Six years after the final round of the 2017 season, the MXGP World Championship will be back in Villars sous Ecot. Home of several GPs and an unforgettable Motocross of Nations in 1988 the track will meet the French Grand Prix on May 20-21.
Six years already that the club organised a Grand Prix! It was in 2017 at an unusual date for the club, as there were two rounds of the World Championship in France that year and Villars met the final one in september. Unfortunately, it was a ‘wet GP’ as it rained on Sunday, and if that was not a problem for Jeffrey Herlings, Thomas Covington and Chiara Fontanesi who won their class some fans stay home. It took some time for the club members to recover and get again motivation. “Since 2017 we organised two rounds of the French Elite series, and all our members asked for another GP” explains Luc Pellier, president of the club since 2019. The club members never stopped working to reach this goal to organise again a Grand Prix, the eighth one in the history of the club. “Of course 2017 was not really a popular success, but we all remind that two years earlier we had a fantastic event with Romain Febvre winning his first ever MXGP round. So we asked for another GP to the FIM and Infront, with the support of the French Federation, and here we are with a strong support from the local authorities.”
A renovated track
Since it’s first GP organised in 1982, the track of ‘La Versenne’ has changed a lot, as the club always want to offer a nice location for the riders. But never in the past have they worked so hard this winter to renovate it. “The track was not anymore in accordance with the FIM rules, it was too fast and it was time to change it. We work with Jean Luc Fouchet (former rider and boss of the French Supercross series since 1987) on the project and 80% of the layout has been changed. The start remains at the same place, but the first corner is a left one (instead of right); we also had five new corners, and the new track is more spectacular; the fans will always have a perfect view on the track, and they will have also a new platform to watch the races,” explains president Pellier who worked with Cedric Lucas, one of the most famous French track designers. Everything will be ready for the D Day, May 20-21.
Discount rates until mid February
As usual the fans can buy their tickets in advance at discount price until February 15th! The MX2 and MXGP will be the main classes of the event, and the support classes will be the Women and 125 European Championship.
- WE adult : 65€ (instead of 75€)
- WE 12/17 years: 40€ (instead of 50€)
- Sunday: 50€ (instead of 55€)
- Sunday 12/17 years: 30€ (instead of 35€)
- Saturday 35€
- Saturday 12/17 years: 25€
Photo Credit – Ray Archer
