Alessandro Lupino claimed a top ten finish on his debut for Team CLS Kawasaki MX2 Monster Energy Pro Circuit at the opening round of the FIM MX2 Motocross World Championship in Qatar.
The Italian, whose preparation for the world series had been handicapped by a shoulder injury earlier in the year, quickly settled down on the artificial track at the Losail International Circuit and showed his strength of character and speed to advance from 13th on lap one to finish sixth in the MX2 race. Unfortunately he was shunted by another rider at the second turn of the Superfinal, a combined race for MX1 and MX2 contenders, later in the day and, despite a brave ride from an initial 34th position, had to be content with 10 world championship points as 11th MX2 rider to finish. This gave him eighth overall on the day.
His teammate Arnaud Tonus was most unfortunate. Having battled hard to get back to speed after a winter recovering from injury, the Swiss rider suffered a heavy landing during the qualification race and suffered a cracked tibia. He bravely attempted to race the GP, and held an early ninth place in the MX2 race before the painful injury forced him to withdraw.
Valentin Teillet of the Rockstar Bud Racing Kawasaki team had recorded a sensational runaway victory in the Qualification race, but the Frenchman had terrible luck on race day. Holding a challenging fourth place in the MX2 race, he was forced to pit for repairs after a rock had damaged his bike, and on his return to the track crashed heavily and was forced to retire. After transferring to the Superfinal through the Last Chance he did not have a good choice of gate and inevitably suffered a poor start against the larger 450cc machines. He was rewarded with 12th in class for his persistence.
Teammate Dylan Ferrandis, keen not to miss the GP opener even though he had only been back in training for three weeks, soon settled down to a good pace, but he too was out of luck as an early crash in the MX2 moto sent him to the Last Chance alongside Teillet and the teenager just failed to make the transfer to the Superfinal.
Top lady racer Livia Lancelot was invited to contest the MX2 GP in Qatar, but, despite a remarkable performance, she failed to meet the 108% qualification hurdle against the men by just 1.667 seconds. She was rewarded for her efforts with an invitation to contest the second moto of the Qatar national championship event which supported the GP and finished a highly creditable third amongst the men.
Alessandro Lupino: “The MX2 race was pretty good; I had a good feeling with the bike and, after starting in the top fifteen, I finished sixth. My start in the Superfinal was good, maybe tenth or twelfth against the 450s, but another rider ran straight into me at the second corner and pushed me out of the track. I came back onto the track in last position and it was tough to find my good rhythm against the 450 riders .”
Valentin Teillet: “It was a great surprise for me to win the qualifying race, but it gave me more confidence for the GP races. I was fourth in the MX2 race when I had a small problem which forced me to go into the pits and when I got back in the race I crashed and had to retire, so I had to go through the Last Chance race to qualify for the Superfinal. That made it a long day. I didn’t have so much time to recover before the last race and I had a very bad position on the grid so I got a bad start which made life difficult against the 450 on this track.”
Dylan Ferrandis: “This was my first race for six months, and I only started practising again three weeks ago. I was still getting used to my bike this weekend, and during the practice sessions I was not so confident with my knee as the doctors didn’t want me to ride so early. Unfortunately I crashed in the first lap of the MX2 race, and had to go to the Last Chance race. I just missed qualification for the Superfinal, but I was pleased to see that I wasn’t tired after the races.”
Livia Lancelot: “I knew that it would be difficult to qualify, but I’m not disappointed about my experience in Qatar. The track was spectacular with big jumps and I did my best to finish twelve seconds from the pole position and less than two seconds from the qualifying time. I was happy with my riding, but this is the World Championship ! I raced the second moto of the Qatar national championship on Saturday, and finished third so it was a nice experience.”