Team HRC’s Tim Gajser and Ruben Fernandez leave Finland knowing that things can get better after a tough day of racing at the Vantaa circuit, near Helsinki. For Gajser, it was his highest points tally since returning from injury, but he is aiming for the level of performance which saw him dominate the 2022 MXGP World Championship and while this was a solid showing, he now has a couple of weeks to keep the upward trend and get even closer to that sort of level.

Fernandez will be using this weekend off to recover from a serious crash in moto one that thankfully saw the Spaniard avoid any serious injury, but meant that he had to watch from the sidelines as the second MXGP gate dropped. It was a shame because the #70 was third in the qualification race yesterday and was in fifth when a nasty kicker launched him over the front of the bike midway through today’s first moto. It was a big impact that saw the doctors immediately on the scene, but after a number of checks post-race, it was deemed that he was okay to leave the on-site medical centre under his own steam. Further hospital tests when he gets back home will determine his status but the hope is that he will return in Sweden.

Slovenian Gajser will also be using this break to recoup and assess his progress after three races in three weekends, on what has been a tough return to action after breaking his femur in February. The sand of Vantaa wasn’t as deep as Lommel last time out, but the tight layout, combined with the heavy rain that fell yesterday meant it was still a difficult track to negotiate, as he looks to climb back to the top of the MXGP podium.

The first moto saw the #243 gradually move up from eighth to sixth over the course of the 19 laps, while race two was a battle as he tried to hold onto fifth place, against riders who have won races in 2023. Eventually, he came home sixth, which gave him sixth overall and meant he left Finland knowing there is still work to be done in the remaining five rounds of this campaign. While there isn’t any pressure on specific results, the goal for the Honda CRF450R rider is always to be near the podium, and with more time on the bike, as well as more favourable circuits, that is certainly a possibility as the championship enters its final quarter.

Next up is Uddevalla in Sweden, which is a bigger layout on a harder surface, where Gajser has won twice previously in his career. Fernandez doesn’t have such a storied history there, but his main aim now will be to recover, and then once he’s on the start-line, he can focus on challenging for the podium alongside his Team HRC colleague.

Tim Gajser 243

Another week and improvements were definitely made. Of course I’m not completely happy with the results but I can see progress and I can also see where things can be better, so that’s important. Now I have a weekend off so I can get some good practice in and just work on some things, so that hopefully I can be challenging further forward in Sweden, which is a track that I like.

Ruben Fernandez 70

Things were going well, until they weren’t. After a third in the qualification race yesterday I was feeling good about today. I had a decent start and was not too far from the podium spots and was preparing to put in some strong laps to finish off the race but when I came over the jump near the pitlane I hit a bit of a kicker and went over the handlebars. It was a big crash, but thankfully after getting checked out by the doctors, I was told there was nothing serious, just a lot of bangs and bruises. Now the plan is to rest up and have another check-up by the doctor sometime this week to make sure I’m back to 100% by the time Uddevalla comes around in a couple of weeks.

Marcus Pereira de Freitas

HRC General Manager - MXGP

It was such a shame to see Ruben crash out of the first moto, because he was doing well. He’d made a really impressive pass to get into fifth and then it was scary moment over that tabletop, so we’re just glad that he is okay, as his health is the most important thing. Tim also showed some good signs, putting in two consistent motos, even if he couldn’t quite match the riders in front. We know that is coming though and this weekend off will give both riders a chance to regroup and come out better in Sweden.

