After last weekend’s Grand Prix in Loket, MX2 action resumes this weekend in the sand of Lommel for the MXGP of Belgium.
Tim Gajser is lying second in the World Championship, 24 points behind leader Jeffrey Herlings. With Herlings out, a good haul of points for Tim in Lommel could propel him to the lead of the MX2 World Championship.
It won’t be an easy ride though, and is by no means a foregone conclusion, as Valentin Guillod is equal with Tim on points, and Pauls Jonass is just ten points behind. In fact, the top six riders are separated by just 54 points with a maximum of 250 points still up for grabs.
Lommel is one of the most demanding tracks of the season; the deep and rutted nature of the sand track proving a punishing test for riders and machines alike. Action gets underway from 1030hrs Saturday morning.
Giacomo Gariboldi, Team Principal
“It’s not his favourite track so maybe Tim will struggle a bit, and Jorge also as the sand is not where he’s strongest. But it will be nice to see what will happen this weekend in Lommel as it’s so close at the top. We will focus on each race and just see what happens, as we have seen many times this year that anything can happen. We have five tough GPs remaining this season and I think the title will go to the last one. It’s so important now not to make mistakes. Even if we lose points this weekend, we know we can make them up in Mantova and Assen and the overseas races so we must stay calm and not panic. After the last weekend the championship is now much more open, so maybe we as a team will start to feel a little more pressure, but we’ll continue in the way that’s brought us the success this year and see how it comes.”
Tim Gajser, no.243
“I’m looking forward to this weekend – last weekend the second moto was good but I’m disappointed with the crash in race one so I want to put that behind me in Lommel. The championship is very close at the top, but I’m still just taking each weekend race-by-race. I just go to do what I love and not put pressure on myself and enjoy my riding, and that’s been working for me this season so I’ll just keep on doing the same and we’ll see where we are after the next five races.”
Jorge Zaragoza, no.101
“We’re back to sand again in Lommel, and it’s deep sand so it’s not my favourite track, but we’ll see how it goes. For sure it will be a tough weekend physically, but we just have to continue working and taking steps forward.”