Gajser dominates Italian qualification to extend championship lead

MXGP

Team HRC’s Tim Gajser put in an absolutely dominating performance at the muddy Maggiora circuit to take the qualification win – his third in a row – and extend his lead at the top of the 2024 MXGP Championship to nine points.

Earlier in the day, he posted a laptime over four seconds quicker than second-place in timed practice, giving himself first gate-pick for the qualification race and he used that to maximum advantage by taking the holeshot and checking out from the rest of this talented MXGP class. By the end of the first full lap, he was already 10 seconds ahead, and after four laps it had increased to 23 seconds. Knowing that victory was sealed, he seemingly cruised the remaining seven laps, but still increased his lead to 33 seconds by the time he received the chequered flag. On a track that had received a lot of rain the morning, it was the most impressive display of the year and he negotiated the ruts and slippery corners with complete control.

More rain has since fallen after the race, but the Slovenian will be excited by whatever conditions he finds when he wakes up tomorrow morning, as he is looking completely in synch with his Honda CRF450R and will be hoping to capitalise on a circuit that he really enjoys riding.

MX2

An excellent day of riding for CRF250R rider Ferruccio Zanchi as he backed up an impressive fastest timed practice position with a season-best third place in the qualification race. As soon as he hit the track, he felt comfortable, and with the Italian fans cheering him on, he put in a great laptime in what were difficult conditions early-on.

As the circuit dried for the qualification race, he used his first gate-pick to sweep around the first turn in second place, just narrowly missing out on the holeshot, before settling in behind the leader. The front three riders immediately pulled away from the pack and although a lapped rider caused a chaotic moment which saw Zanchi drop to third, he was still over one minute ahead of the fourth placed rider when he crossed the line. He’ll now be hoping to use that gate-pick to the same effect and get two good starts, which will hopefully allow the Italian to put in his best GP performance of the season.

1. Liam Everts (BEL, KTM), 26:13.639;
2. Simon Laengenfelder (GER, GASGAS), +0:08.720;
3. Ferruccio Zanchi (ITA, Honda), +0:24.333;
4. Sacha Coenen (BEL, KTM), +1:28.567;
5. Valerio Lata (ITA, GASGAS), +1:31.464;
6. Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), +1:32.927;
7. Oriol Oliver (ESP, KTM), +1:43.798;
8. Cas Valk (NED, KTM), +1:46.685;
9. David Braceras (ESP, Fantic), +2:25.066;
10. Kay de Wolf (NED, Husqvarna), -1 lap(s);