All three Team HRC riders – Tim Gajser, Ruben Fernandez and Ferruccio Zanchi – are making the trip to Turkiye for this weekend’s 18th round of the 2024 World Motocross Championship, where they’ll be tackling the challenge of the Afyon circuit buoyed by events at the previous round in Switzerland. Words: HRC
For Gajser, that was a highly momentous season-first one-one performance, and one that increased his points lead to 18 points with just three rounds remaining. The tight and technical track was perfect for the Honda CRF450R rider and he swept through the field on his way to victory to give himself a bit more breathing room as the end of the season approaches. And having won in Afyon in both 2023 and 2022, he knows that this is a venue he can perform at the highest level on, and will be aiming to repeat the feat from Frauenfeld and increase his lead even further.
After returning to action in Switzerland after almost six months out, recovering from a knee injury, Fernandez is also looking forward to racing again. His comeback went exceedingly well, leading some laps and fighting inside the top 10 and having now had a weekend off to assess how that went, he heads to Turkiye excited to try and work his way closer to the front for the duration of the motos.
Having had a season-best moto score of sixth in race one in Switzerland, MX2 rider Zanchi has also got some momentum behind him as he tries to finish his rookie campaign on a high. The young Italian has already raced far more than in any other year, so it is already impressive that he is still able to perform at a high level, but with him seemingly getting better, there are hopes he can break into the top five before the season is over.
So while the three riders have different targets, Gajser, Fernandez and Zanchi are all confident that this weekend’s racing in Afyon, Turkiye will be a successful one, which will put them on the right path for a great ending to this 2024 season.
Image: HRC
