Solid qualification day for Team HRC in Latvia

Team HRC’s Tim Gajser and Mitch Evans finished in third and 11^th place respectively as they fought hard on this difficult Kegums track.

Heavy rain has been forecast for the weekend in Latvia, and as a result, the track wasn’t been ripped or watered to any great length, making for a relatively high-speed and flat race surface for the majority of the day. This meant that times were extremely close in practice, with less than a second separating the top six. Gajser was on for pole-position but a mistake in sector three meant he had to settle for second gate-pick for the qualification race, while Evans was just outside the top 10 in 11^th.

With the tight 180 right-hand bend starting off proceedings, the riders know that a good jump is crucial or you pushed out to the outside, and while they had decent efforts, both were a couple of positions down by the time they crossed the line for the first time. For Gajser, that meant moving up from fourth place, which was proving difficult as the lines took their time to develop. On lap four he moved into third place and despite pressuring second place for the rest of the moto, he finished third, still giving him a good opportunity for tomorrow’s motos.

Evans rounded the first lap in 13^th and was then involved in battles with multiple riders throughout his qualification race. He eventually crossed the line in 11^th place, but knows if he wants to challenge at the front of the field like he did in Trentino at the last round, he’ll need a pair of better starts. Likewise for Gajser who will be looking to continue his impressive beginning to the season, after winning four of the first five rounds and opening up a 33 point at the top of the MXGP class.

A lot of rain is expected overnight and into tomorrow, so the riders could be waking up to a much different Kegums circuit when they first hit the track for a warm-up at 10:45am. The motos then start at 14:15 and 17:10 for what is the sixth round of the 2022 World Motocross Championship.