Jeffrey Herlings’ debut for Honda HRC PETRONAS went perfectly on Sunday as the #84 took his 113th GP win with a dominant one-one performance that also saw him take the red-plate. After yesterday’s qualification race, where an unfortunate crash saw him finish outside the points, the maximum score of 50 points today meant he joint-leads the championship with teammate and fellow debutant Tom Vialle after his one-two-four results across the weekend. It is Herlings though that will takeover the red-plate from Vialle due winning the second moto, but both riders will head to Spain for round two, full of confidence.
For Herlings, an outside gate-pick meant his work would be a lot harder – in theory – but a rocket start on-board his Honda CRF450RW saw him take the holeshot in front of Vialle, making it an HRC one-two. Those positions swapped a few laps into the race as Herlings suffered from a bit of arm-pump and while Vialle tried to pull away, Herlings never let the gap get unmanageable and a few laps from the end, he re-passed the French rider and took the victory.
Race two didn’t start off as well, as he was bumped back to around 10th, but he made a bunch of passes in the first couple of laps to work his way forward and eventually up into second. The gap seemed insurmountable, and second would still have been good enough for the overall, but not the red-plate, so the #84 put his head down and once again made the pass for the lead near the end of the moto. A perfect day and a great start to his Honda HRC PETRONAS career and now he hopes to carry this momentum into Spain in a couple of weeks’ time.
Vialle can also be very happy with his weekend, after his two-four motos today that included leading laps in both races. Battling with Herlings in race one and then once again grabbing an excellent start in the second moto meant that he really has got to grips with the Honda CRF450RW is very quick time. Scoring 50 points over the weekend is an excellent tally and while he wasn’t sure where he’d place coming into this round, he now knows he is very much a challenger for the rest of the season.
While he wasn’t pleased with his performance in race one, Ruben Fernandez bounced back in race two and showed that he will also fight for the podium positions throughout this campaign after a fifth placed finish. Things could have been even better as the #70 was in second-position before the red-flag restart, but he put in another solid moto after that and ended up sixth overall in the GP and eight in the championship, with his home GP coming up.
Unfortunately Valerio Lata had a nasty crash in race two, landing on a fellow rider in the chaos of the first two turns. Thankfully the young Italian only has bumps and bruises so he should still be able to line-up in Spain, but he wasn’t the outcome the #18 was after, especially since he finished eighth in the first moto.
Almonte, Spain is another new venue for the series so the riders won’t know exactly what to expect on March 21-22, but after leading all MXGP sessions in Argentina, all the members of Honda HRC PETRONAS will be heading there with renewed confidence that they are very much amongst the best riders on the planet and this second round will give them another opportunity to show it.
MX2 Race 1
1. Simon Längenfelder (GER, KTM), 34:55.834; 2. Sacha Coenen (BEL, KTM), +0:04.422; 3. Guillem Farres (ESP, Triumph), +0:13.557; 4. Janis Martins Reisulis (LAT, Yamaha), +0:16.928; 5. Mathis Valin (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:19.977; 6. Camden Mc Lellan (RSA, Triumph), +0:21.342; 7. Liam Everts (BEL, Husqvarna), +0:34.164; 8. Valerio Lata (ITA, Honda), +0:36.712; 9. Karlis Alberts Reisulis (LAT, Yamaha), +0:45.409; 10. Jens Walvoort (NED, KTM), +0:56.574;
MX2 Race 2
