Nagl in control again in Mexico
Max Nagl’s performance in today’s qualifying race for the MXGP of Mexico was every bit as dominating as his double victory last weekend in Brazil. He ran away from the field to cross the line for a convincing fourth qualifying win of the season, and his second in as many weekends.
It was another gate to flag victory too. Max led into the first corner on his Honda CRF450RW and never looked back, delivering a succession of fastest laps around the fast and undulating venue to build an early lead that he never relinquished.
The No.12 rider was the only rider to dip below the 1m49second bracket with a fastest lap that was 0.8seconds clear of anyone else. Demonstrating his control of the pace today, with just three minutes of the 20 remaining he set a lap that was still good enough to be the fastest lap of the race.
Despite clouds threatening and a sky that remained overcast all day, conditions stayed dry with a relatively mild 20degrees Celsius air temperature. At the elevation of 1,815metres, much work by the team has gone into optimising the bike for the thinner air, which is a consideration affecting all teams here in Leon.
With the chance of thunderstorms tomorrow, the character of the track could be very different for the two races, the first of which begins at 1315hrs local time.
Max Nagl 12
“It was great today - I had a good gate jump again, a good start and then was pushing really hard to get a gap like in Brazil. This morning it was really muddy but the track was coming a lot better this afternoon. I was feeling comfortable today – German races have almost the same ground and I like it when there are deep and long ruts like we have today here. I like the riding here – it’s a lot of fun. I was doing everything right and the team were working great on the bike. I’ve been feeling sick for the last three days and was starting to think it wouldn’t be our weekend, but I felt really good today.”
Roger Harvey
“That was a great qualifying for Max. He rode the track really well, and as he said the conditions here today were very similar to a lot of tracks in Germany that he likes a lot and has a lot of experience on. When Max gets that start he’s away, and that’s the bike you have to prepare for him, and that’s the bike he’s got. It worked for him and he was really fast. Running the bikes at the altitude we are here, everyone’s suffering the effects of the thinner air and we’re not excluded from that but the HRC guys and the team worked very well on that and got the bike working nicely for Max. There’s still some more to come tomorrow.”
Results Session
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Rider standings
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Location Information
Parque Ecológico Metropolitano de León, Mexico - View in Google Maps
