Gautier Paulin of the Monster Energy Kawasaki Racing Team was joint second highest-points scorer in the Belgian round of the FIM World MXGP Motocross Championship at Lommel.
The Frenchman had only returned to racing from injury the previous weekend but showed his resilience as he battled for the podium all day. He charged onto the rear wheel of the leader from outside the top ten on the opening lap of racing in the first moto to finish second and was riding confidently again in race two as he advanced from an initial seventh to challenge for fourth place until the heavens opened and a heavy rain engulfed the track. After initially losing a place to teammate Steven Frossard, Gautier regrouped to finish fourth but unfortunately the riders who had finished directly behind him in race one were the same ones who held down the placings ahead of him in race two and all three tied on points. Riders who score the same number of points over the two races at a motocross GP are classified in the overall GP classification on the basis of their result in the second moto so, although Gautier scored the same number of world championship points, he missed out on a visit to the podium on the tie-break. Despite missing seven GPs earlier in the year because of injury Gautier has now confirmed eighth place in the championship standings and has every chance to snatch seventh place in the final two GPs next month.
Steve Frossard is not generally considered to be a sand expert but he was riding comfortably in eight position in the opening race until he landed too short over a jump; in great pain he battled on bravely to finish thirteenth and, after a two hour break, showed excellent form in race two as he charged up the leaderboard from an initial tenth to hold fourth place before heavy rainfall in the closing laps of the race made visibility very difficult and forced Steven to lose two places for a sixth placed finish. He now holds down sixth place in the championship standings, just nine points behind the rider in fifth, with two GPs remaining.
Gautier Paulin: “I’m happy with my performance this weekend, but unhappy to miss the podium as there were three of us tied with the same number of points, from second to fourth overall! It is just three months since I got injured and I have worked hard to get these results. My first start was not very good, and when I came through to second behind Cairoli he found another rhythm; we did four very fast laps, but then I decided to keep some energy for the second race. We had some heavy rain in the last ten minutes, and I finished fourth. Now I will go back home to prepare the last two GPs and the Motocross of Nations.”
Steven Frossard: “I was in the top eight of the first race when I came short up on a jump, and when I landed I had pain everywhere in my body so the goal was just to finish the race and salvage some points. The second race was much better; my start was not really good but I recovered to fourth, but when the rain came I lost two positions as I couldn’t see the track very well. Lommel was nice to ride this year; they did a very good job to keep the track safe even though so many classes were racing all weekend.”