LUCAS COENEN AND ADAMO SHINE THROUGH THE SHOWERS AT THE MXGP OF PORTUGAL

While the Crossodromo Internacional de Águeda saw bright sunshine for the morning sessions at the MXGP of Portugal, the ever changeable weather this close to the Atlantic coast struck with a huge downpour during the European Championship races to leave a muddy circuit for the MX2 and MXGP Qualifying Races, with very similar conditions to last season’s event!

The MXGP class saw multiple crashes for many top riders, but it was Lucas Coenen who took a clear victory for Red Bull KTM Factory Racing to continue the momentum from his overall win in Switzerland! Calvin Vlaanderen took a season best finish of second for Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP, ahead of Romain Febvre, who picked up his Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP machine more than once to claim third!

In MX2 it was a Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 1-2 for Andrea Adamo and Sacha Coenen, with last year’s winner Liam Everts winning a duel with his Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing teammate Kay de Wolf for third place.

As much as the amazing Águeda circuit can cope with wet weather and still provide a good platform for the racing, the forecast of more rain is likely to make things all the more unpredictable tomorrow!

After Febvre set fastest time in the first Free Practice session on a bone-dry circuit, he was just edged out of the top spot by Coenen, who went 54 thousandths of a second faster than the Kawasaki man in Time Practice! Coenen’s teammate Jeffrey Herlings pulled out all the stops on his very last lap to just edge Team Honda Motoblouz SR Motul rider Kevin Horgmo out of the top three.

From the wide-open blast down the soggy start straight and first two corners, Febvre led until Coenen cut to the inside line to go past, but only for a few metres as he missed a gear before the big tabletop in front of the main grandstand! However, on the first corner of the first full lap, the Frenchman dropped the bike in a tight left hander and restarted in eighth, handing Coenen the vital leading position, with Herlings and Vlaanderen close behind.

Pauls Jonass was enjoying a good start on his return for Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP, but was passed for fourth at the end of the first lap by Jeremy Seewer. Sadly for the Swiss Aruba.it Ducati Factory MX Team rider, he crashed on the next lap, allowing Febvre through and past his teammate at the same time to reach fourth, as Jonass crashed himself half a lap later!

These incidents allowed Horgmo and Honda HRC’s lone wolf Ruben Fernandez to climb into fifth and sixth, with popular Swiss privateer Kevin Brumann holding seventh for MX-Handel Husqvarna Racing! Roan van de Moosdijk was also well placed for the KTM Kosak Team, with Jonass remounting in ninth ahead of the Fantic Factory Racing team leader Andrea Bonacorsi.

Febvre slipped past Vlaanderen at the start of the Pit Lane straight on lap five, as Jonass crashed again, as did Bonacorsi, elevating the other Fantic of Glenn Coldenhoff, and the other Ducati of Mattia Guadagnini to rise into the top ten!

First-round winner Maxime Renaux was uncertain of even participating in the week before the event, but the Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP man fought past Mattia to ninth before Seewer recovered to pass him on the last lap. There was chaos up ahead however, as Fernandez dropped two places with an off-track excursion by the finish line, which saw him on the floor twice!

The biggest incident of the race came on lap ten, as Herlings was cruising in second behind Coenen and caught his foot on a bump, losing control over a downhill jump and hitting the ground! Febvre was on the scene in mere moments and could not avoid the Dutchman as he was upright and reaching for his bike! The impact put them both on the ground again, and Jeffrey has sadly posted online that he has broken at least a rib in the collision, but will try to race tomorrow.

Romain was up and going again quickly enough to hold third to the flag behind Vlaanderen, but the multiple accidents left Brumann in a career-best fourth position, ahead of an equally-significant result for Van de Moosdijk in fifth! Fernandez and Herlings recovered to finish sixth and seventh, with Coldenhoff eighth.

There were no such problems for Coenen, however, as he powered to a 13-second victory that puts him 49 points behind Febvre in the Championship, as the Frenchman closes to within 19 points of sadly absent series leader, Honda HRC’s Tim Gajser.

How tomorrow’s races will play out is anyone’s guess, although a strong start will help as always in the Portuguese mud! Not to be missed!

Lucas Coenen: “The track was really brutal today. I messed up the start a bit and Romain (Febvre) closed me off, but I kept the pressure and he made a mistake and I was able to take over and control the race from there. The ruts are super harsh which which make it hard on the jumps. You can crash jump pretty easily with the water when you land, and I had a close call on the finish. But I stayed calm, kept it smooth, and overall it was a good day. Hopefully it’ll be a little less rough tomorrow—let’s see how it goes.”

