After the teasing tasters of Saturday’s qualifying races, the MXGP of Patagonia-Argentina served up the main course of the Grand Prix races to really get the 2024 MXGP World Championship underway in style.
The beautiful but brutal Villa La Angostura circuit has a unique surface that requires maximum concentration, and its unpredictable nature helped to make the opening round of the season a particularly dramatic one.
Ultimately, it saw victory in MXGP for Red Bull GASGAS Factory Racing talisman and reigning MXGP World Champion Jorge Prado, who will re-attach the red plates that were put briefly into the container after finishing 4th in Saturday’s qualifying race.
The MX2 class provided some brilliant racing throughout the weekend, with all three races seeing changes in the top three right up to the very last few corners.
With sheer determination to never stop charging, the overall win went to Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing’s Kay de Wolf, who also takes the red plate from his team-mate Lucas Coenen, who had a rollercoaster of a day after going in as championship leader.
Whilst running a white background on his number plate for the first time since the very beginning of last year, Prado put his No.1 machine into the lead immediately with a trademark holeshot in race one, and even though the Monster Energy Yamaha of Maxime Renaux sneaked past into turn two, with Kawasaki Racing Team’s Romain Febvre following him through, the champion was having none of it and by the end of the first section of big jumps he was back in control.
Even with all the pre-race talk of the six World Champions in the field, it was still amazing to see them all fill the top six at the start of the opening event. Qualifying race winner Tim Gajser had an eventful first few laps for Team HRC, and battled with the Standing Construct Honda of Pauls Jonass, who was right on the pace all weekend.
After passing the Latvian, Gajser suddenly slid sideways in a corner and lost the position, before tipping over in the very next corner and dropping from 5th to 13th.
The sole representative for Red Bull KTM Factory Racing in MXGP, Jeffrey Herlings, didn’t enjoy the boost in position for long as he fell at the exact same spot as Gajser a few laps later! He would recover to finish 8th at the flag.
Nearly halfway through, Febvre made a move to demote his countryman Renaux from 2nd, but couldn’t make any dent into Prado’s lead. Gajser battled back to 5th, nearly catching Renaux on the last lap, with Jonass 3rd behind Febvre and the winner Prado.
Race two saw Renaux claim the holeshot award, but he would never lead again after running wide, allowing Gajser to move to the front, and as with the qualifying race, the Slovenian was able to establish an early gap that he would never relinquish.
All the action happened behind him as Jonass started in 2nd, but that uphill right-hand hairpin caused more trouble as Prado railed around the Latvian into 2nd on lap one, just as Renaux tried to move inside them and fell doing so.
The Frenchman had to fight back, eventually to 6th.
Febvre moved past Jonass on the second lap, putting himself into the top three for good and not just in the race, but in the overall reckoning as well.
At half-distance, there was an all-Dutch freight train as a slow-starting Herlings caught Fantic Racing’s Glenn Coldenhoff and Monster Energy Yamaha MXGP new boy Calvin Vlaanderen. The Bullet managed to shoot them both but had to give way to Renaux’s late charge and finish in 7th.
Kawasaki Racing Team’s own debutant, Jeremy Seewer, took a solid 5th to go with his race one 7th, and the all-World Champion top four of Gajser, Prado, Febvre, and Jonass stayed in that order to the flag, although the Spaniard tangled with a lapped rider to raise his heart rate somewhat in the closing laps.
This left Prado to claim his 39th overall Grand Prix victory, equalling the late great Belgian Eric Geboers for 7th in the all-time GP winner’s list and returning him to the top of the MXGP standings.
Febvre’s 2nd overall ahead of Gajser left him level with the Slovenian in the championship, both just three points behind the leader as they head to his home territory in Spain!
“Yeah, it was. It was a very good weekend, very good races today,” said Prado afterwards.
“First one I started second and I passed Maxime (Renaux) very quickly. Yesterday I lost so much time behind him, so I knew I had to make the pass straight away.
