9 Horgmo Kevin 24 NOR 12 Honda SR Motoblouz 1:52.557
10 Renaux Maxime 959 FRA 11 Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP Team 1:53.523
11 Coldenhoff Glenn 259 NDL 10 Fantic Factory Racing MXGP 1:57.190
12 Bogers Brian 189 NDL 9 Fantic Factory Racing MXGP 1 Lap
13 Seewer Jeremy 91 SWI 8 Ducati Factory MX Team 1 Lap
14 Watson Ben 919 GBR 7 MRT Racing Team Beta 1 Lap
15 Ludwig Noah GER 6 1 Lap
16 Pancar Jan 253 SLO 5 TEM JP253 KTM Racing Team 1 Lap
17 Sterry Adam GBR 4 1 Lap
18 Brumann Kevin 87 SWI 3 Wildcard Rider 1 Lap
19 Geerts Jago 93 BEL 2 Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP Team 1 Lap
20 Forato Alberto 303 ITA 1 Honda SR Motoblouz 1 Lap
Race 2
Pos. Rider Num Nation Points Team Time/Gap
1 Gajser Tim 243 SLO 25 Honda HRC – MXGP 35:14.666
2 Febvre Romain 3 FRA 22 Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP 0:19.307
3 Coenen Lucas 96 BEL 20 Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 0:21.551
4 Coldenhoff Glenn 259 NDL 18 Fantic Factory Racing MXGP 0:24.254
5 Renaux Maxime 959 FRA 16 Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP Team 0:24.412
6 Jonass Pauls 41 LAT 15 Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP 0:30.457
7 Guadagnini Mattia 101 ITA 14 Ducati Factory MX Team 0:32.732
8 Horgmo Kevin 24 NOR 13 Honda SR Motoblouz 0:33.436
9 Gifting Isak 517 SWE 12 JK Racing Yamaha Active 0:37.974
10 Seewer Jeremy 91 SWI 11 Ducati Factory MX Team 0:45.464
11 Guillod Valentin 92 SWI 10 Wildcard Rider 0:46.104
12 Watson Ben 919 GBR 9 MRT Racing Team Beta 1:02.833
13 Pancar Jan 253 SLO 8 TEM JP253 KTM Racing Team 1:14.002
14 Bonacorsi Andrea 132 ITA 7 Fantic Factory Racing MXGP 1:17.975
15 van de Moosdijk Roan NDL 6 1:20.216
16 Ludwig Noah GER 5 1:22.030
17 Koch Tom 226 GER 4 MRT Racing Team Beta 1:37.383
18 Sterry Adam GBR 3 1 Lap
19 Pape Romain 53 FRA 2 Wildcard Rider 1 Lap
20 Nickel Cato GER 1 1 Lap
Rider Standings
Pos. Rider Num Nation Points Team
1 Gajser Tim 243 SLO 167 Honda HRC – MXGP
2 Febvre Romain 3 FRA 138 Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP
3 Renaux Maxime 959 FRA 121 Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP Team
4 Coenen Lucas 96 BEL 107 Red Bull KTM Factory Racing
5 Coldenhoff Glenn 259 NDL 107 Fantic Factory Racing MXGP
6 Jonass Pauls 41 LAT 86 Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP
7 Guadagnini Mattia 101 ITA 84 Ducati Factory MX Team
8 Horgmo Kevin 24 NOR 81 Honda SR Motoblouz
9 Fernandez Ruben 70 SPA 77 Honda HRC – MXGP
10 Bonacorsi Andrea 132 ITA 63 Fantic Factory Racing MXGP
11 Seewer Jeremy 91 SWI 58 Ducati Factory MX Team
12 Vlaanderen Calvin 10 NDL 57 Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP Team
13 Bogers Brian 189 NDL 55 Fantic Factory Racing MXGP
14 Gifting Isak 517 SWE 54 JK Racing Yamaha Active
15 Watson Ben 919 GBR 41 MRT Racing Team Beta
16 Guillod Valentin 92 SWI 40 Wildcard Rider
17 Pancar Jan 253 SLO 37 TEM JP253 KTM Racing Team
18 Geerts Jago 93 BEL 28 Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP Team
19 Brumann Kevin 87 SWI 15 Wildcard Rider
20 van de Moosdijk Roan NDL 14
21 Koch Tom 226 GER 14 MRT Racing Team Beta
22 Ludwig Noah GER 11
23 Sterry Adam GBR 10
24 Gilbert Josh GBR 8
25 Tondel Cornelius 17 NOR 7 JWR Honda Racing
26 Aparecido dos Santos Fabio BRA 5
27 Forato Alberto 303 ITA 2 Honda SR Motoblouz
28 Pape Romain 53 FRA 2 Wildcard Rider
29 Scheu Mark GER 1
30 Nickel Cato GER 1
