Team HRC’s Tim Gajser wrapped up both the MX1 and the Superfinal championships in the Internazionali d’Italia, winning five of the six races, and finishing second behind team-mate Mitch Evans in the other. This made it a clean sweep for the new Honda CRF450RW, which also led every lap of the six motos and included five holeshots across the rounds in Riola Sardo, Ottobiano and this weekend in Mantova.
While the 2020 MXGP world championship starts in England in three weeks’ time, this was a great way to warm-up and provide some very important gate drops before the first round of the series in which Gajser will look to defend his title. The Slovenian had great starts in all the races and his confidence will have been boosted by how well the new machine performed in the variety of track surfaces these past three weekends.
It was also great to see Evans ride so well throughout the three-round series and finish off with a moto victory in the Superfinal. In what is his first year on the Honda CRF450RW, he has adapted really well to the new bike and looked extremely comfortable as he took his first race win in Europe. That result meant he finished second in both the MX1 and Superfinal classes and backed up the decision by Team HRC to pick up the talented Australian.
Both riders now have a little break from race action, before heading to Matterley Basin, Great Britain which is hosting round one of the MXGP series on February 29-March 1st.
Tim Gajser 243
I’m very happy with how this series went, to win five races and to get great starts and lead laps was an important beginning to 2020 for me. With the new CRF450RW we’ve been working hard to get everything setup well and these results prove what a good job everyone has done. Now I have a little break but I will keep working hard and make sure to carry this momentum into England.
Mitch Evans 43
I had a great time riding this Internazionali d’Italia, especially finishing off with a win in the Superfinal here. I followed Tim for a little bit but I had good lines so I made the pass and just tried to ride forward and concentrate on what I was doing. It is awesome to get a race win and now I know what it’s like, I hope I can repeat it during the season. However, I also know that it won’t be easy so I need to keep training hard and working with the team to make sure my level stays consistently high.
Marcus Pereira de Freitas
HRC General Manager – MXGP
Practically the perfect series for Team HRC across these three rounds in Italy. Tim winning five of the six motos and then Mitch winning this last race, means that both riders are on a really good level right now and that the new Honda CRF450RW is performing really well too. We also had five holeshots out of six and that will be an important part as we look to defend the MXGP championship, so overall everyone in the team is extremely happy with how things have gone. We now have just less than three weeks to keep working and fine-tuning everything for Matterley Basin where the MXGPs begin.