“And that’s what I did. And then, you know, Seewer was just behind me all the time. And we were putting a very good pace till the end. It was a good race win. Second race I had a better start to be honest, but I lost it in the corner.
“I was too cautious and then Tim (Gajser) got me from the inside. He was there at the front and we rode the same pace the whole time. We were riding a good pace. I was riding very smooth all day.
“I didn’t make any mistakes so I’m very happy. Couldn’t ask for a better start to the year. It’s super cool to go back to Spain and be home for the first round.”
MX2 CLASS
Belgium’s Lucas Coenen had said after Saturday’s qualifying race win that he didn’t want to think about his first red plate too much, and as he moved past Red Bull GASGAS Factory Racing rookie Marc-Antoine Rossi and his holeshot winning brother Sacha Coenen, it didn’t look like Lucas Coenen was riding tight.
However, just after fending off a retaliation from Rossi, he tucked the front wheel and fell awkwardly in a right-hand sweeper. Nursing a thumb injury, he rode slowly into the pits and retired from the first race altogether.
This left Rossi in the lead and loving the fact that although it looks like a sandy surface, away from the berms it is very much like a hard-pack circuit to race on. De Wolf still looked at home and despite running off-track briefly, he picked up a position as Sacha Coenen fell in turn one after four laps.
Sacha’s Red Bull KTM Factory Racing team-mate, Andrea Adamo, had started badly and could only work his way up to 8th at the end, behind his rookie compatriot Ferruccio Zanchi of Team HRC. Sacha Coenen recovered well to finish 6th.
Mikkel Haarup had put his crash-infested qualifying race behind him to claim 5th for Monster Energy Triumph Racing in their first full-length GP race.
In the last third of the race, Rossi fell on the final corner of the 11th lap to lose the lead to Monster Energy Yamaha MX2 team leader Thibault Benistant.
Rossi’s team-mate at Red Bull GASGAS Factory Racing, Simon Laengenfelder also nipped past, then carved inside the Frenchman to win the first race for the sixth straight GP in MX2! Rossi tried to pass Benistant on the final lap, but fell as he span sideways and clipped the chasing De Wolf.
Amazingly, the Dutchman dived up the inside of Benistant to claim 2nd on the very last corner of the race.
In race two, Haarup stuck a major feather in the cap of his new bike as he gunned the Triumph into the lead to take the Fox Holeshot Award! He kept the lead for four laps as Laengenfelder caught up to him and nearly wiped out his back wheel.
The German’s mistake allowed Lucas Coenen, fighting through the pain barrier, into 2nd place, and then the Belgian launched his Husqvarna past Haarup’s Triumph to take the lead.
Lucas’ all-action style cost him dearly though as he run off the track and lost those two places again, just after Laengenfelder had finally got around Haarup. Amazingly, the Belgian was back into the lead on lap eleven with a brilliant outside-to-inside move around the long and choppy second corner.
The German faded, and for the fifth straight GP could not convert his first race win into an overall GP victory, finishing 4th in the race for 2nd overall.
Adamo would this time get up to 5th, to take that position in the overall Grand Prix, ahead of Zanchi, Rossi, Sacha Coenen, and Haarup’s team-mate Camden McLellan. Rick Elzinga rounded out the top 10 overall for MX2 class.
De Wolf was once more on the charge, pulling a stunning move on Haarup who did not give up easily.
This made it a Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing 1-2, but Lucas Coenen dropped the bike in the same corner that he lost the lead on earlier in the race, and again dropped to 3rd just two corners from the chequered flag.
This gave Kay De Wolf the race win, his second career GP win, and the championship lead to take back to Europe.
