Changes ahead for Team HRC in Sardinia

New-face Roan van de Moosdijk will be joining Tim Gajser for the third round of the 2024 MXGP World Championship, taking place on the island of Sardinia, Italy. Riola Sardo is the venue and it will the first opportunity to see the best motocross riders on the planet tackle deep sand terrain, after the fast-paced Argentina track and the rutted circuit in Spain last time out.

The Team HRC duo will be hoping for better fortunes at a track that hasn’t been a happy hunting-ground in previous years, since the world championship series started visiting the venue in 2021. Gajser will be looking to get himself on the MXGP podium for the first time here, after numerous successful visits in the pre-season Italian Championship races. And if he does that, he’ll keep up his podium streak after two second-place finishes in Argentina and Spain. The Slovenian has won two of the six points-scoring motos so far in 2024 and sits 10-points out of first place in the championship, but knows there is a long way to go and that consistency is just as important as speed in these early rounds.

Alongside him, for what will be his Team HRC and MXGP class debut, will be v/d Moosdijk, with the young Dutch rider signing for the team this week. It is a great opportunity for the former EMX250 champion and although he hasn’t had long on the bike, he has still been able to have a couple of good sessions testing the Honda CRF450R and has come away very impressed. Having ridden similar terrain in the Netherlands, despite its treacherous nature, this is actually a good track for the new #39 to be making first start and although there aren’t any expectations on his result, he’ll still be hoping to show good speed.

Unfortunately, Italian Ferruccio Zanchi won’t be making the trip to the island after suffering a crash in Croatia during the week. It is a real shame for the Italian, who was looking forward to riding on home soil and had made a very impressive start to his full-time MX2 career with Team HRC, but the decision was made that it would be better to sit this one out and not cause any further problems.

So now, the focus on the team in entirely on the MXGP class this weekend as they look to help Gajser and v/d Moosdijk challenge as best they can in the qualification race on Saturday, before the two GP-scoring motos on Sunday, which should give further insight into how this competitive MXGP championship is taking shape.