MXGP – Qualifying Race Classification: 1. Lucas Coenen (BEL, KTM), 25:01.622; 2. Calvin Vlaanderen (NED, Yamaha), +0:13.164; 3. Romain Febvre (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:23.927; 4. Kevin Brumann (SUI, Husqvarna), +0:27.320; 5. Roan Van De Moosdijk (NED, KTM), +0:29.866; 6. Ruben Fernandez (ESP, Honda), +0:35.687; 7. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), +0:37.940; 8. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, Fantic), +0:38.968; 9. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, Ducati), +0:39.513; 10. Maxime Renaux (FRA, Yamaha), +0:40.299

MXGP – World Championship Classification: 1. Tim Gajser (SLO, HON), 305 points; 2. Romain Febvre (FRA, KAW), 286 p.; 3. Lucas Coenen (BEL, KTM), 237 p.; 4. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, FAN), 227 p.; 5. Maxime Renaux (FRA, YAM), 189 p.; 6. Ruben Fernandez (ESP, HON), 183 p.; 7. Andrea Bonacorsi (ITA, FAN), 163 p.; 8. Kevin Horgmo (NOR, HON), 163 p.; 9. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, DUC), 140 p.; 10. Calvin Vlaanderen (NED, YAM), 135 p.

Main Photo: Lucas Coenen

Top Photo: MXGP Start Qualifying Race

Bottom Photos: 1. Calvin Vlaanderen; 2. Romain Febvre

Red Bull KTM Factory Racing took first and second in Time Practice, after Sacha Coenen was top for them in Free Practice, but Simon Laengenfelder went over half a second quicker than Sacha in the end to take pole, with Kay de Wolf not far behind in third!

Although only thirteenth in Time Practice, 2023 World Champion Adamo was forceful out of the gate and rode around Laengenfelder to lead into turn two, and Coenen also went around the German on the tricky downhill section into turn three. On a tough first lap for Simon, Everts then also passed him before the finish line, with De Wolf pouncing halfway around the circuit, forcing the Swiss GP winner to run off the track! He still re-joined to keep fifth position.

Returning from injury for Kawasaki Racing Team MX2 was Mathis Valin, and he looked good in sixth place ahead of the Monster Energy Triumph Racing duo Guillem Farres and Camden McLellan, although the South African worked past his Spanish teammate on lap five, then took advantage of a crash from Valin on lap eight!

The Triumph riders finished in that order for sixth and seventh, ahead of a spirited charge from WZ-Racing KTM’s Quentin Prugnieres, while Honda HRC rider Ferruccio Zanchi recovered from an awful start to pass Valin for ninth on the final lap.

De Wolf, meanwhile, had run off track all by himself on lap three, and try as he might he couldn’t get back past his teammate Everts, so they finished in third and fourth ahead of Laengenfelder, the Dutchman increasing his lead in the table slightly to four points.

For a few laps Sacha threated to close on Andrea at the top, although the team boarded him to say “BE SMART”, wary of the young Belgian’s eagerness to push to the front. Adamo himself improved his lap times and made the race his own to take his second Qualifying Race win of the season, and now sits exactly 20 points behind leader De Wolf in the series, with Everts now nine points behind the Italian.

With track preparation tough due to the rain, the circuit will serve up a very challenging day of racing tomorrow, but it promises to be another wild ride as the stars of the MXGP World Championship fight the elements as well as each other!

Andrea Adamo: “That was amazing. I didn’t expect to take the holeshot, especially from the gate I had, since I usually struggle a bit in time practice—that’s something I need to improve. But I knew the start would be key and I made it happen. It’s actually the first mud race I’ve ever won, so I’m really pumped, even if it’s just Saturday. It feels great.”

MX2 – Qualifying Race Classification: 1. Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), 26:19.299; 2. Sacha Coenen (BEL, KTM), +0:05.655; 3. Liam Everts (BEL, Husqvarna), +0:07.711; 4. Kay de Wolf (NED, Husqvarna), +0:36.093; 5. Simon Längenfelder (GER, KTM), +0:58.521; 6. Camden Mc Lellan (RSA, Triumph), +1:17.065; 7. Guillem Farres (ESP, Triumph), +1:18.440; 8. Quentin Marc Prugnieres (FRA, KTM), +1:19.728; 9. Ferruccio Zanchi (ITA, Honda), +1:21.366; 10. Mathis Valin (FRA, Kawasaki), +1:25.090

MX2 – World Championship Classification: 1. Kay de Wolf (NED, HUS), 288 points; 2. Simon Längenfelder (GER, KTM), 284 p.; 3. Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), 268 p.; 4. Liam Everts (BEL, HUS), 259 p.; 5. Thibault Benistant (FRA, YAM), 203 p.; 6. Sacha Coenen (BEL, KTM), 198 p.; 7. Camden Mc Lellan (RSA, TRI), 196 p.; 8. Cas Valk (NED, KTM), 174 p.; 9. Ferruccio Zanchi (ITA, HON), 142 p.; 10. Valerio Lata (ITA, HON), 142 p