Before his injury, Maxime Renaux was right in the MXGP championship chase but was dealt with a big blow and missing many MXGP’s. However, the French talent has decided to return much sooner than expected and already has good pace. He’s not at his best yet but already has top five speed and his main goal is to get back to his best before the MXoN where he’ll hope to represent team France.
We caught up with Renaux after the Dutch GP which was a very difficult track in only his second GP back.
GateDrop: Maxime, you’ve only been back a few GP’s and that is not exactly an easy track but overall the speed was good, just a shame about the mistake in the second moto when you were third…
Renaux: It was a tough GP. Obviously the track was really rough, not easy for a comeback. I managed to ride at a quite okay pace and especially in the second moto I found some settings and could get back into a good rhythm. But yeah, a small crash in both moto’s so this obviously didn’t help. It is building time and it goes better and better and will only go better so step by step, I need to take my time.
GateDrop: After such a big injury and coming back early, what is it like jumping straight back in again against guys who have been racing week in week out?
Renaux: I decided to come back fast and it was much faster than what the doctor told me actually. But yeah, I just came back to get some race pace and race feeling. It’s the goal because I don’t want to put too much pressure on myself and I just want to race. We could see already in Sweden that we could get a podium in a moto and hopefully before the end of the season we can get on the podium at some GP’s. We will work for that.
GateDrop: Just on the track, how did you find it and did you enjoy it as you’ve always been good in sand although just coming back it might have been a tough one, it was rough!
Renaux: Yeah, the track was tricky, big bumps and just like a sand track with hard edges. It was really tricky.
GateDrop: Have you any goals you’d like to achieve for the rest of the season?
Renaux: Sure, I would like to be part of the Motocross Des Nations team and do a good race there for my country. By then I want to be back to my winning shape so that will be the goal. I think we can do well and it will be interesting racing.
Interview: Andy McKinstry
Image: Danny Relouw
