Noel Zanocz arrived in the MX2 World Championship with plenty of expectation after an impressive EMX250 campaign that saw him establish himself as one of the brightest young talents in the paddock. However, his rookie season at world championship level has been far from straightforward. A thumb injury during the winter, followed by significant knee ligament damage, disrupted his preparation and left him playing catch-up against some of the best riders and factory teams in the world.
Despite the setbacks, the Hungarian remains confident in his potential and believes there is much more to come once he is fully adapted to the KTM machinery and able to put together a consistent training programme. We caught up with Zanocz as he opens up about his injury struggles, the challenge of stepping up to MX2, life with the Van Venrooy KTM team, working closely with five-time world champion Joel Smets, and why he remains determined to repay the faith KTM has shown in him with a multi-year contract.
GateDrop: Noel, let’s discuss the start of the season. I believe you’ve been riding with some injuries. For the people that don’t know, can you tell us more about them?
Zanocz: I had been riding from November when I started to ride with the KTM but quite quickly I picked up a thumb injury. It was ligament plus bone problems and it took me out for two months. I was then back on the bike in January and did quite a strong Sardinia preparation for the winter camp.
After the second International Italian Championship, the first practice, I got injured again with my right knee. I didn’t tear completely my ligament but multiple ligaments were let’s say halfway torn.
Actually we made quite a big improvement with the knee. It’s getting better and better. Before Latvia I would have said it’s good but then I had an unfortunate, really stupid free practice crash where I hit my knee again and it started to hurt again.
GateDrop: In terms of where you are now, are you feeling 100% yet – are you at least able to race pain free yet or not?
Zanocz: For sure it won’t be 100% for the rest of the season because we don’t have enough time to heal. I will really try to use my time in between the GP’s to just try to not make it worse and keep it safe. The pain is always a little bit there and it’s just not so stable which makes my life not so easy.
GateDrop: I assume at the start of the season you couldn’t train during the week as much as you’d like too? How frustrating is it turning up to the races fully prepared? Are you able to train as much as you’d like too now?
Zanocz: I couldn’t really train properly for a long time but two months ago I started to train like I never did before. I follow a structured plan and we see some gains on the physical side for sure. There are some things that we have to also make correct and then I believe that I can go back to the level where I was. It’s just a matter of time and I believe I can do that.
GateDrop: Moving up to the MX2 World Championship after one year in the EMX250 class, how have you found the level of the class? Are you surprised by the pace or not?
Zanocz: You know it’s hard to say about the level or the pace because I was injured and I haven’t been injured since 2021. It was really hard to come back after two injuries and it is just a little bit difficult also against factory machineries.
It’s really hard to keep up or just even get close. It’s definitely a bigger jump into MX2 than between EMX125 and EMX250. I will take my time and get used to it. Once I feel confident I will have the right things to make it happen. I’m definitely able to do that.
GateDrop: Last year you were running with Janis Reisulis and he’s right at the front of MX2, I would say we haven’t seen the real Noel Zanocz so far this season – would that be fair? There’s more to come!
Zanocz: Definitely, last year I put in some good battles with Janis… With the injuries I wasn’t really prepared for this year and between the bikes this year we have a bigger difference. I really hope that it’s going to go away in the future and then I can really show what I can do because against factory bikes it’s not so easy to make it happen.
GateDrop: You are with the Van Venrooy KTM team, how’s everything going with the team so far?
Zanocz: Obviously they’ve been in the paddock for quite some time so they know what they do. You know, as everywhere there are some little things that could always be better. But overall, I’m happy with the team.
GateDrop: It’s not a fully factory bike but the team get some support I believe from the factory. What’s the bike like and how far away do you think it is from Sacha or Simon’s bike?
Zanocz: We do get some support from KTM but as you said, it’s not full factory so there are some improvements to make on the bike to make it better. It was quite hard for me to adapt to the frame of the KTM. It’s just working different.
Power-wise, I have no idea how big of a difference it is compared to the factory bikes of Simon and Sacha. I know that I’m riding a bike one below them. It is a good bike but I don’t think that we can compare it to the factory.
GateDrop: You’ve started working with Joel Smets, what’s it been like working with him so far and how does he help you?
Zanocz: The last two months I’m living with Joel at his place. I’ve seen how the professionals live like. It’s completely different to how I used to train, it’s just different. Also the mentality, he helps me a lot. I have to be super grateful because he literally treats me like I’m his own son. So that’s really, really good.
It’s just really nice to see wherever we go he stays like a normal person besides obviously being five-time world champion. He’s just an idol off the track, how he lives his life and his life is just Motocross. He’s doing everything for his riders and the federation.
He helps a lot, it is not be his job at all to do all of this for me but he still does it because he believes in my potential. I really hope that I can pay him back this with some decent results in the second part of the season. It has been a dream to work with him, it’s really special for me.
GateDrop: You signed a multi-year deal with KTM. That must be nice because it shows they trust you are it takes some pressure away?
Zanocz: I signed a multi-year deal with KTM. Obviously at the time it was good coming from EMX250. You can never know what’s going to happen and in my case maybe a one-year deal would have been not so nice because of the injuries. It would put even more pressure on and then really pushing the edges to show what I’m capable of. Obviously, this gives me a little bit of calm but on the other hand I want a race to be better every weekend. I want to prove myself that everyone who trust in me, they are doing it for a reason. I just want to deliver but so far, I’ve not able to. I really hope that the rest of the season is going to be better.
