Honda HRC PETRONAS had an excellent day at the MXGP of Portugal, with Jeffrey Herlings and Ruben Fernandez finishing second and third respectively, and Fernandez in particular giving his ‘home’ fans something to cheer all day long.
Top three for Herlings and Fernandez in Portuguese qualification
While Fernandez was born in Spain, he has spent a lot of time in Portugal throughout his life and has a great affinity for this country and its people. And this Agueda track is his favourite on the calendar and one that his is always highly motivated to perform well at. After a fourth in free practice, he went one better in timed practice and then used that gate-pick to get a strong start and battle at the front of this highly competitive MXGP field. Keeping the top two in sight for the majority of the moto, the #70 was well clear of fourth place and if he can get good starts tomorrow, he definitely has a good chance to stand on the podium and give all his fans even more to cheer.
While Herlings gave it everything he could, he wasn’t quite able to make the pass on this Agueda circuit, instead having to settle for second, but still with a lot of motivation that tomorrow can go even better. He knows that his best chance is to get the holeshot – like he did in Montevarchi – and control the field from the front, but even if he doesn’t, he was looking extremely threatening all moto and with more points on the line, he will be tough to beat.
For Tom Vialle, this was another building block as he gets back up to speed from missing a few GPs. His speed is there, but it is difficult to maintain that against the best 450cc riders in the world and a few mistakes crept in. Still, he is definitely progressing in the right direction and it won’t be long before he is challenging for wins like in the early part of this season.
In the MX2 class, Valerio Lata wasn’t able to capitalise on his good start, eventually dropping down to 10th as he struggled to maintain a good flow in his qualification race.
MX2 Qualification
- Guillem Farres (ESP, Triumph), 24:40.965; 2. Sacha Coenen (BEL, KTM), +0:01.508; 3. Simon Längenfelder (GER, KTM), +0:04.822; 4. Liam Everts (BEL, Husqvarna), +0:05.734; 5. Camden Mc Lellan (RSA, Triumph), +0:12.024; 6. Janis Martins Reisulis (LAT, Yamaha), +0:13.188; 7. Karlis Alberts Reisulis (LAT, Yamaha), +0:39.849; 8. Kay Karssemakers (NED, Kawasaki), +0:41.555; 9. Julius Mikula (CZE, KTM), +0:42.900; 10. Valerio Lata (ITA, Honda), +0:43.955;
Rubén Fernández 70
Honda HRC PETRONAS
I enjoy riding here and just the whole experience for this GP. I’ve had a lot of fans come here to support me and I think my performance on the track was reward for all of them. I got a good start and quickly settled in behind Jeffrey and tried to follow him as closely as possible. I had good lines and never really had any pressure from behind, so I was just able to ride my own race and bring it home in third. This is my best qualification of the season and I’m excited for tomorrow.
Tom Vialle 16
Honda HRC PETRONAS
I didn’t get the best start, which made things a bit harder but I felt my speed in the early laps was good. I made a couple of passes and worked my way into fifth but then I think my time-off caught up with me a bit and I lost my rhythm. In the end I was ninth, which isn’t what I’m after but at the same time there are positives I can take out of it and I think that I’m making progress.
Jeffrey Herlings 84
Honda HRC PETRONAS
I know that gate pick is important here and I was just 0.06 seconds off having first gate for the qualifying race. I got a decent jump and then made a couple of quick passes to move into second. I felt my speed was good and I was trying to find a spot to make the move but couldn’t get myself into position. I feel good though and if I can get out in front, I can control the race like I did in Montevarchi.
Valerio Lata 18
Honda HRC PETRONAS
Not a great race and I never really felt good all day. I got a good start in the race so that’s a positive but after that, I couldn’t find a flow and I just couldn’t keep the guys behind me. I need to work on that and do better in the two motos tomorrow.
Marcus Pereira de Freitas –
Honda HRC PETRONAS
Great to see our guys battling it out in the top three, even if Jeffrey wasn’t quite able to make the pass for the lead. He rode excellently and together with Ruben, I think if they can start out front they definitely have the speed to win. Tom is still getting back up to race-pace and although his speed is good, he isn’t quite able to do it for the whole race. That’ll come though and I think each race he will get better and better. Valerio is struggling a bit to find rhythm and just ride comfortably. Everything seems to be a struggle for him, which will keep working on just to make it so he can express himself better.
Qualifying
Standings
Pos. Rider Num. Team Constr. Pts Time/Gap
1 Lucas Coenen 5 Red Bull KTM Factory Racing KTM 10 24:00.391
2 Jeffrey Herlings 84 Honda HRC PETRONAS Honda 9 0:04.342
3 Rubén Fernández 70 Honda HRC PETRONAS Honda 8 0:17.010
4 Romain Febvre 1 Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP Kawasaki 7 0:25.032
5 Tim Gajser 243 Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP Team Yamaha 6 0:31.158
6 Andrea Adamo 80 Red Bull KTM Factory Racing KTM 5 0:42.528
7 Pauls Jonass 41 Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP Kawasaki 4 0:44.649
8 Maxime Renaux 959 Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP Team Yamaha 3 0:51.685
9 Tom Vialle 16 Honda HRC PETRONAS Honda 2 0:56.011
10 Calvin Vlaanderen 10 Ducati Racing MXGP Ducati 1 0:56.932
11 Jan Pancar 253 Team JP253 KTM Racing Team KTM 0 0:57.869
12 Oriol Oliver 83 GABRIEL SS24 KTM FACTORY JUNIORS KTM 0 1:05.201
13 Ben Watson 919 Dirt Store Triumph Racing Triumph 0 1:07.388
14 Kevin Horgmo 24 Team Honda Motoblouz SR Motul Honda 0 1:11.368
15 Kevin Brumann 87 MX-Handel Husqvarna Racing Husqvarna 0 2:07.873
16 Adam Sterry 811 Chambers KTM Racing KTM 0 1 lap
17 Leopold Ambjörnson 180 Team Leoparden Racing Honda 0 1 lap
18 Victor Alonso Rodilla 96 Privateer (Ducati) Ducati 0 1 lap
19 Romain Pape 64 Privateer (Yamaha) Yamaha 0 1 lap
20 Rick Elzinga 4 Venrooy KTM Racing KTM 0 1 lap
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