The most northern round of the 2025 FIM Motocross World Championships fired into life with the qualifying races for the MXGP of Finland at the new KymiRing venue.
Because the European heatwave had spread to the forests in the south of the Scandinavian nation, it meant for a tough afternoon of racing for the competitors and spectators alike.
After getting acquainted with the new purpose-built circuit, the MXGP elite put on a high-speed display of sand riding in the sun to compete for the points on offer in the afternoon’s qualifying races.
Belgium’s Lucas Coenen (pictured here) continued to be the master of Saturday this season, with his fifth qualifying race win of the year for Red Bull KTM Factory Racing, as battle raged behind him with Calvin Vlaanderen taking second for Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP.
Italy’s Andrea Bonacorsi took a career best qualifying race finish with third for Fantic Factory Racing MXGP.
In the MX2 class, it was a mixed bag of fortunes for the two Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing riders, as Kay de Wolf took just his second qualifying race win of the season after Liam Everts crashed heavily from the lead.
Sacha Coenen took second for Red Bull KTM Factory Racing, while Guillem Farres claimed by far his best qualifying race result with third place for Monster Energy Triumph Racing.
The new circuit got very rough and technical at the end of the day and, with tomorrow’s longer races (Monday morning NZ time), it is sure to present even more of a challenge for the world championship contenders.
The leading pair in the MXGP world championship began the duelling as early as free practice, with Lucas Coenen snatching the top time from Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP’s Romain Febvre on his final lap of the session.
Frenchman Febvre, the world championship leader, took the advantage back, however, with a late push in timed practice to grab the first gate pick for the qualifying race, while Dutchman Glenn Coldenhoff took a solid second for Fantic Factory Racing MXGP, edging Coenen down to third.
Calvin Vlaanderen, in the special 70th Anniversary colours being run at the weekend for Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP, took fourth despite a crash that ruined a lap that looked faster, and Andrea Bonacorsi put a second Fantic into the top five.
Lucas Coenen, who has proven to be the most consistently fast starter in MXGP this year, rocketed into the lead through the first corner of the qualifying race and immediately started to pull away, while Coldenhoff veered into the path of Febvre and held up the red plate holder through turn one.
This left Bonacorsi in second, with Belgian Jago Geerts initially third for Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP, although he had to yield immediately to Honda HRC’s Ruben Fernandez.
However, both factory men were surprised by a brilliant few corners from British rider Adam Sterry, who fired his Chambers KTM Racing machine past them both to take third by the fifth corner on the track.
The action came thick and fast on the opening lap, as Coldenhoff tried an outside line to make a pass on Geerts, who had slipped down to sixth behind Vlaanderen.
Coldenhoff left the door open to a desperate passing attempt by Febvre, and the two veterans were suddenly in a pile on the ground.
Remounting just inside the top 20, Febvre set about salvaging as many points as he could to protect his championship lead, while Fernandez and Vlaanderen squeezed past Sterry by the end of the first full lap.
Outside of the top six, Brian Bogers was the second-highest Fantic but involved in a tussle with the MRT Racing Team Beta of Ben Watson, Jeremy Seewer for the Aruba.it Ducati Factory MX Team, and the JM Racing Honda of Brent van Doninck.
Geerts was unable to get past Sterry in the early laps, although Fernandez ran off track on lap three to briefly drop behind the Welshman.
Vlaanderen set after Bonacorsi and did the classic livery proud with a fantastic pass around the outside of the Italian on lap six to take second place.
By this time, Febvre had worked up into the top 10 with a strong pass on former team-mate Seewer, before Watson fired around the outside of Bogers into the second corner to take away seventh from the Dutchman.
By lap eight, Febvre was up to seventh, while Bogers slipped down the order to an eventual 15th as Seewer rounded out the top ten at the finish.
Van Doninck passed Watson with four laps to go as the pair claimed eighth and ninth, but above them there were more changes.
Geerts took until lap 10 to find a way past Sterry at the very top of the track, and Febvre also took the Chambers KTM man for sixth a lap later.
Seventh was still a career best MXGP qualifying race result for the British rider, while fifth for Geerts ahead of Febvre was the Yamaha man’s best result apart from his win at Lugo in May.
Fernandez took fourth on Saturday for the fourth GP in a row, Bonacorsi celebrated his best Saturday race yet in third, and Vlaanderen equalled his second place from the muddy race in Portugal.
However, Coenen cruised to a nine-second win, his fifth qualifying race win of the year, and took five points off the championship lead, putting him just 27 behind Febvre heading into Sunday’s GP races (Monday morning NZ time).
Lucas Coenen: “I was feeling good today, warm weather, fast track, the holeshot and then I just rode each lap, had fun and enjoyed it. Timed practice was tough because I didn’t get any flow, but the qualification race was better. I kept the bike neutral, found my rhythm, and that’s the goal tomorrow: holeshots and then stay in front.”
© Photo courtesy KTM
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UPDATED WORLD STANDINGS AFTER QUALIFYING:
MXGP – World Championship Classification:
1. Romain Febvre (FRA, KAW), 589 points; 2. Lucas Coenen (BEL, KTM), 562 p.; 3. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, FAN), 411 p.; 4. Ruben Fernandez (ESP, HON), 390 p.; 5. Maxime Renaux (FRA, YAM), 347 p.; 6. Calvin Vlaanderen (NED, YAM), 328 p.; 7. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 325 p.; 8. Andrea Bonacorsi (ITA, FAN), 320 p.; 9. Tim Gajser (SLO, HON), 305 p.; 10. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, DUC), 275 p.
MX2 – World Championship Classification:
1. Simon Längenfelder (GER, KTM), 582 points; 2. Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), 528 p.; 3. Kay de Wolf (NED, HUS), 515 p.; 4. Liam Everts (BEL, HUS), 464 p.; 5. Sacha Coenen (BEL, KTM), 442 p.; 6. Thibault Benistant (FRA, YAM), 420 p.; 7. Camden McLellan (RSA, TRI), 362 p.; 8. Valerio Lata (ITA, HON), 281 p.; 9. Cas Valk (NED, KTM), 269 p.; 10. Guillem Farres (ESP, TRI), 249 p.