MXGP 2023
Race Round 14   Finland

Race 1

Sunny
Air Temp
21°C
Track Cond
Sand
Pos. Rider Num Nation Points Team Constructor Time/Gap
1 Febvre Romain 3 FRA 25 Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP Kawasaki 34:11.808
2 Seewer Jeremy 91 SWI 22 Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP Team Yamaha 0:01.341
3 Prado Garcia Jorge 61 SPA 20 Red Bull GasGas Factory Racing GasGas 0:04.529
4 Coldenhoff Glenn 959 NDL 18 Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP Team Yamaha 0:20.353
5 Vlaanderen Calvin 10 NDL 16 Gebben Van Venrooy Yamaha Racing Yamaha 0:29.129
6 Gajser Tim 243 SLO 15 Team HRC - MXGP Honda 0:32.550
7 Forato Alberto 303 ITA 14 SM Action Racing Team Yuasa Battery KTM 0:34.128
8 Herlings Jeffrey 84 NDL 13 Red Bull KTM Factory Racing KTM 0:37.678
9 Van Horebeek Jeremy 89 BEL 12 Standing Construct Honda MXGP Honda 0:41.939
10 Bogers Brian 189 NDL 11 Standing Construct Honda MXGP Honda 0:45.907
11 Evans Mitch 43 AUS 10 Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP Kawasaki 0:55.219
12 Östlund Alvin 161 SWE 9 JWR Honda Racing Honda 1:00.675
13 Koch Tom 226 GER 8 KTM Kosak Team KTM 1:03.327
14 Spies Maximillian 71 GER 7 KTM Kosak Team KTM 1:08.030
15 Krestinov Gert EST 6 1:13.914
16 Gerhardsson Albin 52 SWE 5 Wildcard Rider Husqvarna 1:27.561
17 Sihvonen Miro FIN 4 1:30.345
18 Watson Ben 919 GBR 3 MRT Racing Team Beta Beta 1:43.188
19 Brumann Kevin 87 SWI 2 JK Racing Yamaha Active Yamaha 1 Lap
20 Haavisto Jere FIN 1 1 Lap
MXGP 2023
Race Round 14   Finland

Race 2

Sunny
Air Temp
23°C
Track Cond
Sand
Pos. Rider Num Nation Points Team Constructor Time/Gap
1 Prado Garcia Jorge 61 SPA 25 Red Bull GasGas Factory Racing GasGas 33:50.401
2 Febvre Romain 3 FRA 22 Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP Kawasaki 0:02.319
3 Coldenhoff Glenn 959 NDL 20 Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP Team Yamaha 0:03.755
4 Herlings Jeffrey 84 NDL 18 Red Bull KTM Factory Racing KTM 0:05.683
5 Seewer Jeremy 91 SWI 16 Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP Team Yamaha 0:11.470
6 Gajser Tim 243 SLO 15 Team HRC - MXGP Honda 0:38.334
7 Vlaanderen Calvin 10 NDL 14 Gebben Van Venrooy Yamaha Racing Yamaha 0:43.163
8 Van Horebeek Jeremy 89 BEL 13 Standing Construct Honda MXGP Honda 1:03.007
9 Östlund Alvin 161 SWE 12 JWR Honda Racing Honda 1:04.857
10 Evans Mitch 43 AUS 11 Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP Kawasaki 1:05.648
11 Paturel Benoit 6 FRA 10 De Baets Yamaha MX-Team Yamaha 1:14.044
12 Bogers Brian 189 NDL 9 Standing Construct Honda MXGP Honda 1:18.287
13 Haavisto Jere FIN 8 1:22.802
14 Spies Maximillian 71 GER 7 KTM Kosak Team KTM 1:25.060
15 Watson Ben 919 GBR 6 MRT Racing Team Beta Beta 1:26.197
16 Koch Tom 226 GER 5 KTM Kosak Team KTM 1:29.410
17 Krestinov Gert EST 4 1:32.542
18 Forato Alberto 303 ITA 3 SM Action Racing Team Yuasa Battery KTM 1:36.510
19 Sihvonen Miro FIN 2 1:39.481
20 Brumann Kevin 87 SWI 1 JK Racing Yamaha Active Yamaha 1 Lap
MXGP 2023