1. Simon Längenfelder (GER, KTM), 35:08.451; 2. Camden Mc Lellan (RSA, Triumph), +0:03.500; 3. Liam Everts (BEL, Husqvarna), +0:20.975; 4. Guillem Farres (ESP, Triumph), +0:34.985; 5. Karlis Alberts Reisulis (LAT, Yamaha), +0:36.783; 6. Janis Martins Reisulis (LAT, Yamaha), +0:37.465; 7. Mathis Valin (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:39.823; 8. Cas Valk (NED, TM), +1:01.988; 9. Julius Mikula (CZE, KTM), +1:08.553; 10. Scott Smulders (NED, Husqvarna), +1:23.225;
MX2 Classification
1. Simon Längenfelder (GER, KTM), 50 points; 2. Guillem Farres (ESP, TRI), 38 p.; 3. Camden Mc Lellan (RSA, TRI), 37 p.; 4. Liam Everts (BEL, HUS), 34 p.; 5. Janis Martins Reisulis (LAT, YAM), 33 p.; 6. Mathis Valin (FRA, KAW), 30 p.; 7. Karlis Alberts Reisulis (LAT, YAM), 28 p.; 8. Sacha Coenen (BEL, KTM), 22 p.; 9. Jens Walvoort (NED, KTM), 21 p.; 10. Cas Valk (NED, TM), 20 p.; 11. Benjamin Garib (CHI, HON), 18 p.; 12. Scott Smulders (NED, HUS), 17 p.; 13. Valerio Lata (ITA, HON), 13 p.;
MX2 Championship
1. Simon Längenfelder (GER, KTM), 50 points; 2. Guillem Farres (ESP, TRI), 47 p.; 3. Camden Mc Lellan (RSA, TRI), 43 p.; 4. Liam Everts (BEL, HUS), 41 p.; 5. Mathis Valin (FRA, KAW), 38 p.; 6. Janis Martins Reisulis (LAT, YAM), 38 p.; 7. Sacha Coenen (BEL, KTM), 32 p.; 8. Karlis Alberts Reisulis (LAT, YAM), 29 p.; 9. Cas Valk (NED, TM), 22 p.; 10. Jens Walvoort (NED, KTM), 21 p.; 11. Benjamin Garib (CHI, HON), 18 p.; 12. Valerio Lata (ITA, HON), 17 p.;
Tom Vialle 16
It feel really nice to be here, up on the podium. I didn’t really know what to expect coming in, because there is a lot of good riders in the GPs. Obviously yesterday was good and I felt comfortable taking the win in the qualification race. Then today, again I was feeling good and it was nice to lead some of the race before Jeffrey passed me. My intensity was pretty good in the first few laps, but I did make a couple of mistakes later, but overall I am very happy with my first weekend with Honda HRC PETRONAS.
Jeffrey Herlings 84
Going one-one in my first outing for Honda HRC PETRONAS is great and a big thank you to everyone in the team who has worked so hard in these couple of months to help make this happen. It wasn’t easy, because in race one I got a bit of arm-pump after grabbing the holeshot but I studied Tom’s lines and then made the pass near the end of the race. Then race two, it was a bit chaotic with the restart but I felt I judged my energy levels well and was able to close the gap and then made the pass again near the end. Going one-one and taking the red-plate is about as good as it as it could have gone today, so I’m hoping to keep this going.
Valerio Lata 18
Definitely a day to forget. Eighth place in race one wasn’t the a performance I was totally happy with, so I was really motivated for race two and got a good start. However another rider made a mistake around the first turn so I had to back off, and then I tried to recover the situation but I ended up landing on another rider who was also caught up in the chaos. A real shame but the aim is to be back ready for Spain in a couple of weeks’ time.
Marcus Pereira de Freitas
HRC General Manager – MXGP
A really great start for the whole of Honda HRC PETRONAS, to win the qualifying race with Tom yesterday and then for Jeffrey to go one-one today and taking the red-plate into Spain. I think we showed that our whole team is strong, with Tom getting third place overall today and leading laps in the first race. Ruben also showed in the second moto that he is going to a force this year and we are really excited to have all three guys fighting for the win and podium spots. Unfortunately Valerio wasn’t able to finish the second race after a nasty crash but he should be okay for Spain in a couple of weeks. A big thanks to all of the team for all their hard work!
