This weekend the MXGP World Championship travels to the deep sand of Lommel, Belgium, for the second in a triple back-to-back-to-back of races.
Fresh from his second overall in the Czech Republic, Tim Gajser has been Mr. Consistent this season – remarkably never finishing off the podium in his rookie year aboard the CRF450RW.
The Slovenian star has won seven Grands Prix, finished second four times and third on two occasions. He’s had 13 individual moto victories, meaning he’s won half the races this season, set 16 fastest laps and led for 209 laps – 45 per cent of the season’s total.
As a result, with five GPs remaining, Gajser has a 109-point lead in the title going into Lommel, and his contribution means that Honda lead the Manufacturers’ Championship by 62 points.
Gajser will be the lone CRF running under the Honda Gariboldi team awning this weekend, as David Herbreteau continues to sit out the action with his ankle injury, and Jorge Zaragoza will be forced to miss the GP after dislocating his shoulder in a race one crash last weekend in Czech.
Tim Gajser, no.243
“For sure it’s going to be completely different to last weekend in Czech where we had really hard pack with stones, and it was sketchy and kind of one line. Lommel will be of course deep sand, almost like beach sand, with many holes and really gnarly. Immediately after Czech we went to Belgium for training in the sand. I didn’t ride in the sand since Mantova, spending all the summer break training on the hard pack, so now we’re working hard on sand again. I was missing racing in the summer break, so I love having three GPs in a row!”
Giacomo Gariboldi, Team Principal
“Just one look at the stats and you can see how strong Tim’s been this year, which of course is a lot down to his talent and the bike package, but also because he’s been riding very smartly – he’s really matured since riding the CRF450RW this season and I think that’s why he’s been so consistent. To be on the podium at every single GP he’s entered in his rookie MXGP season is really amazing.”