Rider standings

Pos. Rider Num Nation Points Team Constructor
1 Prado Garcia Jorge 61 SPA 720 Red Bull GasGas Factory Racing GasGas
2 Febvre Romain 3 FRA 622 Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP Kawasaki
3 Seewer Jeremy 91 SWI 550 Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP Team Yamaha
4 Coldenhoff Glenn 959 NDL 525 Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP Team Yamaha
5 Fernandez Ruben 70 SPA 489 Team HRC - MXGP Honda
6 Vlaanderen Calvin 10 NDL 477 Gebben Van Venrooy Yamaha Racing Yamaha
7 Herlings Jeffrey 84 NDL 418 Red Bull KTM Factory Racing KTM
8 Forato Alberto 303 ITA 350 SM Action Racing Team Yuasa Battery KTM
9 Guillod Valentin 92 SWI 276 Team Ship To Cycle Honda SR Motoblouz Honda
10 Paturel Benoit 6 FRA 204 De Baets Yamaha MX-Team Yamaha
11 Guadagnini Mattia 101 ITA 203 Red Bull GasGas Factory Racing GasGas
12 Renaux Maxime 959 FRA 202 Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP Team Yamaha
13 Watson Ben 919 GBR 189 MRT Racing Team Beta Beta
14 Evans Mitch 43 AUS 188 Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP Kawasaki
15 Östlund Alvin 161 SWE 172 JWR Honda Racing Honda
16 Bogers Brian 189 NDL 168 Standing Construct Honda MXGP Honda
17 Lupino Alessandro 77 ITA 131 MRT Racing Team Beta Beta
18 Koch Tom 226 GER 123 KTM Kosak Team KTM
19 van Doninck Brent 32 BEL 113 JM Honda Racing Honda
20 Van Horebeek Jeremy 89 BEL 110 Standing Construct Honda MXGP Honda
21 Spies Maximillian 71 GER 100 KTM Kosak Team KTM
22 Gajser Tim 243 SLO 78 Team HRC - MXGP Honda
23 Jonass Pauls 41 LAT 56 Standing Construct Honda MXGP Honda
24 Roosiorg Hardi 75 EST 52 JWR Honda Racing Honda
25 Petrov Petar BUL 43
26 Brumann Kevin 87 SWI 43 JK Racing Yamaha Active Yamaha
27 Haavisto Jere FIN 33
28 Jacobi Henry GER 29
29 Rubini Stephen 38 FRA 27 Team Ship To Cycle Honda SR Motoblouz Honda
30 Stewart Lewis AUS 25
31 Murray Nicholas 167 AUS 21 Wildcard Rider Husqvarna
32 Kullas Harri FIN 20
33 Maksum Hilman IDN 17
34 Koch Tim 86 GER 15 Wildcard Rider Suzuki
35 Sterry Adam 811 GBR 13 Wildcard Rider KTM
36 Kerhoas Lionel 988 FRA 12 Wildcard Rider Husqvarna
37 Ivanov Michael 97 BUL 11 Wildcard Rider Husqvarna
38 Leok Tanel EST 10
39 Goupillon Pierre 57 FRA 10 Wildcard Rider KTM
40 Krestinov Gert EST 10
41 Dickinson Ashton 115 GBR 9 Wildcard Rider KTM
42 Tonus Arnaud SWI 8
43 Gerhardsson Albin 52 SWE 8 Wildcard Rider Husqvarna
44 Sileika Tomass 637 LAT 7 Wildcard Rider GasGas
45 Monticelli Ivo ITA 6
46 Jost Simon 53 SLK 6 Wildcard Rider KTM
47 Sihvonen Miro FIN 6
48 Scheu Mark 991 GER 5 Wildcard Rider Husqvarna
49 Lusbo Andero EST 5
50 Poli Joaquin 179 ARG 5 Wildcard Rider Kawasaki
51 Mewse Conrad 426 GBR 4 Wildcard Rider Honda
52 Alberto Paulo POR 4
53 Kohut Tomas 45 CZE 3 Wildcard Rider KTM
54 Purdon Tristan 141 RSA 3 Wildcard Rider KTM
55 Koch Nico 260 GER 2 Wildcard Rider KTM
56 Joergensen Mathias 221 DEN 2 Wildcard Rider Yamaha
57 Croci Simone 771 ITA 2 Wildcard Rider Husqvarna
58 Malaval Adrien FRA 2
59 Jazdauskas Domantas 181 LTU 2 Wildcard Rider KTM
60 Poli Agustin 98 ARG 1 Wildcard Rider Kawasaki
61 Ubach Simeo 724 SPA 1 Wildcard Rider Husqvarna
62 Van Berkel Lars 107 NDL 1 Wildcard Rider Honda
63 Jasikonis Arminas 2 LTU 1 Wildcard Rider GasGas
64 Clochet Jimmy 520 FRA 0 Wildcard Rider Honda
65 Sandner Michael 766 AUT 0 Wildcard Rider KTM
66 Outeiro Luis 147 POR 0 Wildcard Rider Yamaha
Location Information