Lotte van Drunen becomes 2024 WMX World Champion at Turkey finale – Race Report

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The final round of the 2024 FIM Women’s World Motocross Championship season in Afyon, Turkiye was set to deliver a thrilling conclusion to a fiercely contested championship battle. With only 17 points separating championship leader De Baets Yamaha MX-Team’s from her closest rival, RFME Spain National Team’s Daniela Guillen, the stakes could not be higher as the riders gear up for a decisive showdown. This ultimate round was to determined who will be crowned the WMX World Champion with both competitors prepared to leave everything on the track in pursuit of motocross silvereware.

Race Report and Images by Infront Moto Racing

Under hot and dry conditions, the Afyon circuit presents a unique challenge, with its varying elevations playing a significant role in the bike setup and rider’s adaptation. As the riders navigate the undulating terrain, their ability to handle the changing conditions and maintain control was critical. With the championship on the line, the final round promised intense racing, and a fight to the finish that will keep fans on the edge of their seats.

And at this game Lotte Van Drunen kept her cool and with the 5th place overall secured the FIM WMX World Champion for the first time of her career at only 17 years old which is stunning and very promising for the next seasons. Van Drunen established herself as a powerhouse in WMX.

The race began with a fantastic start from FontaMX’s Kiara Fontanesi, while Daniela Guillen emerged in third place just ahead of Charli Cannon. However, Duncan quickly surged to the front, taking the lead early on. Lotte Van Drunen started in fifth but wasted no time in challenging Cannon, who initially held fourth. On the opening lap, Van Drunen overtook the Australian rider, but Cannon fought back to reclaim fourth temporarily before Van Drunen secured the position once again.

At the front, Duncan established a commanding lead, pulling away with an eight-second gap over Fontanesi by lap 4. Behind them, Guillen nearly jeopardised her race with an aggressive lunge to pass Fontanesi on the inside, coming close to a crash but managing to stay upright. Though her move was unsuccessful, Guillen continued her charge for second place.

Meanwhile, Van Drunen found herself in a battle of her own, maintaining fourth position after a tussle with both Cannon and SYE Racing Team 423’s Larissa Papenmeier, and settled four seconds behind the leading trio. Lynn Valk from Schmicker Racing had not the race she would have dreamt of as while she was not having her usual pace finding herself in 9th position, her bike let her down and she had to retire mid-race losing serious ground in the championship as she lost her 3rd position to Fontanesi.

On lap 7 of 11, Guillen made a decisive move, finally overtaking Fontanesi for second place, gaining two crucial points in her battle with Van Drunen for the Championship. However, Fontanesi remained relentless, staying right on Guillen’s back wheel, refusing to let her pull away. Knowing that every point could be vital with just one race left in the championship, Fontanesi continued to push hard, putting pressure on Guillen to hold onto the second position.

Despite the intensity of the battle, Van Drunen kept her composure, holding onto fourth throughout the race, fully aware that with 13 points she needed just eight more points in Race 2 to secure her first-ever WMX World Championship title.

At the front, Duncan delivered a masterclass performance, displaying total control from start to finish. She clinched another victory on a track she clearly loves, having won four of the five editions in Afyon.

As the action moves to Race 2, the stage was set for an intense and dramatic conclusion to what has been an unforgettable season. The stakes couldn’t be higher, and all eyes were on Van Drunen and Guillen as they battled for the ultimate glory on this cooler day than on Saturday.

The start seemed to be all good for Van Drunen as she jumped out of the gate at the top but probably caused by the understandable nervosity of the moment retrograded to 5th on the first corners while it was the 6-times World Champion Fontanesi who took a commanding lead in front of Guillen who managed to find her way quickly to 2nd in front of the surprising Cannon who was only competing in her first WMX round of the year but showed her great pace.

Cannon was on the chase of Guillen straight away while Duncan found herself in 4th with Danee Gelissen from Ceres 71 Racing in 5th position. The Dutch eventually finished 8th. The raced in the heavy conditions of the track made passes tough and for up 7 of 10 laps not much movement happened. Only Valk went from 10th on the opening lap to 6th, showing that she had the pace to fight to the top.

Then Duncan made a great move on Cannon to go 3rd on lap 7. The pace of the Kiwi was great and she rushed to Guillen, only to see Guillen responding back at her as she increased her pace and edged away to find herself next to Fontanesi. Fontanesi then made a mistake with 1 lap to go which costed her the overall win as Guillen and Duncan passed her.

Cannon finished at a strong 4th and displayed great racing through the whole weekend with an impressive 4th overall.

Daniela Guillen with 2-1 won the last round of the season and secured her Silver Medal on the Championship podium. Duncan also got in the podium in 2nd with a 1-2 although she finished 5th in the championship.

Despite a late mistake, Kiara Fontanesi managed to get on the last podium of the season to prove she is still fighting for the top spots. Thanks to her performance in Afyon she also clinched the Bronze Medal in the Champion.

But the hero of the day and the year was Lotte Van Drunen who did all sh had to do to get the Gold Plate and the Gold Medal. Becoming the 2024 WMX World Champion which is a dream come true for the Young Dutch rider.

Lone British racer Lucy Barker went 13-14 for 14th overall, which meant she finished 14th in the Championship and in the World. This is a fantastic achievement for Lucy, her family, and the team, which is a privateer and family set-up. Well done to everyone involved!

Lotte Van Drunen: “I can’t believe it. I’m still so young and we worked so hard for it and now to do it already is something incredible. I want to give a big thanks to my dad because he’s the man behind all this. And thanks to my mom, my brother, my friends and family, my team, my trainers, everybody supporting me. This is crazy! Dreams do come true. That’s what we can see now. It’s been quite a great season. I’ve had some bad results, but I’ve also had really good results. My starts were bad and also all shots. So, yeah, I think this could never have been better. I’m really proud of myself and everybody around me, because without them this would have never been possible”

Daniela Guillen: “First I want to say congratulations to Lotte. And yeah,, today was a good day for me because I won the race, so I finished very well the championships. Which is a good feeling, I had my rhythm and then I finished well. I want to say also thank you to my team for this year and my mum and my sister. Thank you.”

Kiara Fontanesi: “Honestly, it would have been much better to win a GP, but it wasn’t this GP that would have changed my life. And important for me was to come back to the end for sure if I didn’t lose that much time in the last lap I couldn’t win and win the GP and it would have been amazing but really it wouldn’t change anything in the championship. So I’m just really happy it’s the first race I’m doing without my kids here so I just want to say ciao to them!”