🇩🇪 MXGP of Germany – Round 5: QUALIFYING & results!

QUALIFYING

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MXGP

With the MXGP field over-subscribed this weekend, the OAT riders were separated from the Wildcard riders for the practice sessions, and the OAT Free Practice saw Tim Gajser at the top of the timings, with his oldest adversaries right behind him! Jeffrey Herlings was second for Honda HRC Petronas, and Romain Febvre set the third best time.

That top three was almost repeated in the Time Practice session, with the Slovenian holding a gap of three quarters of a second over the Dutchman, but then Lucas Coenen took third ahead of the Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing rider Kay de Wolf, with Febvre fifth.

The Frenchman got a great jump from the gate in the Qualifying Race, however, and as Gajser survived some brief contact with Herlings down the start straight, the Kawasaki emerged in front by a wheel from the Yamaha! Alberto Forato was in a great third round the first corner for Fantic Factory Racing MXGP, but Coenen and Herlings were instantly all over him, and up to third and fourth as they exited the second corner from the start! The tall Italian gave up places as a result of their passes, finishing his first lap in tenth behind his fellow Italian Andrea Bonacorsi from the Red Bull Ducati Factory MXGP Team.

Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP’s Pauls Jonass held a strong fifth early on, and battled with last year’s MX2 winner here, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Andrea Adamo, while De Wolf and the second Honda HRC Petronas of Ruben Fernandez rounded out the top eight.

On lap four, Adamo put a great move on Jonass around the outside of a fast downhill, and De Wolf was able to add to the Latvian’s disruption with a quick pass soon after, then Fernandez advanced to seventh a lap later.

The eight-wheeled freight train of the front four was turning into a real cat-and-mouse battle, and Gajser made several attempts to get past Febvre, the most eventful coming at the top of the hill by the entrance road, and the fans held their breath as Romain jumped across the front of Tim from the outside, and two of the most experienced racers in the field needed all their skills to avoid what could have been a violent crash!

With three laps to go, De Wolf tipped over as he attempted to get onto terms with Adamo, and the Italian took fifth ahead of Fernandez, a recovering De Wolf in seventh, then Jonass, Bonacorsi with his best Qualifying finish yet on the Ducati, and Forato rounding out the points scorers.  Sadly, Tom Vialle pulled in early on the Honda HRC Petronas machine, with the pain from his French GP injuries proving to be too much to bear.

While Herlings made advances on Coenen, he couldn’t make a pass, so the teenager pulls out a single point on the veteran to make the gap at the top a mere three points heading into tomorrow’s GP races.  Febvre’s first win with the #1 plate helps him pull slightly away from Gajser, who will carry strong pace into tomorrow!

The start will be super-important on Sunday but anything is possible on this classic circuit, so be sure not to miss tomorrow’s Grand Prix races from the Talkessel!

Romain Febvre: „It was a tense race, but happy to win that one. After a good start, I took the holeshot, which on this track makes my life much easier. Gajser was trying to catch me some sectors, yeah, I did some good lines but I could hear him coming. I was trying to change lines but it’s not so easy because sometimes you come to a corner and you have 10, 12 lines and you don’t know which one to pick. I’m happy to have won that one and I have a good gate pick for tomorrow, hopefully for the same result.“

Tim Gajser: „I’m okay. The track was quite sketchy. I had a solid start, I was behind Romain and I was just working, trying different lines. I feel like I was faster but it was just not enough to pass him, so I settled for second. Happy with the speed, happy with how today went. I was not sure until Thursday if I was going to line up, so happy with how it went and hopefully tomorrow we can do the same.“

Lucas Coenen: „Honestly, it’s hard to be in the middle because you get attacked and you also want to attack. The start was quite good but me and Jeffrey [Herlings] banged bars and we hit each other in the first corner. After that I managed to pass him and I was trying to be safe out there, it was easy to make a mistake. P3 is positive. I did some good lines, I tried to ride smooth but when you’re being attacked from behind it’s kind of hard, but I think I did good.“

MX2

The practice sessions saw the usual hardpack lovers come out to play at the top of the tables, although the speed and commitment of Sacha Coenen was breath-taking as he set the top time in Free Practice for Red Bull KTM Factory Racing.  Triumph Factory Racing Team’s Guillem Farres was second, ahead of last year’s Qualifying Race winner Valerio Lata, looking good immediately for Honda HRC Petronas.

Coenen took the top spot in Time Practice, too, a full second faster than Janis Reisulis, with Liam Everts right there in third.

Coenen pulled a classic Holeshot, with Everts right alongside him into turn one, but Janis tucked towards the inside of the Belgian to out-drag him up the big Liqui Moly mountain towards the second corner! McLellan was fourth initially, but a brilliant run around the second and third corners put him instantly past both of the riders in front of him to fire back across the start straight in second place!

Home hero Simon Längenfelder, holding the number 1 red plate for Red Bull KTM Factory Racing and sporting his nation’s traditional colours, was initially in fifth spot, but dropped back behind last year’s Qualifying Race winner Valerio Lata on the Honda HRC Petronas machine, and Guillem Farres of the Triumph Racing Factory Team.  The Spaniard then passed the Italian in a tight left-hand corner before the end of the first full lap.  It got worse for Längenfelder as Kawasaki Racing Team MX2’s Frenchman Mathis Valin made a pass over the new “Dragon’s Back” jump at the start of lap two!

Suddenly on lap three, Coenen dropped the bike under braking for a right-hander, and picked it back up in fifth, just as Valin passed Lata for sixth.  Karlis Reisulis was also hounding the Champ for Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MX2, while Osička KTM MX Team rider Julius Mikula was lurking in tenth.

McLellan inherited the lead after Coenen’s crash, with Janis Reisulis a solid second.  Farres initially gave Everts some pressure, but the Belgian responded to hold on, and the top four stayed constant until the finish.

Mikula passed Karlis Reisulis to take ninth at half distance, and they would finish there to round out the points scorers.  Coenen fell again to gift Valin fifth place on lap ten, with Lata finishing behind the Belgian in seventh.  Längenfelder’s eighth place means that Sacha still closed in by two points in the Championship, leaving him six points back, but Farres is now just ten further behind in third!

McLellan took the win by just over two seconds, finally claiming the first Saturday win for both himself and the Triumph factory, and is now just ten points behind Everts in fourth.  Janis Reisulis’ highest Saturday finish in second moved him past Valin by a single point for sixth in the Championship.

The MX2 series seems to have the top five all condensing to be closer to each other, and it could be a fantastic fight between all of the top contenders tomorrow!

The riders in all classes will be watching the weather apps to see what they have to deal with tomorrow, and it could lead to some unpredictable racing across the board! Come and join us for what should prove to be an epic Sunday at the Liqui Moly MXGP of Germany!

Camden McLellan: „Tough conditions, really, really technical track. Sacha [Coenen] was pushing in the first couple of laps and I tried to stay with him, but the risk was not worth the reward, let’s say, so I held back in second and then he made a mistake and I kind of just brought it home. It was really, really easy to make mistakes, so I was focusing on just doing my laps. I think I still have some improving to do tomorrow, but starts are awesome, riding is awesome, bike’s awesome, so I’m looking forward to the weekend.“

Source / Pictures: MXGP