Fernandez strong in third, as Gajser’s misfortune continues

In what turned out to be a very wet and damp Vantaa track, near Helsinki in Finland, the Team HRC duo of Ruben Fernandez and Tim Gajser had contrasting fortunes in the qualification race, after being inseparable in the two earlier practices.

In free practice it was Gajser who was the quicker of the pair, posting a time 0.16 seconds faster than his Spanish teammate to finish fourth, but Fernandez then reversed the order to get third in timed practice, with the #243 0.18 seconds behind him. This gave the Honda CRF450R riders good gate picks for the qualification race which was in danger of being delayed after a huge amount of rain hit the track midway through the timed practice session.

No support classes this weekend, that meant the track had a little bit longer to recover and after the MX2 qualification race went ahead, it was time for the MXGP class to line up. With drizzle still falling, it meant that a good start was critical to avoiding as much roost as possible and also to avoid having to make passes on what is a very tight, narrow Vantaa circuit, which was a last-minute replacement for Hyvinkaa, that hosted the Finnish GP last year.

After the gate-drop, both Team HRC riders were near the front of the field with Fernandez in third and Gajser having moved forward into fifth as they crossed for the first lap. Unfortunately, midway through lap two, a rock got caught in the chain of Gajser’s bike and locked up his rear-wheel. Eventually he got it free, but he dropped 11 places in the process and had to then try and work his way through the field.

Meanwhile Fernandez had pulled clear of the riders behind him, whilst maintaining contact with the two riders in front. Despite putting in the second-fastest laptime of the race, he couldn’t quite close in enough to make any move and instead settled for an excellent third place in the difficult conditions. Following through in 12^th place was Gajser who passed four riders after his misfortune, which still gives him a chance for success tomorrow when the weather should be a lot better.

Like today, the Sunday schedule is slightly different than usual European rounds, with the two MXGP races starting at 13:15 and 16:10 local time, which is one hour ahead of CET.