Photo courtesy Infront Moto Racing
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RESULTS & STANDINGS AFTER ROUND 1 OF 20:
MXGP – Race 1 – Top 10 Classification:
1. Tim Gajser (SLO, Honda), 34:28.502; 2. Jorge Prado (ESP, GASGAS), +0:10.489; 3. Romain Febvre (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:20.185; 4. Pauls Jonass (LAT, Honda), +0:23.521; 5. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, Kawasaki), +0:26.891; 6. Maxime Renaux (FRA, Yamaha), +0:46.962; 7. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), +0:49.416; 8. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, Fantic), +0:56.995; 9. Calvin Vlaanderen (NED, Yamaha), +0:59.796; 10. Kevin Horgmo (NOR, Honda), +1:03.635.
MXGP – Race 2 – Top 10 Classification:
1. Jorge Prado (ESP, GASGAS), 34:15.890; 2. Romain Febvre (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:09.547; 3. Pauls Jonass (LAT, Honda), +0:15.247; 4. Maxime Renaux (FRA, Yamaha), +0:21.332; 5. Tim Gajser (SLO, Honda), +0:21.707; 6. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, Fantic), +0:28.697; 7. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, Kawasaki), +0:30.189; 8. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), +0:45.718; 9. Calvin Vlaanderen (NED, Yamaha), +0:48.468; 10. Ben Watson (GBR, Beta), +0:53.000.
MXGP World Championship – Top 10 Classification:
1. Jorge Prado (ESP, GAS), 54 points; 2. Romain Febvre (FRA, KAW), 51 p.; 3. Tim Gajser (SLO, HON), 51 p.; 4. Pauls Jonass (LAT, HON), 46 p.; 5. Maxime Renaux (FRA, YAM), 39 p.; 6. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, KAW), 34 p.; 7. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 32 p.; 8. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, FAN), 28 p.; 9. Calvin Vlaanderen (NED, YAM), 26 p.; 10. Valentin Guillod (SUI, HON), 21 p.
MX2 – Race 1 – Top 10 Classification:
1. Simon Laengenfelder (GER, GASGAS), 34:23.626; 2. Kay de Wolf (NED, Husqvarna), +0:02.085; 3. Thibault Benistant (FRA, Yamaha), +0:02.482; 4. Marc-Antoine Rossi (FRA, GASGAS), +0:12.308; 5. Mikkel Haarup (DEN, Triumph), +0:12.777; 6. Sacha Coenen (BEL, KTM), +0:32.737; 7. Ferruccio Zanchi (ITA, Honda), +0:37.722; 8. Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), +0:43.901; 9. Quentin Marc Prugnieres (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:46.230; 10. Rick Elzinga (NED, Yamaha), +0:48.480.
MX2 – Race 2 – Top 10 Classification:
1. Kay de Wolf (NED, Husqvarna), 34:55.608; 2. Mikkel Haarup (DEN, Triumph), +0:01.555; 3. Lucas Coenen (BEL, Husqvarna), +0:11.627; 4. Simon Laengenfelder (GER, GASGAS), +0:13.862; 5. Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), +0:40.650; 6. Camden Mc Lellan (RSA, Triumph), +0:41.566; 7. Thibault Benistant (FRA, Yamaha), +0:41.975; 8. Ferruccio Zanchi (ITA, Honda), +0:52.327; 9. Rick Elzinga (NED, Yamaha), +0:54.965; 10. Sacha Coenen (BEL, KTM), +0:56.852.
MX2 World Championship – Top 10 Classification:
1. Kay de Wolf (NED, HUS), 56 points; 2. Simon Laengenfelder (GER, GAS), 50 p.; 3. Thibault Benistant (FRA, YAM), 40 p.; 4. Mikkel Haarup (DEN, TRI), 38 p.; 5. Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), 37 p.; 6. Marc-Antoine Rossi (FRA, GAS), 32 p.; 7. Lucas Coenen (BEL, HUS), 30 p.; 8. Ferruccio Zanchi (ITA, HON), 28 p.; 9. Sacha Coenen (BEL, KTM), 28 p.; 10. Camden Mc Lellan (RSA, TRI), 25 p.