Quick turnaround in Lombok is good for Fernandez
The 11th round of the 2023 MXGP World Championship is following quickly on from the MXGP of Sumbawa-Indonesia, as Team HRC headed west to next island of Lombok for the inaugural event at this location.
The venue is the old airport which serviced the island, which is near the city of Mataram, with the track being built specifically for this event. No one has ridden on it before so there is no data from previous years to help with setup and so everyone will be starting from a blank slate when they arrive at the track to un-crate the bikes on Thursday.
This will give Ruben Fernandez a great opportunity to forget about his toils on Sumbawa, and concentrate on learning the new circuit and getting himself on the podium. His sixth overall last weekend wasn’t what he was hoping for, so this weekend gives him the immediate chance to put that right and given how well he’s been riding previously, this Lombok track could offer him another chance to put himself inside the top three as well move himself into third in the MXGP championship.
Lombok will once again see the abbreviated schedule with an hour less break between the practice sessions and the races, so riders don’t have as long to recover in the hot and humid conditions, but having had a week to acclimatise that shouldn’t pose a problem. The main issue will be learning the layout and that will mean the first free practice session on Saturday will be extra important for Fernandez to get some momentum for the rest of the weekend, and put himself in a strong position for his assault on the MXGP of Lombok-Indonesia podium.
Ruben Fernandez 70
It is good that we have another race this weekend as it gives me a chance straight away to put in a better performance in front of all these Indonesian fans. I’ve have had a fun few days, getting to see some of the cool things on Lombok and nearby, but I’m looking forward to getting back to riding and especially as it’s at a new track. It’s always cool to be the first people to race any venue and this one in Lombok looks like it could be fun. I’ve only seen a couple of photos, so it’s hard to tell until we actually get out there but I’m excited for the weekend.
Marcus Pereira de Freitas
The last few days, the team has been able to relax a little bit and unwind after the extensive travel and then the race weekend in Sumbawa. Things didn’t quite work out as well as Ruben would have liked there, but he is still in good spirits and determined to put that right in Lombok. We don’t know too much about the track, other than it is built on the old airport, so we aren’t expecting much elevation, but they have done a good job at other flat facilities before, so it should still be a good weekend and we hope a lot of Indonesian Honda fans come out and see the racing.
Rider standings
Pos. | Rider | Num | Nation | Points | Team | Constructor |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Prado Garcia Jorge | 61 | SPA | 505 | Red Bull GasGas Factory Racing | GasGas |
2 | Febvre Romain | 3 | FRA | 404 | Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP | Kawasaki |
3 | Herlings Jeffrey | 84 | NDL | 386 | Red Bull KTM Factory Racing | KTM |
4 | Fernandez Ruben | 70 | SPA | 374 | Team HRC - MXGP | Honda |
5 | Seewer Jeremy | 91 | SWI | 371 | Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP Team | Yamaha |
