Seventh place in Swiss qualifying race for Gajser
Tim Gajser’s qualifying performance at Frauenfeld was a tale of two halves, as the two-time world champion set an incredible pace aboard his Honda CRF450RW machine in the first half of the moto before having a bit more of a hard time as the race got closer to the end due to an unfortunate incident that prevented him from performing at his best. Gajser’s team mate Todd Waters was twenty-first at the finish line of the 12-lap qualifying encounter of the MXGP of Switzerland.
Gajser stormed out of his gate to take the holeshot and immediately started dictating the pace while trying to pull away from the rest of the field. At the end of the second lap, Tim was already almost five seconds ahead of Clement Desalle after setting the then-fastest lap of the race.
As the moto entered its final stages, however, the rear-brake lever of his Honda machine bent after hitting a stone in a rut. Due to this happening, Tim quickly lost all of his margin and was caught and passed by reigning Champion Cairoli. Moments later, Tim dropped down to fifth and then had to give away two more positions to Gautier Paulin and Herlings before the chequered flag was deployed.
The two, sixteenth-round MXGP races will get underway at 14:15 and 17:10 local time (GMT +2).
Tim Gajser 243
Today I enjoyed my riding in all sessions. It felt good to take the holeshot in the qualifying race and soon enough I was able to put together a nice margin on second place. I found some very good lines which helped me ride very smooth. It’s a shame that the rear brake level bent, because I was unable to use it in the final laps of the moto and that cost me a few positions as well as the qualifying race win. I’m really looking forward to the two races because I love this track and the bike is perfect, so I must thank the team as always for their great job. Hopefully the weather stays the same!
Todd Waters 42
I spent almost the whole race around the top-20, although at some point I was a little further up. I got a little bit frustrated when Herlings came past and disappeared straight away. And then even more so when Simpson did the same, although I tried to keep him behind for a little. My start was better – we did practice starts a lot – although we still need to improve the progression from the three-metre mark forwards. We have a few ideas about adjustments to the set-up for tomorrow, but a lot has to come from my side, too. Hopefully we’ll be able to get two good starts and build up from there.
Marcus Pereira de Freitas
Tim did a great job and he looked like he could go for the qualifying race win, but unfortunately after the rear-brake lever bent there was nothing he could do to keep the pace. It’s a shame, but he still did finish the race in seventh place, which gives us a good gate-pick for tomorrow. He has the speed and he’s very motivated, plus he loves this track and he enjoys riding his Honda, so we can’t wait to see what he’ll be able to do in the races. Todd had more of a difficult time and had to learn the track, but we have something in mind that could help improve the overall performance tomorrow, so we’ll see what happens.
Qualifying race
| Pos. | Rider | Num | Nation | Team | Constructor | Time/Gap |
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Location Information
Oberwiesenstrasse, Frauenfeld, Switzerland - View in Google Maps
