Dominant victory for Gajser as he extends MXGP championship lead

Honda HRC's Tim Gajser made it four victories in a row at the St Jean D'Angely circuit in France, taking the 2025 MXGP of Europe overall after another one-one performance in the mixed conditions at the hillside venue. After three rounds of racing in 2025, the Honda CRF450R rider is already 29 points ahead of his nearest rival and has won five of the nine gate-drops so far, which is one of the strongest openings in what is already a record-breaking career.

After the second-place finish in yesterday's muddy qualification race, Gajser knew that starts were critical to his chances of winning today, and as showers hit the facility, he stormed out of the gate in the first moto, narrowly missing out on the holeshot but quickly moving himself into the lead as they rounded the second corner. He quickly pulled out a comfortable gap and despite some late pressure, took the chequered flag in first place.

In race two, things didn't go so smoothly as he was buried in the pack early-on.  He made his customary first lap passes to get into fourth, but there was still plenty of work to do, if he wanted to win race two. However, as the showers continued to fall on the venue, he made a pass every lap, and by lap five had taken control of the race once again, before pulling out a lead no-one came close to. His 50-point effort means that only two other riders are within a GP of him in the points standings, and while he will have plenty of challenges to come, this is a great start to the season for the five-time champion.

Things were also looking promising for teammate Ruben Fernandez after race one, when the Spaniard rode a consistent moto – much like his third place in qualification – to work his way forward into fifth place. With another strong result in race two, he stood a good chance of landing himself on the podium, but those chances were ended on the first lap as he had to withdraw from the racetrack due to an unfortunate incident. Thankfully, there is a weekend off to recover, before the series returns in Riola Sardo, Sardinia where he'll be tackling the deep sand circuit.

In the MX2 class, both CRF250R riders ended the day with 20 points, in what wasn't really a fair reflection of the speed they brought to the table. Both riders went seven-15, in alternating motos, with Valerio Lata looking good in race one as he hounded the reigning world MX2 champion around the track. Then in race two it was Ferruccio Zanchi's turn to put in a good performance as he moved through the field to score good points.

However, overall, both riders would be aiming for more and know that they still have work to do in order to challenge regularly at the front of this highly competitive MX2 field. Still, the team is working hard to help them with their efforts, and both riders are less experienced than their rivals, and with some good tracks coming up for the duo, the confidence is high that they will get there sooner, rather than later.

That starts on April 5-6 when the team make the short flight across to the island of Sardinia, where the deep sand of Riola Sardo awaits. It is the first test in the soft stuff this year and all four riders will be looking to make a point that they excel at one of the toughest tracks they will face all year.

MX2 Race 1

1. Simon Längenfelder (GER, KTM), 35:28.696; 2. Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), +0:03.930; 3. Liam Everts (BEL, Husqvarna), +0:19.095; 4. Sacha Coenen (BEL, KTM), +0:22.976; 5. Thibault Benistant (FRA, Yamaha), +0:28.003; 6. Kay de Wolf (NED, Husqvarna), +0:28.436; 7. Valerio Lata (ITA, Honda), +0:45.809; 8. Cas Valk (NED, KTM), +0:50.146; 9. Quentin Marc Prugnieres (FRA, KTM), +0:56.271; 10. Camden Mc Lellan (RSA, Triumph), +0:57.210; … 15. Ferruccio Zanchi (ITA, Honda), +1:29.119;

MX2 Race 2

1. Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), 35:08.618; 2. Thibault Benistant (FRA, Yamaha), +0:00.568; 3. Simon Längenfelder (GER, KTM), +0:06.135; 4. Kay de Wolf (NED, Husqvarna), +0:17.832; 5. Liam Everts (BEL, Husqvarna), +0:22.113; 6. Cas Valk (NED, KTM), +0:30.180; 7. Ferruccio Zanchi (ITA, Honda), +0:37.816; 8. Mathis Valin (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:43.088; 9. Camden Mc Lellan (RSA, Triumph), +0:48.596; 10. David Braceras (ESP, Honda), +1:00.126;… 15. Valerio Lata (ITA, Honda), +1:34.837;