6 | Coldenhoff Glenn | 959 | NDL | 346 | Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP Team | Yamaha |
7 | Vlaanderen Calvin | 10 | NDL | 324 | Gebben Van Venrooy Yamaha Racing | Yamaha |
8 | Forato Alberto | 303 | ITA | 256 | SM Action Racing Team Yuasa Battery | KTM |
9 | Guillod Valentin | 92 | SWI | 229 | Team Ship To Cycle Honda SR Motoblouz | Honda |
10 | Guadagnini Mattia | 101 | ITA | 203 | Red Bull GasGas Factory Racing | GasGas |
11 | Renaux Maxime | 959 | FRA | 202 | Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP Team | Yamaha |
12 | Paturel Benoit | 6 | FRA | 136 | De Baets Yamaha MX-Team | Yamaha |
13 | Watson Ben | 919 | GBR | 135 | MRT Racing Team Beta | Beta |
14 | Lupino Alessandro | 77 | ITA | 121 | MRT Racing Team Beta | Beta |
15 | van Doninck Brent | 32 | BEL | 113 | JM Honda Racing | Honda |
16 | Bogers Brian | 189 | NDL | 112 | Standing Construct Honda MXGP | Honda |
17 | Östlund Alvin | 161 | SWE | 111 | JWR Honda Racing | Honda |
18 | Evans Mitch | 43 | AUS | 104 | Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP | Kawasaki |
19 | Koch Tom | 226 | GER | 88 | KTM Kosak Team | KTM |
20 | Jonass Pauls | 41 | LAT | 56 | Standing Construct Honda MXGP | Honda |
21 | Spies Maximillian | 71 | GER | 52 | KTM Kosak Team | KTM |
22 | Roosiorg Hardi | 75 | EST | 37 | JWR Honda Racing | Honda |
23 | Jacobi Henry | GER | 29 | |||
24 | Rubini Stephen | 38 | FRA | 27 | Team Ship To Cycle Honda SR Motoblouz | Honda |
25 | Brumann Kevin | 87 | SWI | 24 | JK Racing Yamaha Active | Yamaha |
26 | Petrov Petar | BUL | 23 | |||
27 | Van Horebeek Jeremy | 89 | BEL | 22 | Standing Construct Honda MXGP | Honda |
28 | Haavisto Jere | FIN | 19 | |||
29 | Koch Tim | 86 | GER | 15 | Wildcard Rider | Suzuki |
30 | Sterry Adam | 811 | GBR | 13 | Wildcard Rider | KTM |
31 | Stewart Lewis | AUS | 12 | |||
32 | Ivanov Michael | 97 | BUL | 11 | Wildcard Rider | Husqvarna |
33 | Leok Tanel | EST | 10 | |||
34 | Goupillon Pierre | 57 | FRA | 10 | Wildcard Rider | KTM |
35 | Murray Nicholas | 167 | AUS | 10 | Wildcard Rider | Husqvarna |
36 | Dickinson Ashton | 115 | GBR | 9 | Wildcard Rider | KTM |
37 | Tonus Arnaud | SWI | 8 | |||
38 | Maksum Hilman | IDN | 8 | |||
39 | Sileika Tomass | 637 | LAT | 7 | Wildcard Rider | GasGas |
40 | Scheu Mark | 991 | GER | 5 | Wildcard Rider | Husqvarna |
41 | Lusbo Andero | EST | 5 | |||
42 | Kerhoas Lionel | 988 | FRA | 5 | Wildcard Rider | Husqvarna |
43 | Poli Joaquin | 179 | ARG | 5 | Wildcard Rider | Kawasaki |
44 | Mewse Conrad | 426 | GBR | 4 | Wildcard Rider | Honda |
45 | Alberto Paulo | POR | 4 | |||
46 | Purdon Tristan | 141 | RSA | 3 | Wildcard Rider | KTM |
47 | Malaval Adrien | FRA | 2 | |||
48 | Croci Simone | 771 | ITA | 2 | Wildcard Rider | Husqvarna |
49 | Jazdauskas Domantas | 181 | LTU | 2 | Wildcard Rider | KTM |
50 | Koch Nico | 260 | GER | 2 | Wildcard Rider | KTM |
51 | Poli Agustin | 98 | ARG | 1 | Wildcard Rider | Kawasaki |
52 | Gerhardsson Albin | 52 | SWE | 1 | Wildcard Rider | Husqvarna |
53 | Van Berkel Lars | 107 | NDL | 1 | Wildcard Rider | Honda |
54 | Ubach Simeo | 724 | SPA | 1 | Wildcard Rider | Husqvarna |
55 | Jasikonis Arminas | 2 | LTU | 1 | Wildcard Rider | GasGas |
56 | Clochet Jimmy | 520 | FRA | 0 | Wildcard Rider | Honda |
57 | Sandner Michael | 766 | AUT | 0 | Wildcard Rider | KTM |
58 | Outeiro Luis | 147 | POR | 0 | Wildcard Rider | Yamaha |