The MX2 class saw an emotional win for the master of the mud, Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing new boy Liam Everts, who followed up a first race second position with a resounding 81-second victory over his teammate Kay de Wolf!  The reigning Champion was happy to gain back the red plate that he lost overnight with a determined second overall, but the most joyful face on the podium was Ferruccio Zanchi, after taking his first career race win and podium finish!

It was a tough day for the red plate holders Maxime Renaux and Sacha Coenen, who will both switch to regular plates for the next round, but they have time to recover as the 2025 FIM Motocross World Championship is still very much in its infancy!

The Honda HRC teammates Gajser and home hero Ruben Fernandez topped the timesheets in a very wet morning Warm-up session, but the first race Fox Holeshot Award went to the private red machine of Team Honda Motoblouz SR Motul pilot Kevin Horgmo, for the first time in the MXGP class! That was only after he narrowly avoided being involved in a first corner pile-up that began with Red Bull KTM Factory Racing rookie Lucas Coenen sliding to the floor from what looked like a leading position! Red plate holder Maxime Renaux was also caught in the tangle and had to pick up his Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP machine from the wet Spanish clay.

After two corners, Fernandez had darted to the inside of Horgmo to take over the lead, with Coldenhoff also able to get past the Norwegian into the next left-hander. The Dutch veteran was not finished there, however, and briefly took the lead from Fernandez in a great first lap battle!

Gajser, however, was lurking, and was able to drive through the ruts to get around Coldenhoff, then took advantage of a mistake from his teammate to take the lead before the end of the first full lap, and start to pull away with what would be the Acerbis Fastest Lap of the day on lap two.

Calvin Vlaanderen was putting in a solid ride for Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP, and worked his way past Coldenhoff for third at the halfway point. Further back, behind a solid Horgmo who kept fifth until the flag, Isak Gifting hauled his JK Racing Yamaha ahead of Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP veteran Romain Febvre in an entertaining early scrap, and the pair finished in sixth and seventh, just ahead of Bonacorsi.

The two big first turn crashers, Coenen and Renaux, showed their determination for points with recoveries to ninth and tenth respectively, but they were the last riders not to be lapped by a dominant Gajser, and the Honda HRC teammates celebrated a stunning 1-2 finish ahead of Vlaanderen, who had swapped mistakes with Coldenhoff to maintain third place ahead of the Fantic man.

More rain fell on the already sodden circuit for MXGP race two, but the pack worked through the first corner relatively unscathed this time, with the Fox Holeshot Award going to Pauls Jonass, his first for Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP, but Coenen was right with him and took the lead into the downhill third corner! By this time, Fernandez had fallen over the rear wheel of Coldenhoff in turn two, as Gajser pushed forward from crossing the Holeshot line in tenth!

Gajser was in determined mood to not let Coenen get away, and suddenly he was up to third place, moving inside both Fantic riders through one downhill section! Then he railed around the outside of Jonass before the new waves section, and had Coenen in his sights! It was one of the best first lap recoveries of recent times for the Slovenian.

It looked like the fans who had braved the ever-changing weather were going to be treated to a battle between the two silver medallists from last year’s Championships, but the young Belgian slipped off his machine in a right-hand rut and had to fight back from ninth position.  Gajser took off with the lead on the treacherous circuit, with Coldenhoff and Bonacorsi in a distant pursuit. 

The other top finishers from race one had a tough second outing, with Vlaanderen having various issues and ending up out of the points, and Fernandez only able to recover to twelfth from his second corner crash. The Fantic freight train behind Gajser extended to Brian Bogers, who held a solid fourth ahead of Kawasaki pairing Febvre and Jonass, with Gifting seventh ahead of a more steady Coenen.

Aruba.it Ducati Factory MX Team pilot Mattia Guadagnini had suffered a problem at the start of race one, but was able to claim ninth this time ahead of Horgmo, with Renaux crashing on more than one occasion to end up eleventh and end the day in tenth overall, and third in the Championship.

Febvre’s perseverance led to him taking fifth overall and rising back to second in the points standings. Fernandez was able to claim fourth overall on the day, but a late mistake in the first corner by Coldenhoff allowed Bonacorsi to pass his teammate and take a career-best second place in race two. Coldenhoff had done enough to keep the second step on the podium for the day, with Bonacorsi able to climb his first career podium in third!  What a way for Fantic Factory Racing to make its first appearances on an MXGP podium!

Ultimately though, the day belonged to Tim Gajser, with a double victory that moves him into rarefied air as only the sixth rider in history to score his 50^th Motocross Grand Prix victory, and leads Febvre by 20 points as they head towards St Jean d’Angely for the MXGP of Europe next weekend!

MXGP Results

MXGP Quotes

Tim Gajser: "It was a great weekend—three out of three wins and two strong motos in really tough conditions. Yesterday’s qualifying race win was important for securing a good gate pick today. In the first race, I got a solid start, while in the second, I had to fight through the pack, but I was able to control the pace and get the job done. I’m really happy with how everything went. A huge thank you to my team and everyone around me; I know how hard they are working. This is just the beginning, and I can’t wait to go again in two weeks!"