MX2 Classification

1. Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), 47 points; 2. Simon Längenfelder (GER, KTM), 45 p.; 3. Thibault Benistant (FRA, YAM), 38 p.; 4. Liam Everts (BEL, HUS), 36 p.; 5. Kay de Wolf (NED, HUS), 33 p.; 6. Cas Valk (NED, KTM), 28 p.; 7. Sacha Coenen (BEL, KTM), 25 p.; 8. Camden Mc Lellan (RSA, TRI), 23 p.; 9. Mathis Valin (FRA, KAW), 21 p.; 10. Ferruccio Zanchi (ITA, HON), 20 p.; 11. Valerio Lata (ITA, HON), 20 p.;

MX2 World Championship

1. Liam Everts (BEL, HUS), 135 points; 2. Simon Längenfelder (GER, KTM), 132 p.; 3. Kay de Wolf (NED, HUS), 130 p.; 4. Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), 124 p.; 5. Thibault Benistant (FRA, YAM), 111 p.; 6. Sacha Coenen (BEL, KTM), 101 p.; 7. Cas Valk (NED, KTM), 91 p.; 8. Ferruccio Zanchi (ITA, HON), 74 p.; 9. Camden Mc Lellan (RSA, TRI), 72 p.; 10. Valerio Lata (ITA, HON), 65 p.;

Tim Gajser  243

It was a really good weekend, on what was a sketchy track. The rain made things difficult but I kept things steady, and I got good starts, especially in race one when I was leading from almost the beginning. It wasn't easy out there, but I'm very happy with how it went and I'm excited to go to Riola Sardo and the first sand race of the year. We have been working hard in the sand and I'm excited to show off what we've done.

Ruben Fernandez  70

Unfortunately, not a good ending, for what was looking like a promising weekend. Third in the qualification race, then fifth in race one and I was looking to challenge for the podium in race two. In the end, having to pull off the track after a lap isn't how I wanted to end my day but that's motocross and now I need to just make sure I'm all good before preparing for Riola Sardo in a couple of weeks' time.

Ferruccio Zanchi  73

My speed was better than my results show, but I know that starts are very important in these races, and I need to improve in that area. Still, we are making progress around the rest of the track and I'm happy with my riding, so I don't want to be too critical of myself. The podium in Spain definitely raised my expectations, so that is the goal now and that starts again in Sardinia next time out.

Valerio Lata  18

I had a really good race one, pursuing the world champion around the track, and finishing in seventh place. I felt comfortable and I was excited for race two. Unfortunately I couldn't put it together and got involved in some battles that didn't make things easy and I could only finish 15th. It's not how I wanted to end the race, but I now have a weekend off to prepare for Riola and the deep sand, so it should be a good challenge and I'm looking forward to it.

Marcus Pereira de Freitas

HRC General Manager – MXGP

Another great day for Tim, winning both races to take his 51st GP overall. It also extends his points lead to 29pts after just three GPs, so we are all very happy with how things are going and will keep working hard to make sure they continue in the same way. Unfortunately Ruben wasn't able to finish the second race, so we will see how he is doing in the next few days and plan around those updates.

For Ferro and Valerio, it was a weekend full of promise and potential, which perhaps didn't quite end up how we wanted. We know that it can happen though, but the important thing is to learn from this and improve the next time we go racing. Now we have a weekend off, before the trip to Sardinia which is a home GP but a completely different challenge than we've faced so far, which hopefully will stay dry!

Race 1

Pos.      Rider     Num     Nation Points   Team    Time/Gap

1            Gajser Tim         243        SLO       25          Honda HRC – MXGP      33:57.468

2            Febvre Romain               3            FRA       22          Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP                0:03.930

3            Coenen Lucas 96          BEL       20          Red Bull KTM Factory Racing   0:30.497

4            Guadagnini Mattia        101        ITA         18          Ducati Factory MX Team                1:15.133

5            Fernandez Ruben          70          SPA       16          Honda HRC – MXGP      1:24.811

6            Jonass Pauls    41          LAT        15          Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP 1:31.140

7            Guillod Valentin             92          SWI       14          Wildcard Rider               1:47.480

8            Vlaanderen Calvin        10          NDL      13          Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP Team      1:51.615

9            Horgmo Kevin 24          NOR      12          Honda SR Motoblouz   1:52.557

10          Renaux Maxime             959        FRA       11          Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP Team      1:53.523

