Gajser leaves Lommel with red-plate despite tough MXGP of Belgium 02.08.2021: Team HRC’s Tim Gajser continued his reign as the MXGP championship leader after Lommel proved itself once again as the toughest race on the calendar. The track, located on an industrial estate in northern Belgium is made-up entirely of deep sand, and comb

Team HRC’s Tim Gajser continued his reign as the MXGP championship leader after Lommel proved itself once again as the toughest race on the calendar. The track, located on an industrial estate in northern Belgium is made-up entirely of deep sand, and combined with the rainstorms that hit the track during both races, it made conditions extremely challenging for all the riders.

In the first race, a good jump out of the gate wasn’t enough to round the first turn cleanly as he then had to battle with the rest of the top 10. Unfortunately, midway around the first lap, Gajser made a mistake and eventually crossed the line down in 11th place. As he always does though, he didn’t give up and in the deteriorating conditions, he made pass after pass to work his way into seventh place by the time he received the chequered flag.


Knowing that he’d have to ride well to get onto the podium, he had a good first lap in race two, rounding in third place. After one more lap he was into second place and closing in on the leader, but as he tried to swept around the outside, he lost control and had to remount in fourth place. Another mistake a couple of laps later meant the top three looked to have broken well clear but Gajser then proceeded to put in the fastest laps of the field and closed an almost 20 second gap to the leading trio.



As the two-lap board came out, he moved back into third place and then as he went to move into second place, one final mistake cost him as he eventually crossed the line in fourth. It was a disappointing end to a day that started so brightly having qualified with the fastest laptime in timed practice, but he still heads to Latvia next weekend with the red-plate and the knowledge that when everything is flowing, he is fully capable of winning races.


After the triple-header in 2020, Kegums, Latvia will host a solitary seventh round of this years’ championship, with the less-sandy circuit there providing a different challenge to bottomless Lommel circuit. Still, Gajser has won there before in 2019 and 2016, and will focus on those experiences as looks to get back to winning ways in this hard-fought 2021 campaign.   
    
       


Tim Gajser  243


I was really happy with my speed this weekend, posting the fastest laptime in qualifying and then running good laptimes in the races. However, I just made too many mistakes and that cost me in both races. They were tough motos and the rain didn’t help the conditions as it seemed softer than previous years, but I am proud to know that I never stopped trying, I never settled for a position and kept fighting until the end.



There are a lot of races left, and even after these bad races, I am still leading the championship so I know I can ride better and that’ll help me out when we go to Latvia next weekend.         

    
       
    
Marcus Pereira de Freitas
HRC General Manager - MXGP


We came into this race knowing that Tim had the speed to challenge for wins, and I think that he showed that he could in both races. Unfortunately, Lommel is known as the toughest track for a reason and it caught Tim out a few times.


However, he didn’t give up or stop pushing and that is an important thing because this season is already proving to be a difficult one and we know Tim won’t stop trying to be better. Next up is Latvia and we’ll be working on making sure that Tim gets back on the podium where he belongs.         

    
       
    
    Race 1


1    HERLINGS Jeffrey     84    NDL    25    Red Bull KTM Factory Racing    KTM    34:37.691
2    FEBVRE Romain     3    FRA    22    Monster Energy Kawasaki Racing    Kawasaki    0:28.149
3    CAIROLI Antonio     222    ITA    20    Red Bull KTM Factory Racing    KTM    0:36.418
4    JONASS Pauls     41    LAT    18    Standing Construct GasGas Factory Racing Team    GasGas    0:41.724
5    SEEWER Jeremy     91    SWI    16    Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP Team    Yamaha    0:49.914
6    PRADO GARCIA Jorge     61    SPA    15    Red Bull KTM Factory Racing    KTM    0:56.529
7    GAJSER Tim     243    SLO    14    Team HRC - MXGP    Honda    0:57.895
8    KJER OLSEN Thomas     19    DEN    13    Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing    Husqvarna    1:00.916
9    COLDENHOFF Glenn     259    NDL    12    Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP Team    Yamaha    1:10.924
10    VLAANDEREN Calvin     10    NDL    11    Gebben Van Venrooy Yamaha Racing    Yamaha    1:19.128
11    BOGERS Brian     189    NDL    10    Standing Construct GasGas Factory Racing Team    GasGas    1:29.092
12    WATSON Ben     919    GBR    9    Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP Team    Yamaha    1:40.563
13    SIMPSON Shaun     24    GBR    8    SS24 KTM MXGP    KTM    1:43.351
14    FORATO Alberto     303    ITA    7    Yamaha SM Action - M.C. Migliori    Yamaha    1:46.311
15    GENOT Cyril     105    BEL    6    Wildcard Rider    KTM    1:53.682
16    VAN HOREBEEK Jeremy     89    BEL    5    Beta SDM Corse MX Team    Beta    1:55.247
17    TIXIER Jordi     911    FRA    4    JT911 KTM Racing Team    KTM    2:00.475
18    VAN DONINCK Brent     32    BEL    3    Gebben Van Venrooy Yamaha Racing    Yamaha    2:01.906
19    JASIKONIS Arminas     27    LTU    2    Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing    Husqvarna    2:22.356
20    VAN BERKEL Lars     107    NDL    1    Wildcard Rider    Honda    1 Lap
    
    
       
    
    Race 2


1    FEBVRE Romain     3    FRA    25    Monster Energy Kawasaki Racing    Kawasaki    35:47.024
2    JONASS Pauls     41    LAT    22    Standing Construct GasGas Factory Racing Team    GasGas    0:04.339
3    PRADO GARCIA Jorge     61    SPA    20    Red Bull KTM Factory Racing    KTM    0:09.748
4    GAJSER Tim     243    SLO    18    Team HRC - MXGP    Honda    0:11.213
5    HERLINGS Jeffrey     84    NDL    16    Red Bull KTM Factory Racing    KTM    0:31.247
6    JASIKONIS Arminas     27    LTU    15    Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing    Husqvarna    0:34.905
7    CAIROLI Antonio     222    ITA    14    Red Bull KTM Factory Racing    KTM    0:37.604
8    SEEWER Jeremy     91    SWI    13    Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP Team    Yamaha    0:39.296
9    WATSON Ben     919    GBR    12    Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP Team    Yamaha    0:47.333
10    VLAANDEREN Calvin     10    NDL    11    Gebben Van Venrooy Yamaha Racing    Yamaha    0:49.616
11    BOGERS Brian     189    NDL    10    Standing Construct GasGas Factory Racing Team    GasGas    0:50.407
12    GENOT Cyril     105    BEL    9    Wildcard Rider    KTM    1:07.126
13    COLDENHOFF Glenn     259    NDL    8    Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP Team    Yamaha    1:24.122
14    FORATO Alberto     303    ITA    7    Yamaha SM Action - M.C. Migliori    Yamaha    1:35.825
15    BOBRYSHEV Evgeny     777    RUS    6    PAR Homes RFX Husqvarna    Husqvarna    1:51.088
16    VAN DONINCK Brent     32    BEL    5    Gebben Van Venrooy Yamaha Racing    Yamaha    1:53.497
17    VAN BERKEL Lars     107    NDL    4    Wildcard Rider    Honda    1:54.109
18    COLDENHOFF Glenn     259    NDL    3    Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP Team    Yamaha    1:57.406
19    KOCH Tom     226    GER    2    KTM Sarholz    KTM    2:12.629
20    KELLET Todd     998    GBR    1    hostettler Yamaha Racing    Yamaha    2:23.155
    
    
    


 Team HRC - MXGP, photos Honda