It’s perfectly set up. The opening round of the 2017 FIM Motocross World Championship has the perfect recipe for a thrilling race.
Defending champion Tim Gajser produced a strong performance in qualifying to grab pole position for today’s race. And in second place, we have motocross legend Antonio Cairoli. In third place is Gautier Paulin.
All three of them are race winners here in Qatar. Honda rider Gajser won both the races last season and went on to win the championship. KTM rider Cairoli had won the inaugural race in Qatar and has shown an impressive return to form since the start of this year. Frenchman Paulin, a winner in 2014, will be eager to put in a strong challenge and upset the two favourites.
Honda’s Gajser carried on where he had left off last season with a dominating performance in the qualifying race. He took the lead right at the start and then quickly put in a sizeable gap between him and Cairoli in second place. The Slovenian was leading by as much as four seconds at one point during the race. And though Cairoli put in a strong burst of speed towards the end, to reduce the deficit to less than half a second, Gajser was able to hold on for the win.
“I had a really good race. I made a good start and led from the beginning. I was able to form some good lines and get some good speed. I made a couple of mistakes which allowed Tony (Cairoli) to close the gap but I am glad that I got the pole for tomorrow’s race,” said Gajser yesterday.
“It’s a good beginning for me. I am looking forward to tomorrow and I hope I do well,” added the defending champion. This performance was despite the fact that Gajser wasn’t keeping too well. Today’s races should produce an exciting finish especially between the top two riders. Also with no rider having won the Qatar MXGP twice, today will be the day when that could happen.
In MX2, it was Red Bull KTM factory rider Pauls Jonass who won the qualifying race yesterday and will get the hole shot for today’s race. At the start of the qualifying it was TM Racing’s Samuel Bernardini who took a surprising lead. But by the second lap, Jonass was able to overtake the Italian and put himself firmly in the lead.
After that initial burst of speed, Bernardini kept getting overtaken by riders and eventually went on to finish in 21st place.
Yamaha’s Benoit Paturel didn’t take too long to overtake Bernardini and then the Frenchman and Jonass managed to create a five-second gap to Jeremy Seewer in third place. And that’s the order in which the trio finished.
“I got a decent start and then made good use of it. I didn’t have the best starting position because of a slow time during practice. But after the good start I was able to lead the race after the second lap,” said Jonass yesterday.
“I am not riding that great. I am not happy with it and will try to improve tomorrow. But I have the pole for tomorrow and that’s a good start to the season,” added the Latvian.
On the changes made to the track Jonass said: “The track is good condition.
"I’m hoping that tomorrow we get more lines at the corners because that will mean more passing and better racing,” said the KTM rider. All set for an exciting race day then.