Gajser finishes title-winning season with Garda-Trentino victory

After winning the 2020 MXGP world championship on Wednesday, Team HRC’s Tim Gajser finished off the season with a flourish by going two-one for first overall at the MXGP of Garda-Trentino, in another display of blisteringly fast, but controlled riding.

The two-one scores continued a run of results that have seen him place inside the top three in 16 of the last 17 motos and it meant he won his fifth overall of the season, more than any other rider. It also meant that he now has 29 overalls for Honda, two more than second-placed Andre Malherbe as he cements himself atop the list of legends that have ridden the red machine.

In the first moto, a good start saw him round the first lap in second position and after stalking the leader for a couple of laps he made his move and went into the lead. After leading for a few laps, he couldn’t shake the second placed rider and decided that it would be better to follow on this tricky Trentino track. Quickly after that, he set the fastest lap of the race and almost made the pass on numerous occasions. Unfortunately he couldn’t quite make it happen, but he knew that a victory in race two would be good enough to secure a second overall in a row at a track he likes so much.

Like in race one, Gajser rounded the first lap in second place and also like race one, he quickly passed into the lead. However, this time he was able to pull out a gap that the second placed rider was unable to close-up. For most of the moto it was around the three second mark, but as the laps wore on, the gap increased before a mistake saw it jump to over 15 seconds. This meant Gajser could cruise home for another overall, in what was the perfect way to finish an immensely satisfying campaign.

In the end, his margin of victory in the championship was over 100 points and it is testament to both his speed and his stamina that as the season reached its toughest point, the Slovenian rode better and better, and in the last six rounds, he was able to pull out 78 points on his nearest rivals.

After a season that started in March, included a five-month break, a new one-day format and the introduction of the triple-headers at one track, the #243 has shown that he can cope with whatever is thrown at him, rising to challenge and making history in the process. While the start of 2021 season is still unknown, Gajser can head into the off-season safe in the knowledge that he is once again the MXGP world champion.