Febvre and Tonus head to Portugal!
Yamaha PR:
Monster Energy Yamaha Factory Racing’s Romain Febvre and Wilvo Yamaha Official MXGP’s Arnaud Tonus are geared up for the twelfth round of the FIM Motocross World Championship which will take place on the fire-red soil of Agueda, Portugal, this weekend, July 1st & 2nd.
As one of the highest profile riders on the line, Romain Febvre has been searching for a way to launch himself back into the spotlight. The Frenchman has spent the best part of this season pursuing the perfect bike set-up, the type that will give him an edge on the rest of the competition. At the MXGP of Germany, in May, he felt as though he had made a breakthrough and since then his lap times have been a good indication that he is moving in the right direction. He almost won the Qualifying Race at the MXGP of France, and he set the fastest lap of the race at the MXGP of Russia. Last weekend, at the MXGP of Lombardia, he missed the podium by 3-points but still achieved his best overall finish of this season, fourth. He also moved up to sixth in the championship standings and now trails the defending champion, Tim Gajser in fifth, by a narrow 7-points.
Arnaud Tonus has also been putting in some solid lap-times throughout the season and has proven on a number of occasions that he has the ability to fight for race wins. This became very evident at the tenth round of the series, in Russia, where he took his first ever Qualifying Race win. Having already made a podium appearance – at the MXGP of Trentino in April – the next goal for the stylish Swiss rider is a championship race win, or better yet, a grand prix win. The twenty-six-year-old currently sits tenth in the championship chase, 18-points shy of Evgeny Bobryshev in ninth.
The first grand prix to take place on the challenging and technical circuit of Agueda, Portugal, was back in 1985, and the last time the FIM Motocross World Championship graced the richly coloured soil was back in 2013. Since then, the venue that is situated 240km north of the country’s capital, Lisbon, and only 72km south of Porto, has been completely revamped. With no rider to have ridden the redesigned track, the rebirth of the Portuguese grand prix is bound to throw up some outstanding racing.
Monster Energy Yamaha Factory Racing’s Jeremy Van Horebeek has had the plaster removed from his hand on Friday last week. The Belgian ace will see his doctor on Thursday where they will make the decision if he is fit to race the MXGP of Portugal this weekend or not. Wilvo Yamaha Official MXGP’s Shaun Simpson will not be on the line. His return to racing is yet to be confirmed.
Romain Febvre
6th MXGP Championship Standings, 275-points
“I really like the track in Portugal. I have raced there twice. I always thought it was a shame when Portugal was taken off the calendar because it is such a nice track. I have always enjoyed it there, the layout is really good and the dirt is really nice. I feel good on the bike at the moment, I feel like I am good enough to be on the podium, so the goal this weekend is to keep it on two wheels and hopefully I can be on the box.”
Arnaud Tonus
10th MXGP Championship Standings, 227-points
“I think it’s a cool track, I have raced there a few times. It looks like they have changed some parts of the track, I have seen some images come up online. It’s always cool to have something different. I am happy to go to Portugal, I remember it being quite a technical track and quite a fun track to ride. I am looking forward to going out there and putting in two solid motos.”
