A little bit of juggling has been required to meet conditions of the under-23 age limit for the MX2 class at Grand Prix level and also to cover for recent injuries.

With that in mind, the Standing Construct Yamaha Yamalube racing team this week announced that Belgian rider Julien Lieber (pictured above) will remain on the YZ250F for the 2016 MX2 FIM Motocross World Championship while team-mate Valentin Guillod contemplates moving up to MXGP.

And following the recent injury of Dylan Ferrandis, who will regrettably miss the rest of the season, team Monster Energy Kawasaki MX2 Racing Team has signed young Bulgarian Petar Petrov for the remaining MX2 championship rounds.

Petrov’s team-mates will be French MX2 world champion Jordi Tixier and American Thomas Covington.

Just 20 years old, Petrov already has huge experience of the MX2 class as he has raced the GPs since 2010 after promising results in the 85 and 125 classes.

For the first time in his career, the young Bulgarian will race on a factory bike. After claiming several top-10s and a couple of top-five results in the past, Petrov is ready for another challenge. He will have several days of testing to become familiar with his new bike and new team before moving to Great Britain to compete in the seventh round of the GP world series scheduled for May 23-24.

For the 20-year-old Lieber (he’s 21 in June), he is negotiating his fifth season of Grand Prix competition in 2015 and has already set a small milestone by obtaining his first podium finish, secured at the opening round at Qatar.

He is currently ninth in the MX2 world championships standings, after six rounds, and is just two points behind Swiss Suzuki rider Jeremy Seewer.

Lieber’s progress under the auspices of the Belgian team run by Tim Mathys have been one of several positive narratives for Yamaha in the six rounds of the MX2 campaign so far.

The crew celebrated their first GP win with the YZ250F thanks to Guillod – who has to depart MX2 next year due to the MX2 age rules and his turning 23 in December – and have eyed Lieber to continue his speedy evolution in the category for the future.

Guillod is currently fifth in the MX2 standings.

“We’ve been working very hard with the team to get the race bike how we’d like it so we can try for the best results in MX2,” Lieber said.

“I feel happy being here and it is great to confirm that we will be together for 2016. I don’t know yet how the team will be structured but I know the riders here are treated well and there is not the feeling of a ‘number one’ or ‘number two’. We’ll continue to do what we can now this season and always aim for the best.”

“Julien started the year in great form and has a lot of potential on the YZ250F,” commented Yamaha Motor Europe Motocross Racing Manager Erik Eggens.

“Standing Construct have been pushing very hard with their development and the high standards with which they go racing and Yamaha could not wish for better partners than that. I think we have established an excellent base with both the team and Julien and it makes perfect sense to keep him as part of our set-up and plan to continue to build Yamaha’s presence through the levels in world and European Motocross.”

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