Glenn Coldenhoff: "It’s been a while since my last podium, so this feels really good. My starts were on point this weekend, which made everything much easier. Unfortunately, I made a small mistake in the second moto, bent my shift lever, and ended up in neutral, which is so easy to do in these tough conditions., but I have to thank the whole team and all the mechanics—they have such a tough job in conditions like these. Fantic did an amazing job with the bike, and having two Fantic riders on the podium is incredible. We’re building momentum, and I’m excited for what’s ahead!"

Andrea Bonacorsi “ It’s amazing to be on the podium. I felt super well in the team from the first moment so we say that it was going to be good this year and that we will be on the podium and we made it now in the second race so we have to be proud of it of what we are making and a big thanks to everybody today because it was really survival mode today for everybody, riders and mechanics but we made it 2-3. Also, congrats to Glenn (Coldenhoff), because we did a really amazing job. But thanks to everybody at home, and see you soon. But thanks to everybody at home, and see you soon.”

MX2

There were no expressions of surprise when the wet morning Warm-up session was topped by Everts, by a second and a half from Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Andrea Adamo, while Cas Valk again showed his speed in the mud with third for Venrooy KTM.

The red plate was being worn by Sacha Coenen, as the Red Bull KTM Factory Racing star stood on equal points with De Wolf. However, a tangle with Adamo on the start straight left the 2023 Champion on the floor, and Coenen himself well down the order, and things didn’t get any better all day for the 18-year-old!

Another 18-year-old was starting the day of his life, however, as Ferruccio Zanchi burst into the lead marginally ahead of the Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MX2 machine of Thibault Benistant, the winner of Saturday’s Qualifying Race! Everts gave chase, with his teammate De Wolf quickly moving up to join him, although not before he thrillingly swapped places with Benistant for most of the first full lap!

Mathis Valin, fastest in Saturday’s Time Practice session for Kawasaki Racing Team MX2, got past his fellow Frenchman on the second lap and was looking good in fourth, until a crash on lap eight forced him to pull out with a painful wrist, and he was sadly unable to line up for race two. This promoted a hard-charging Simon Laengenfelder to fifth place, flying the flag for Red Bull KTM Factory Racing as his teammates could only recover to ninth (Adamo) and eleventh (Coenen), with Camden McLellan the last rider not to be lapped in tenth for Monster Energy Triumph Racing.

There was a heroic performance from TM Moto CRD Motosport rider Julius Mikula, who moved up two places to eighth on the final lap! Quentin Prugnieres was impressive with seventh for WZ-Racing KTM, although Valk was able to recover from a start outside of the top ten to pass Quentin with four laps to go.

Many thought that Everts would close in on the young Italian out front, but Zanchi was up to the challenge and took his first career GP race win, the first for Honda in MX2 since Calvin Vlaanderen in 2019!  Everts, De Wolf, Benistant, and Laengenfelder rounded out the top five.

After a dry spell before MX2 Race Two, the heavens cruelly opened on the circuit to break the hearts of the hard-working track crew, and lap times in the second outing were on average ten seconds higher than race one!

This time it was Everts who blasted to the Fox Holeshot Award line with the lead over De Wolf, while Benistant and McLellan battled over third for most of the first lap! The Yamaha man dropped back to sixth, as McLellan’s Triumph teammate Guillem Farres, only 16th in race one, held fourth from Adamo at the end of the first full lap. Benistant also lost a battle to Laengenfelder, before losing control on a rough downhill and dropping to an eventual twelfth place finish.

McLellan got stuck in trackside mud on the same lap, and was unable to restart, walking back to the Paddock in bitter disappointment.  Adamo and Valk were moving impressively forward, helped by mistakes from Farres who slipped to an eventual sixth, just ahead of Prugnieres and Mikula who finished seventh and eighth again.  Home rider Oriol Oliver took ninth for KTM BTS Racing Team, just ahead of first race winner Zanchi, who had to recover from a first lap mistake to take tenth place, which proved to just about be enough to climb the overall podium!  

Laengenfelder was able to get back ahead of Valk after the tall Dutchman had taken advantage of a mistake by the German, who charged up to the rear wheel of Adamo.  So much so that the Italian pushed hard enough to catch De Wolf as they started the final lap! While Everts serenely floated to the race win, at times around ten seconds faster than everyone else, his teammate had to pick up his pace to keep the two KTM men behind him! Able to keep enough of a gap, the Dutchman secured second overall and a return to the top of the points table. Adamo held a defensive line into the last corner as Laengenfelder went for a blast around the outside, knowing that the pass would mean a podium finish! The Italian hit a bump and briefly stopped, and the German could not avoid him, hitting the ground himself!  He got back up quickly to claim fourth overall ahead of Adamo.

Zanchi took his first career GP podium, and Honda’s first in MX2 since Stephen Rubini’s third overall in May 2022, at Maggiora.  It puts him up to eighth in the standings and should see a major leap in his confidence. The second race was all about Liam Everts, however, and his dominant win by a minute and twenty seconds indicates just how much better he is at this style of racing.  After being unsure if he could ever ride again after his injuries from last year, it was a brilliant sixth career victory for the determined Belgian, who now moves up to second in the points standings, just six points behind his teammate!

The big clean-up for the teams has a time limit, as they face a 1,000 km journey north to St Jean d’Angely in France for the MXGP of Europe next weekend!  Last year’s event there was affected by the weather, and this year may see something similar, but we all know that it can make for an incredible weekend of racing in front of the passionate French fans!

MX2 Results