11          Coldenhoff Glenn         259        NDL      10          Fantic Factory Racing MXGP                1:57.190

12          Bogers Brian     189        NDL      9            Fantic Factory Racing MXGP    1 Lap

13          Seewer Jeremy               91          SWI       8            Ducati Factory MX Team            1 Lap

14          Watson Ben      919        GBR      7            MRT Racing Team Beta               1 Lap

15          Ludwig Noah                   GER      6                           1 Lap

16          Pancar Jan        253        SLO       5            TEM JP253 KTM Racing Team   1 Lap

17          Sterry Adam                    GBR      4                           1 Lap

18          Brumann Kevin               87          SWI       3            Wildcard Rider               1 Lap

19          Geerts Jago       93          BEL       2            Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP Team    1 Lap

20          Forato Alberto 303        ITA         1            Honda SR Motoblouz   1 Lap

Race 2

Pos.      Rider     Num     Nation Points   Team    Time/Gap

1            Gajser Tim         243        SLO       25          Honda HRC – MXGP      35:14.666

2            Febvre Romain               3            FRA       22          Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP                0:19.307

3            Coenen Lucas 96          BEL       20          Red Bull KTM Factory Racing   0:21.551

4            Coldenhoff Glenn         259        NDL      18          Fantic Factory Racing MXGP                0:24.254

5            Renaux Maxime             959        FRA       16          Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP Team      0:24.412

6            Jonass Pauls    41          LAT        15          Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP 0:30.457

7            Guadagnini Mattia        101        ITA         14          Ducati Factory MX Team                0:32.732

8            Horgmo Kevin 24          NOR      13          Honda SR Motoblouz   0:33.436

9            Gifting Isak        517        SWE      12          JK Racing Yamaha Active           0:37.974

10          Seewer Jeremy               91          SWI       11          Ducati Factory MX Team                0:45.464

11          Guillod Valentin             92          SWI       10          Wildcard Rider               0:46.104

12          Watson Ben      919        GBR      9            MRT Racing Team Beta               1:02.833

13          Pancar Jan        253        SLO       8            TEM JP253 KTM Racing Team   1:14.002

14          Bonacorsi Andrea         132        ITA         7            Fantic Factory Racing MXGP                1:17.975

15          van de Moosdijk Roan                NDL      6                           1:20.216

16          Ludwig Noah                   GER      5                           1:22.030

17          Koch Tom           226        GER      4            MRT Racing Team Beta               1:37.383

18          Sterry Adam                    GBR      3                           1 Lap

19          Pape Romain    53          FRA       2            Wildcard Rider               1 Lap

20          Nickel Cato                     GER      1                           1 Lap

Rider Standings

Pos.      Rider     Num     Nation Points   Team

1            Gajser Tim         243        SLO       167        Honda HRC – MXGP

2            Febvre Romain               3            FRA       138        Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP

3            Renaux Maxime 959     FRA       121        Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP Team

4            Coenen Lucas 96          BEL       107        Red Bull KTM Factory Racing

5            Coldenhoff Glenn         259        NDL      107        Fantic Factory Racing MXGP

6            Jonass Pauls    41          LAT        86          Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP

7            Guadagnini Mattia        101        ITA         84          Ducati Factory MX Team

8            Horgmo Kevin 24          NOR      81          Honda SR Motoblouz

9            Fernandez Ruben          70          SPA       77          Honda HRC – MXGP

10          Bonacorsi Andrea         132        ITA         63          Fantic Factory Racing MXGP

11          Seewer Jeremy               91          SWI       58          Ducati Factory MX Team

12          Vlaanderen Calvin        10          NDL      57 Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP Team

13          Bogers Brian     189        NDL      55          Fantic Factory Racing MXGP

14          Gifting Isak        517        SWE      54          JK Racing Yamaha Active

15          Watson Ben      919        GBR      41          MRT Racing Team Beta

16          Guillod Valentin             92          SWI       40          Wildcard Rider

17          Pancar Jan        253        SLO       37          TEM JP253 KTM Racing Team

18          Geerts Jago       93          BEL       28          Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP Team

19          Brumann Kevin               87          SWI       15          Wildcard Rider

20          van de Moosdijk Roan                NDL      14

21          Koch Tom           226        GER      14          MRT Racing Team Beta

22          Ludwig Noah                   GER      11

23          Sterry Adam                    GBR      10

24          Gilbert Josh                     GBR      8

25          Tondel Cornelius           17          NOR      7            JWR Honda Racing

26          Aparecido dos Santos Fabio                   BRA       5

27          Forato Alberto 303        ITA         2            Honda SR Motoblouz

28          Pape Romain    53          FRA       2            Wildcard Rider

29          Scheu Mark                     GER      1

30          Nickel Cato                     GER      1