Cornelius Tøndel could still be racing the MX2 World Championship as he’s young and got plenty of potential but the Norwegian is enjoying his first full season racing the MXGP World Championship. The Schmicker KTM team decided to sign up Tøndel for the 2024 season and he’s been having a strong season.
We caught up with Tøndel to discuss his season as well as a range of other topics…
GateDrop: Cornelius, let’s go back to last year. Obviously last year you started as an MX2 GP rider, I think people forget that you’re still quite young. But towards the end of the year you got the opportunity with JWR to go to MXGP quite early. What was the decision behind that and how did you find moving up to MXGP towards the end of the season?
Tøndel: Obviously I started the year MX2 and the pre-season races actually went really good. I was expecting to be there with the guys and to be able to fight for top 10s, maybe top 5s. I felt like I had the speed and the team around to do it. Unfortunately, it ended already in the second corner in the first race in Argentina. After that I was just playing catch-up and I had broken ribs and my shoulder was not good. I just kept getting more and more tired every race and I really was struggling with it. We decided with the team that we take some weeks off to try to recover and try to get back to 100%. When I wanted to make my return, the team manager had a major accident. He had to amputate one leg, and it was a big mess. So, they were not able to continue the rest of the season.
I got a call from JWR to do the last races and it was nothing big. It was just a standard Honda with the support from the team. I had my old mechanic there, so that was nice. I just did the last races, I did some top 15s and some nice results. Then I signed with Schmicker and that’s where I’m now.
GateDrop: Just over the winter, obviously after you left JWR, you had a decision to make. Either go back to MX2 or stay on MXGP. Was it an easy decision to stay on MXGP?
Tøndel: For me it was a no brainer, to be honest. I like the 450cc much more and it suits my riding style more. It’s the class I feel like I belong in. For sure, I could have done three more years in MX2 or whatever, but it doesn’t really make sense… I feel, with my size and against factory machinery and guys below 60 kilos… It’s quite difficult to be able to compete against. So, yeah, I’m thinking 450cc is for sure, MXGP is my class.
GateDrop: Obviously, as you mentioned, you signed with Schmicker KTM. They were only a new team last year, so it’s their second full year. Just how is everything going with the new team?
Tøndel: Yeah, it’s been going good. We don’t have the biggest budget and we don’t have any special parts. The bike is pretty much stock, but we do the best with what we have. We had some really good results actually this year. I had one top three moto and a top five overall there in Portugal. It has been a consistent year, I would say. Maybe the most consistent of my years in EMX or World Championship seasons. It was actually really good until around Indonesia. I got Covid before that and then the whole travel was obviously already tough on the body.
But with the Covid, it really broke me down quite a lot. I picked up one ankle injury in Loket and I had to sit out long haul. I still feel it a bit in the ankle, but it’s getting better and better every weekend. After Sweden, when I came back, it was really tough the first couple of days. But it’s getting better and better. Now we just have a couple of races to go. To be honest, it’s just about trying to get the results in these last rounds.
GateDrop: Can you tell me a little bit more about the bike? Obviously, you mentioned it’s a stock engine… what about the rest of the bike, like suspension and stuff like that? Is it a bit better than stock? It must be very hard, being with this stock bike battling against all these factory bikes?
Tøndel: Yeah, it is for sure difficult. But I think a big part of it, is just that I have to be with the correct mindset. Because if I go out on track and think that I start with a disadvantage, I’m going to lose against those guys either way. I’ve been battling a lot of the factory guys this year. With the package we have, it’s not bad. It’s actually from suspension to engine to mapping. Whatever we have a little bit different mapping and HGS on, that’s basically it.
GateDrop: Just on the level of MXGP, especially that top three are just unbelievable. But also the rest of the field, I think a start is very important. Actually, you’ve got some pretty good starts in MXGP… I feel like in MX2 you couldn’t buy a good start. But at least this year we’ve seen you get good starts. So that’s been good… Just on the level, how do you find racing at MXGP?