Race 1
Pos. Rider Num Nation Points Team Time/Gap
1 Herlings Jeffrey 84 NDL 25 Honda HRC PETRONAS – MXGP 36:02.812
2 Vialle Tom 16 FRA 22 Honda HRC PETRONAS – MXGP 0:03.450
3 Febvre Romain 3 FRA 20 Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP 0:16.886
4 Coenen Lucas 5 BEL 18 Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 0:32.619
5 Jonass Pauls 41 LAT 16 Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP 0:46.824
6 Gajser Tim 243 SLO 15 Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP Team 0:48.358
7 Renaux Maxime 959 FRA 14 Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP Team 0:51.502
8 Vlaanderen Calvin 10 NDL 13 Ducati Factory MX Team 0:52.249
9 Benistant Thibault 9 FRA 12 Honda SR Motoblouz 0:52.675
10 Fernandez Ruben 70 SPA 11 Honda HRC PETRONAS – MXGP 1:04.826
11 Adamo Andrea 80 ITA 10 Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 1:15.627
12 Pancar Jan 253 SLO 9 TEM JP253 KTM Racing Team 1:18.821
13 van Doninck Brent 32 BEL 8 Fantic Factory Racing MXGP 1:20.835
14 Oliver Oriol 83 SPA 7 Gabriel SS24 KTM 1:22.064
15 Guadagnini Mattia 101 ITA 6 Venrooy KTM Racing 1:40.347
16 Horgmo Kevin 24 NOR 5 Honda SR Motoblouz 1:45.712
17 Seewer Jeremy 91 SWI 4 Ducati Factory MX Team 1 lap
18 Poli Joaquin ARG 3 1 lap
19 Van Berkel Lars NDL 2 1 lap
20 Forato Alberto 303 ITA 1 Fantic Factory Racing MXGP 1 lap
Race 2
Pos. Rider Num Nation Points Team Time/Gap
1 Herlings Jeffrey 84 NDL 25 Honda HRC PETRONAS – MXGP 34:32.280
2 Febvre Romain 3 FRA 22 Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP 0:04.674
3 Gajser Tim 243 SLO 20 Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP Team 0:08.103
4 Vialle Tom 16 FRA 18 Honda HRC PETRONAS – MXGP 0:27.977
5 Fernandez Ruben 70 SPA 16 Honda HRC PETRONAS – MXGP 0:30.711
6 Coenen Lucas 5 BEL 15 Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 0:37.758
7 Adamo Andrea 80 ITA 14 Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 0:40.360
8 Renaux Maxime 959 FRA 13 Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP Team 0:43.051
9 Benistant Thibault 9 FRA 12 Honda SR Motoblouz 0:52.620
10 Horgmo Kevin 24 NOR 11 Honda SR Motoblouz 0:54.669
11 van Doninck Brent 32 BEL 10 Fantic Factory Racing MXGP 1:03.628
12 Vlaanderen Calvin 10 NDL 9 Ducati Factory MX Team 1:09.572
13 Jonass Pauls 41 LAT 8 Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP 1:20.801
14 Guadagnini Mattia 101 ITA 7 Venrooy KTM Racing 1:23.484
15 Forato Alberto 303 ITA 6 Fantic Factory Racing MXGP 1:27.116
16 Oliver Oriol 83 SPA 5 Gabriel SS24 KTM 1:40.978
17 Seewer Jeremy 91 SWI 4 Ducati Factory MX Team 2:17.555
18 Pancar Jan 253 SLO 3 TEM JP253 KTM Racing Team 1 lap
19 Poli Joaquin ARG 2 1 lap
20 Van Berkel Lars NDL 1 1 lap
Rider Standings
Pos. Rider Num Nation Points Team
1 Herlings Jeffrey 84 NDL 50 Honda HRC PETRONAS – MXGP
2 Vialle Tom 16 FRA 50 Honda HRC PETRONAS – MXGP
3 Febvre Romain 3 FRA 48 Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP
4 Coenen Lucas 5 BEL 42 Red Bull KTM Factory Racing
5 Gajser Tim 243 SLO 36 Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP Team
6 Renaux Maxime 959 FRA 34 Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP Team
7 Adamo Andrea 80 ITA 32 Red Bull KTM Factory Racing
8 Fernandez Ruben 70 SPA 32 Honda HRC PETRONAS – MXGP
9 Jonass Pauls 41 LAT 28 Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP
10 Vlaanderen Calvin 10 NDL 24 Ducati Factory MX Team
11 Benistant Thibault 9 FRA 24 Honda SR Motoblouz
12 van Doninck Brent 32 BEL 18 Fantic Factory Racing MXGP
13 Guadagnini Mattia 101 ITA 16 Venrooy KTM Racing
14 Horgmo Kevin 24 NOR 16 Honda SR Motoblouz
15 Pancar Jan 253 SLO 12 TEM JP253 KTM Racing Team
16 Oliver Oriol 83 SPA 12 Gabriel SS24 KTM
17 Seewer Jeremy 91 SWI 8 Ducati Factory MX Team
18 Forato Alberto 303 ITA 7 Fantic Factory Racing MXGP
19 Poli Joaquin ARG 5
20 Van Berkel Lars NDL 3
