Round six at Frauenfeld, Switzerland, was action-packed throughout the weekend for the Gabriel SS24 KTM Factory Juniors team and its riders, Oriol Oliver in the MX2 World Championship and Gyan Doensen in EMX250, on a technical, rutty track.
Words by Gabriel SS24 KTM – Images by Juan Pablo Acevedo
The racing schedule was adjusted to accommodate the easter bank holiday so the boys had a rare recovery day on Sunday with racing resuming on Monday.
Gyan qualified 5th in timed practice but didn’t get the best of start’s in race one. With a heavily watered track and deep ruts it made it difficult for Gyan to push forward and pass, coming from outside the top 15 he finished race one in 11th position.
Race two Gyan had a much better start and showed good pace, a minor issue on lap 3 put him back to 15th but he put in some solid lap times and came back to 9th. He finished 8th overall and remains 7th in the championship.
In the MX2 category Oriol again showed his improvements throughout the sessions and that he can run comfortably within the top 10. He qualified 15th in timed practice and improved his start grid position to 8th in the qualifying race.
Race one Oriol gated around the top 10 and was in 11th place for most of the race, he came strong in the final laps and got up to 9th.
With another good start in race two Oriol was again riding well within the top 10, however, his hopes of the 8th place finish he was battling for would be taken from him on the penultimate lap as he had a crash which caused a freak issue meaning he finished in 26th.
Oriol: “Swiss GP done, really happy overall about my riding. Again every time I went on the track I felt better and better with the new bike from the team. Qualified p8 and I was quite happy with that after a really good start. Then in the motos, first moto I didn’t get the best start, I was near the back but I made my way up to p9, almost p7 so I was happy with the rhythm from that one. Second moto I had a better start, I battled inside the top 10 all moto, and when I was p8 and making some good moves trying to go for p7 I had a crash that caused a small issue in the bike, not a massive issue but enough that I couldn’t continue and finished 26th. Overall I’m really happy with the rhythm and the potential that this bike and the team are giving me, it’s really good. So really happy and looking forward to the future, thankful for the team, mechanics and everyone in the team that makes the job easy during the weekend.”
Gyan: “Swiss done, again not the weekend i was hoping for. P5 free practise, p5 time practice. Race 1 bad start, bad riding and p11. Second moto good start, bad first lap but found my flow quickly. Unfortunately had a small issue which made my bike stall and couldn’t get it going for a bit. Riding and passing was very good and finished p9. Result didn’t show the pace. Back to work! Thanks team!”
Team Manager Shaun Simpson: “This weekend was another case of ‘what could have been’
“Gyan had his best qualifying of the season but just didn’t get going in moto one at all. He was tight and wasn’t attacking the track at all. Monday was a different story where he looked much more himself and was charging to the finish flag. More consistent this weekend but further from the front positions than we’d like to be.
“Oriol was riding fantastic all weekend long. Solid quali on Saturday and two really solid races battling in the top 10 both motos. Unfortunately a crash on the last lap of moto two damaged the bike and he couldn’t finish the race. He really looks like he belongs up at the front of MX2. I think it’s only a matter of time until we see Oriol put two top 5 results on the board.
“Oriol will race the Spanish Championship this weekend and Gyan will race the Dutch Championship before we all meet again in Portugal for the next rounds of the EMX and MX2 Championships.”
