🇨🇳 MXGP of CHINA | Shanghai – Round 18: QUALIFYING & results!

QUALIFYING

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MXGP

Having stayed unbeaten across all race and practice sessions since round 12 at Foxhills, Jeffrey Herlings again topped both Free and Time Practice timesheets, despite being pitched over the handlebars partway through the earlier session! Romain Febvre looked fast in taking second in both sessions, while Jan Pancar claimed third in the morning for TEM JP253 KTM Racing.  Febvre’s Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP stable-mate Pauls Jonass got to third in the Time Practice session, a hundredth of a second ahead of Red Bull Ducati Factory MXGP Team rider Calvin Vlaanderen, with Honda HRC Petronas’ second rider Tom Vialle going to the line in fifth.

As the two factory Kawasaki machines battled it out with the two Hondas down the start straight, it was Febvre who came out with the Holeshot, and although Jonass won out over Vialle, he just clipped the back wheel of Herlings to hit the ground instead of enjoying his good start!

As it was, Vialle was able to emerge in third ahead of Pancar and the MRT Racing Team Beta of Jago Geerts! The Belgian was quickly forced back to seventh, however, as the lone Red Bull KTM Factory Racing machine of Andrea Adamo pushed him wide, opening the door for Vlaanderen to lift himself into sixth at the same time.  Jeremy Seewer was next along in eighth for Venrooy KTM Racing, ahead of the KTM Australia wildcard Dylan Walsh.

In the third quarter of the opening lap, Febvre got the right-hand corner wrong after the dragon’s back section, and hit some loose dirt on the outside that enabled Herlings to take a much cleaner inside line and take the lead! Meanwhile, an angry Jonass was blitzing through the wildcard riders to get to tenth by the end of the first full lap!  Of those wildcard riders, it has to be mentioned that Brian Hsu was able to take 12^th on the debut for the first Chinese machine to compete in MXGP, the JHL Factory Racing 350cc effort.

Jonass was able to get around Walsh in the waves on the second lap, and he chased after Seewer and the rest of the pack!  Herlings was unable to shake Febvre, and the #1 Kawasaki was particularly fast around that third sector, as the pair shared fastest lap times until lap nine, when Herlings started to eke away just a touch.  Febvre did fight back to within striking distance, but finally the verdict went to “The Bullet” by just over three seconds.

Vialle was all alone for most of the race in taking third place, but he draws to within 12 points of Adamo in their battle for what will be fourth in the Championship once they pass the absent Lucas Coenen. Adamo himself was unable to get close enough to Pancar to attempt a pass, finishing three and a half seconds down on the Slovenian.  The Italian had his hands full with Vlaanderen for most of the race, but he also had to contend with Geerts, who finished just over a second behind him in seventh.

In the end Jonass was unable to pass Seewer as they finished eighth and ninth, while Walsh scored his first point in the MXGP class for six years in tenth!

Herlings’ streak continues, but Febvre will be with him every step of the way tomorrow, and in a pressure-free situation this could be a very entertaining battle in MXGP!

Jeffrey Herlings: “Yeah, it was good. Considering this morning, I think it was quite good to still top every practice and lead almost every lap, so not too bad. After a good night of sleep I’ll be like new again tomorrow. The track is quite gnarly, it’s a bit easier than last year, last year there was a bit more rain and it was way hotter than this year. But I’m still enjoying it, and I’ll do the same thing tomorrow.”

Romain Febvre: “I felt really good. For once I got the start, and then I knew he was going to push me the first time to try to make the pass. Actually, where he passed me, I didn’t check the line properly on the sighting lap, I went there and I didn’t know where to go, I went outside and it was completely broken up, so he passed me there. But after that I was on it, I was feeling good and riding good. So hopefully the same start tomorrow, and then battle for the win.”

Tom Vialle: “I actually had a pretty bad start, I spun on the gate when it dropped. So that was pretty bad, but I made a good first turn and I was behind Romain the whole time. I made a mistake in one of the turns and then I lost the gap a little bit, and I kind of settled for tomorrow. P3 is okay for today and hopefully tomorrow we can push a little bit more.”

MX2

The three Championship contenders in MX2 shared the top three positions in each Practice session, with Sacha Coenen top in the morning session, ahead of the Triumph pairing of Camden McLellan and Guillem Farres. Camden would take the top spot in Time Practice, however, ahead of Guillem and Sacha, while Simon Längenfelder claimed fourth for Red Bull KTM Factory Racing, and Liam Everts fifth for Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing.

In a day for fast-starting #1 plates, Längenfelder shot to the lead of the Qualifying Race ahead of Farres and Everts, but the Spaniard again showed his merciless early lap aggression by cutting inside the German to lead out of the second corner! McLellan went through the first few corners battling up into fourth, while Karlis Reisulis started well in fifth for Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MX2!

The young Latvian had issues in the first full lap, however, and dropped to eleventh behind the Dixon Racing Team Kawasaki of Kay Karssemakers.  By the end of the first lap, Coenen had put a good pass on Everts to take third after railing the outside of a corner to enable a double jump that was tough on a 250! He had already put McLellan down to fifth, with the KTM Australia wildcard Byron Dennis a fine sixth ahead of the second Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MX2 of Janis Reisulis!

Maxime Grau was eighth for Maddi Racing Honda ABF Italia, with Julius Mikula ninth for Ošicka KTM MX Team, fighting off the attentions of Karssemakers.

Coenen was his usual wild self as he closed in on Längenfelder, but couldn’t make the pass until lap six, using the same line that he had on Everts to great effect! It was a lap later that McLellan pressured Everts wide onto the start straight and dived to his inside to claim fourth.

Janis Reisulis had pushed to the inside of Dennis to take sixth on lap four, and the teenage Australian lost two places on the penultimate lap to slip to ninth ahead of Karlis Reisulis and Grau, who had fallen on lap seven!

Karssemakers had got the better of Mikula on lap five, and the Dutchman’s fine run of form continued as he finished seventh behind Janis Reisulis.

McLellan was able to use the same line that Coenen had used on Längenfelder to snatch third from the frustrated reigning Champ with four laps to go.  As Farres seemed to be saving energy at the front in the searing heat, his chasing Championship challengers closed in on the final laps!  Into the final corner they were almost one six-wheeled freight train, but the Spaniard held on in front of the Belgian and the South African, in that order, to get himself one step closer to the title chance available tomorrow!

To keep things alive for himself, Coenen needs to gain two points on Farres over the course of tomorrow’s races. If the Belgian doesn’t do that, then the Spaniard can clinch the title by gaining eight points or more on his teammate McLellan.

The trio look evenly matched on pace, so it could all be down to starting prowess and first lap aggression, the attributes you would associate with Coenen and Farres, or even the late race pace and fitness of McLellan!  It’s sure to be a fascinating contest, make sure you join us to find out what transpires!

Guillem Farres: “I’ve been feeling good. Pretty good start in second, made a quick pass in the second turn and from there I just managed it. It got a little bit sketchy at the beginning, but yeah, pretty good, good feeling. The whole team of Triumph Racing Factory is doing an amazing job and you guys can see, one, two in the Championship. Hopefully we can keep it going that way.”

Source / Pictures: MXGP