Tøndel: Yeah, there’s no moment to relax anywhere. It’s really when you go off the gate and you go down the start straight, it’s 100% effort for 30 minutes plus two laps. And if you slow down for half a lap, maybe even just one sector, you get passed by two or three guys already… that’s how close the racing is. Just like the last round in Arnhem, if I was one second faster, I was almost top five in the qualifying. And I was 18th or something. So, it’s so close that the start is a big part of the race. Obviously you stay in it mentally for 30 minutes plus two laps. But you have to stay on it for that 30 minutes.
GateDrop: I seen you in Lommel and you were in crutches there and you told me that the plan was to race in Sweden. I have to say I thought you were a bit crazy saying that… But you showed up in Sweden and actually you did quite well… Many riders wouldn’t have raced. so it shows just how much you want it and the determination is there.
Tøndel: Yeah, I mean, it was a wise decision to sit out Lommel. I probably could have done it but that comes back to the same again like what I did with the Covid. Obviously, I didn’t know that I had the Covid at that point. But I went to Indonesia, and I should have never have gone. Because when you break down the body like that with such a tough travel and with sickness in the body, we should have set it out to be honest. So, I’m happy we set out Lommel. I was really looking forward to riding there, but it was more important to take those couple of weeks off to get ready for Sweden.
GateDrop: You are also riding the ADAC Championship in Germany. Just how has that been going for you? Max Nagl, what a man. What’s it like racing against him?
Tøndel: Yeah, he’s unbelievable. Every race I see him up front and I just think it’s going to be tough to beat this guy. I had a couple of good races in the ADAC. Overall, it’s not so good because I missed one round now. I was in the hunt for those podium places and that was kind of my goal also at the beginning of the year. I have so many races and I have to choose what races I want to focus more on. I try to focus more on the World Championship because I feel it’s more important for the future of my career. The ADAC’s have for sure been good training. Max has been unbelievable at all of them. I actually thought I would win there one round. I was leading with I think nine seconds or something and I thought he might settle for second place… but with six minutes to go plus two laps, he went for it. He passed me and he won by four or five seconds. He has just been unbelievable this year.
GateDrop: I think with the team you are living in Belgium. Have you lived in Belgium before? I know you lived in Italy and stuff. What’s it like living in Belgium? And being away from Norway, is that quite difficult? I guess living in Belgium also means plenty of moto’s at Lommel…
Tøndel: The team is actually based in Germany. It’s about six hours from Belgium but I stay like 50-50 because my girlfriend lives in Belgium so I stay there with her when I can. Other than that, we stay with the team. Germany was actually great during the winter. To be honest, when Lommel was underwater, we had many tracks to choose from. So, we could not really complain. It’s obviously difficult to move away from your home country but if you want to be the best in motocross, Norway is unfortunately not the place to stay. So, I just have to move.
GateDrop: What’s it like racing with Kevin Horgmo? You and him are kind of following the same pathway… You are still a few years younger because obviously he aged out of MX2. But is it nice to have a fellow Norwegian racing MXGP with you? And you should have a good team for the Motocross of the Nations this year as well.
Tøndel: It’s been really nice to see both mine and Kevin’s progression this year. To be honest, I really didn’t expect him to be so good from the beginning already. Like Argentina, he got top 10 immediately in the second race. So, I was actually really surprised by that because he’s not the biggest guy, but he shows that he can handle the 450cc perfectly. I think it’s unbelievable to have two Norwegians fighting for top 10 in MXGP. It’s really crazy.
GateDrop: Just on plans for next year, I’m not sure if you’ve sorted anything out. But is it likely you’ll stay with the team or is it all still up in the air?
Tøndel: I’m obviously speaking with some different teams. But for sure it’s a good option to stay. They have really done their best for me and if we could get a little bit extra support or some backing from KTM or whatever it would be make everyone’s job much more easy. But we’ll see there are still some races left.
GateDrop: But it’s looking good that you’ll be racing MXGP again next year?
Tøndel Yeah, sure.
