Belgian challenge ahead for Team HRC riders

Team HRC is back in action this weekend as the 2018 MXGP World Championship heads to Belgium for the fifteenth round of the season, which takes place at the iconic Lommel motocross venue. Considered one of the most challenging tracks on the calendar, Lommel will be a big test for the physical condition and stamina of the team’s standard bearers Tim Gajser, Calvin Vlaanderen (MX2) and Todd Waters.

To prepare for such a demanding racing weekend, all three riders have been training in deep sand aboard their Honda CRF machines until today, when a two-day private test drew to a close at Grevenbroich in Germany. They are now ready to take on the MXGP of Belgium with high hopes and motivation.

Gajser has enjoyed a solid streak of results in the last rounds, which allowed the young Slovenian rider to narrow the gap to third place in the standings down to 29 points. His team mate Calvin Vlaanderen is carrying a similar momentum aboard the all-new Honda CRF250RW machine, as the 22-year-old from Cape Town secured his third consecutive podium finish in Loket – and came very close to winning the second GP of his career. Todd Waters, on the other hand, is still working hard to recover his racing form in order to show his talent, after a few rounds in a row spent on the Honda CRF450RW.

Motocross action for Team HRC will get underway at 11:30 local time (GMT +2) with the free practice session of the MX2 class, while at noon it will be time for the MXGP riders to start proceedings.

Tim Gajser ²⁴³

Lommel is one of the toughest GPs of the year, but we were able to spend a lot of time riding in the sand last week and a test in the last two days. So far it’s been good: we have found a great suspension set-up and I feel very comfortable with the bike and on this track, so I’m looking forward to get things going and do my best for what would be another good result. I feel we are getting closer and closer to the type of performance we expect from ourselves, so hopefully we can continue on that direction at Lommel.

Calvin Vlaanderen ¹⁰

Lommel is not my favourite track, but I train there a lot in the season and spend many hours on it so I guess that’s an advantage going into the weekend. We have improved with our setup in the sand and I’m feeling comfortable on the bike. We’re on a podium streak at the moment so I’ll fight hard on Sunday to maintain that and hopefully make some more ground to the top-three in the standings.

Todd Waters ⁴²

We had the chance to ride Lommel a couple of days last week and we are now in the middle of a two-day test with the team to prepare for what is a deep sand Grand Prix. I think we are on track and I’m looking forward to this weekend’s GP at Lommel. It’s a very demanding track, but hopefully we will be able to improve our performance and consistency throughout the races and get closer to the top-ten.

Marcus Pereira de Freitas

HRC General Manager - MXGP

Lommel is well known for being a very challenging and demanding track, and this time around it could be even worse than previous years. Both Tim and Calvin have been on the podium the last time around in Czech Republic, and they are proving to be on a good roll lately. Their confidence is getting higher and higher every round and the results are following the same path, so we hope to keep taking trophies home. Todd was struggling with his fitness in Loket, but he has been spending a lot of time on the bike riding in the sand so we are looking forward to seeing a step forward this weekend. It’s going to be a very hot weekend temperature wise, so we need to be ready.

MXGP 2018 Wednesday, August 1st 2018