Qatar MXGP: Qualifying race results!
When the gate dropped for the MX2 qualification race it was Factory TM rider, Samuele Bernardini with the hole shot. Jorge Prado, Pauls Jonass and Benoit Paturel were all well placed. Bernardini led for a lap before Jonass made his move, Paturel quickly followed through. Seewer was down in fifth at the start of moto but worked his way up to third before the end of the race.
Two kids moving up from the EMX250 championship, Jorge Prado and Hunter Lawrence rode great to finish in fourth and fifth respectively. Darian Sanayei and his fellow country man, Thomas Covington had a great battle for eighth, Sanayei just did enough to hold on.
Pauls Jonass has the first gate pick for tomorrow but it was close in terms of speed between the front three. With more on the line tomorrow it could end up very different, it should be exciting!
MX2
- Pauls Jonass
- Benoit Paturel
- Jeremy Seewer
- Jorge Prado
- Hunter Lawrence
- Julien Lieber
- Thomas Kjer Olsen
- Darian Sanayei
- Thomas Covington
- Brent Van Doninck
- Vsevolod Brylyakov
- Michele Cervellin
- Alvin Ostlund
- Anton Gole
- Davy Pootjes
- Stephen Rubini
- Ivo Monticelli
- Ben Watson
- Adam Sterry
- Iker Larranaga
Tim Gajser got a brilliant start on his HRC Honda ahead of Cairoli and made a break at the front. He had around four seconds on Cairoli but with three laps to go Cairoli started to close in on the sick Slovenian. Was the sickness getting to Gajser or did Cairoli just up his pace?
Gajser to his credit stayed calm and did enough to win the qualifying race but Cairoli will be happy that he could catch him. Will the extra ten minutes affect Gajser tomorrow? It will be intriguing to see but it should make some great racing!
Behind them was Gautier Paulin and Evgeny Bobryshev. Yamaha’s Romain Febvre was behind them the entire moto trying to make a move but couldn’t make it stick and crashed with a few laps to go. This gifted his team mate, Van Horebeek with a fifth position. Febvre eventually came home in seventh behind Arnaud Tonus who makes his return to the GP paddock.
An injured Jeffrey Herlings struggled down in sixteenth, points are the priority for the Dutchman tomorrow as he clearly isn’t comfortable on the bike.
MXGP:
- Tim Gajser
- Antonio Cairoli
- Gautier Paulin
- Evgeny Bobryshev
- Jeremy Van Horebeek
- Arnaud Tonus
- Romain Febvre
- Max Anstie
- Clement Desalle
- Jordi Tixier
- Max Nagl
- Jose Butron
- Glenn Coldenhoff
- Kevin Strijbos
- Alessandro Lupino
- Jeffrey Herlings
- Shaun Simpson
- Tanel Leok
- Rui Goncalves
- Valentin Guillod