It was a weekend of twists and turns. The 24 Hours of Le Mans was plagued by crashes, and karma seems to have been transposed to our Swiss neighbors. In MXGP, KTM scored a one-two finish and Lucas Coenen a first victory, while the championship's big guns, including leader Tim Gajser, had a scare with a crash and a dislocated shoulder.
The Frauenfeld track was a technical and tricky one this weekend, with ruts and holes all around! In Friday's qualifying session, Honda HRC rider Ruben Fernandez set the fastest time, and his Honda HRC team-mate Tim Gajser responded with the fastest time in the warm-up. Throughout the weekend, we saw a track that wasn't easy at all, with long ruts and lots of holes. In these difficult conditions, the surprise came from the young Lucas Coenen (KTM) who, at just 18 years and five months old, managed like an old hand. He took the holeshot at the start of the first race. Better still, the KTM rider took the lead of the race, while Tim Gajser and then Ruben Fernandez had to get rid of Seewer (Ducati). The same Seewer made a costly mistake a few laps later. He dropped back to 8th place to finish 7th.
Behind him, it was the battle of the poor starters. Andrea Bonacorsi (Fantic), Maxime Renaux (Yamaha) and Romain Febvre (Kawasaki). For a while, these three animated the race, but it was the Fantic rider who won the chocolate medal of fourth place. Our two Frenchmen finished 5th and 6th. Horgmo (8th) on Honda, Vlaanderen (9th) Yamaha and Coldenhoff (10th) Fanrtic complete the Top 10 of the first race.
Round2, bis répétita for Coenen, Gajser takes the cake, first podium for Ducati
The second race started like the first for Lucas Coenen, after another holeshot. Only this time, he had the world championship leader hot on his heels. Tim Gajser was vindictive and put the pressure on the rookie. After 3 laps, they had a clear lead over Frenchman Renaux and his Yamaha, who completed the Top 3.
Gajser, in search of less rugged terrain, then set out to bite into the grass at the edge of the track. As the grass hid an obstacle, Gajser saw his front wheel lift under full acceleration and land where it shouldn't have. The Slovenian lost control and was ejected from his bike, landing heavily on his right side as his Honda rolled over. It was an impressive fall, and although Gajser wanted to get up immediately, the pain in his shoulder made him realize that he wasn't going back! Sitting on his bike, which was itself on its side, the scene was a little strange. It took the track marshals some time to get the rider off the track, while the whole train of riders noted the damage as they passed him in slow motion.
And we weren't done with the crashes yet, as Valentin Guillod, who was in 5th place at the time, also crashed heavily. In the battle at the end of the race, under pressure from Febvre (Kawasaki), Maxime Renaux (Yamaha) made two mistakes. The first, when his hand lost control of the handlebars, he missed a braking action and lost second place. In the second, the Yamaha rider, who was in3rd position close to febvre in the battle for second place, missed the landing of a jump and fell over the front of his bike. He was unable to resume the race.
Romain Febvre finished second after a fine comeback, ahead of Jeremy Seewer. The Swiss rider took advantage of the numerous crashes and Jeffrey Herlings' slower pace to take third place at the end of the round, synonymous with Ducati's first MXGP podium.
Tim Gajser retains the red leader's plate, but sees Frenchman Romain Febvre closing the gap on him to just 27 points. The championship is still a long way off, and the next round takes place in two weeks' time in Agueda, Portugal.
Lucas Coenen"I wasn't expecting it, it's not easy for me. I managed two holeshots and got the inside on Tim. I managed the laps well to control the race. I was doing really well. I'm speechless, it feels so good to win. I'm really savoring the moment. I was still battling with Tim in the second heat before he crashed, so I hope all goes well for him."
MXGP - Grand Prix race 1 - Top 10 Classification:
1. Lucas Coenen (BEL, KTM), 33:46.050; 2. Tim Gajser (SLO, Honda), +0:05.978; 3. Ruben Fernandez (ESP, Honda), +0:10.189; 4. Andrea Bonacorsi (ITA, Fantic), +0:13.202; 5. Maxime Renaux (FRA, Yamaha), +0:14.123; 6. Romain Febvre (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:15.535; 7. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, Ducati), +0:29.220; 8. Kevin Horgmo (NOR, Honda), +0:36.885; 9. Calvin Vlaanderen (NED, Yamaha), +0:38.045; 10. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, Fantic), +0:42.000
MXGP - Grand Prix race 2 - Top 10 Classification:
1. Lucas Coenen (BEL, KTM), 33:57.096; 2. Romain Febvre (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:04.689; 3. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, Ducati), +0:10.876; 4. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), +0:16.061; 5. Andrea Bonacorsi (ITA, Fantic), +0:27.867; 6. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, Fantic), +0:29.927; 7. Ben Watson (GBR, Beta), +0:36.134; 8. Kevin Horgmo (NOR, Honda), +0:39.716; 9. Calvin Vlaanderen (NED, Yamaha), +0:45.595; 10. Jan Pancar (SLO, KTM), +0:50.713
MXGP - Top 10 World Championship standings after the Grand Prix:
MXGP - Ranking by brand:
1. Honda, 319 points; 2. Kawasaki, 284 p.; 3. KTM, 246 p.; 4. Yamaha, 245 p.; 5. Fantic, 240 p.; 6. Ducati, 176 p.; 7. Beta, 102 p.; 8. Husqvarna, 33 p.;
Video summary of the weekend :
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