Team HRC’s Tim Gajser continued his high level of performance, by reeling off a pair of second-place finishes, giving him second overall at the MXGP of Lombok and increasing his lead at the top of the 2024 MXGP World Championship back to 34-points – the same margin as when he arrived on Indonesian shores before the previous round.
After his holeshot in the qualification race yesterday, the Honda CRF450R rider made it three holeshots out of three, with two more excellent starts today, giving him perfect track position for this reversed-circuit layout at the old Mataram airport.
In the first race, he was able to lead the majority of the race, but was never able to pull a convincing gap ahead of second place, and as a result, after a couple of small errors, he had to concede the lead with five laps remaining. It was still a good result as he gained more points in the all-important championship battle.
Like race one, he grabbed the holeshot in race two but this time wasn’t able to hold onto the advantage for too long and instead settled in behind the leader, watching and waiting to make his move. Keeping the gap under three seconds, and even closing right up to under a second, the #243 tried his best to make the pass, but on the tricky terrain, he eventually decided that it was better to come home safely in second than to perform a high-risk manoeuvre. That position was still six-points ahead of his nearest championship rival, moving the gap back to 34-points with eight rounds remaining.
Next up is the MXGP of Czech Republic, held at the historic Loket track which is known for it’s hard-pack surface on hilly terrain. It is a track that Gajser has never won on, but given the way he is performing this year, he will enter into the weekend looking to right that wrong.
MX2
Both races for Team HRC’s Ferruccio Zanchi followed an unfortunate pattern as a first lap mistake saw him remount at the back of the field, giving him a mountain of work to come back through the field in high temperatures on a tricky Mataram circuit. In the first race, the #73 did exceedingly well to fight his way all the way up to ninth place, passing a lot of riders to get himself into the top 10.
Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to do quite as well in race two, and could only get back to 16th, which gave him 12th overall on the weekend. They weren’t the results he was looking for, but given that he has never raced in this country, or in conditions like this, he can be proud of his efforts and know that his speed is good and that if he cuts out those small mistakes, he can score decent points.
Tim Gajser 243
“I felt much more comfortable this weekend and I think that showed in my riding. Getting three holeshots is a great accomplishment for me and for the team and I must thank all of them for all the work they do. I am very happy to be heading back to Europe with the red-plate and to be fit, healthy and still feeling like I’m riding well. Now we have Loket, which isn’t my best track but I always get a lot of support and I’m excited to see all my Slovenian fans. And also, a big thank you to the hospitality shown by all the Indonesian fans and supporters who really add so much to this race and I hope to see you all again next year.”
Ferruccio Zanchi 73
“I’m definitely not happy with doing the same mistake again, and giving myself too much work in both races. I need to work on this in future races because it is making things much more difficult than they need to be and I’m not able to get the results I think my speed deserves. Still, I came through this week, and now know what to expect from Indonesia and I believe this will help me become a better rider. A big thank you to the team and I can’t wait for the next GP in Loket.”
Marcus Pereira de Freitas – HRC General Manager – MXGP
“Tim came here with a 34-point lead, and now he leaves with a 34-point lead so it is a good comeback round for him this weekend and a much better performance overall. We had a good talk about what happened in the first of these double-headers, and we made big improvements for this race which should also hopefully help us in future rounds too, so I’m very happy with how the whole team functioned here. Getting the holeshots was also a massive result for all our work and I am really proud of the effort that we put in for this.
“This was a big fortnight for Ferruccio and he has learnt a lot about what it takes to ride a world championship now. It isn’t easy to come to these places and perform, and he certainly didn’t make it easy for himself, but he kept pushing and that is something that is good to see, and we’re sure he’ll raise his game in Loket next time out.”
Words and Images by HRC
