The MXGP of Castilla La Mancha in Spain, round two of the motocross world championships, saw Slovenian former world champion Tim Gajser win the weekend and zoom to the top of the standings.
His Honda HRC factory team had a very successful day at the second round of the 2025 MXGP series, as Gajser won both races at Castilla La Mancha and took hold of the series leader’s red number-plate by 20 points.
His team-mate Ruben Fernandez followed him across the line in second place in race one, and ended up fourth overall, while in the MX2 class Honda’s Ferruccio Zanchi won this first moto and stood on the MX2 podium for the first time in his career.
In what were brutally difficult conditions, Gajser showed that he still has immense skill when the conditions get tough, and after winning the qualification race on Saturday, he won both races by more than 30 seconds to claim the perfect weekend and for his 50th GP victory. In race one, he got a good start and followed Fernandez round in the early goings, before making his move a checking out.
However, in race two he didn’t get such a good jump and with the mud making things extremely tough, he had to make a number of impressive passes to move himself into the top positions.
Within two laps, he had made his way to the front, and once again checked out for the victory. The 50 points on Sunday, along with the 10 on Saturday meant that he turned a nine-point deficit into a 20-point lead, and he now heads to St Jean D’Angely with a lot of confidence for next weekend’s event.
After a fighting 10th place in qualification, Fernandez turned his weekend around as he went two-12 for fourth overall.
The Spaniard took the early lead of race one, as his expertly controlled his Honda CRF450R in the first few turns, giving the home crowd something to cheer in some miserable weather.
He did have to concede the position to Gajser soon after but kept it calm and controlled and finished in an excellent second place. Race two didn’t go so well as he got caught up in a second corner incident and remounted in last position. He charged through the pack as much as possible, and got his way up to 12th place, which saw him narrowly miss out on the podium as his 31pts gave him fourth overall.
Still, it was a good showing on a track he doesn’t favour and he’ll head to France knowing that he isn’t far away from achieving his podium ambitions.
In the MX2 class, it was as amazing performance by Zanchi to holeshot race one and lead around the best MX2 riders in the world, in what was treacherous terrain at the Cozar circuit.
The young Italian took the win by over 10 seconds, sparking scenes of delight amongst the Honda HRC team as it was their first MX2 race win since 2019.
Unfortunately a disastrous first lap of race two left him with a lot of work to do, but he never stopped charging and managed to get up to 10th place.
It was a nervous wait after he crossed the line, but eventually he discovered that he had done enough for third overall, and his first visit to a world championship podium. It was nothing more than the young Italian deserved, and he heads to France next weekend looking for even more.
Fighting for every position for Valerio Lata who wasn’t quite able to maintain the consistency needed on this muddy, rutted circuit. He showed he had the pace of the top guys, but small mistakes hampered any chance he had of battling for the podium spots and instead he had to settle for 13-11 results for 12th overall.
None of the riders have too much time to relax now, as we head across the border to St Jean D’Angely in France for round three, a venue that Gajser won at last year, in similar conditions to this weekend.
All four of the riders are fit and healthy and all are motivated to put on a good showing, at what should hopefully be a packed facility in the French countryside.
“It was a good weekend, on what was a very difficult track,” said Gajser afterwards.
“I made things difficult in race two by not getting a good start but overall I am very happy with how things turned out. We have all worked very hard to get to this place and it nice to get a win – my 50th – and get the red-plate back and just show everyone that I am still at a very good level. Now the aim is to hold onto it until after the last round of the season.”
Photo courtesy Honda
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