Red Bull KTM’s Jorge Prado has his sights set on the 2021 MXGP crown in what will be his second season in the premier class of the FIM Motocross World Championship and his first fully fit. The Spaniard is still only 20 years old but clocked three Grand Prix wins with the KTM 450 SX-F in 2020 to stand as the joint fifth most successful racer in the category from the last five years.
The former double MX2 #1 bagged seven podium results in eight rounds last summer to edge into surprise contention for the title despite missing a winter of preparation due to a broken femur and also breaking his collarbone. Prado’s surge was halted with a positive Covid-19 test in Belgium that pushed him out of the remaining four events in the space of two weeks.
After rising to 3rd in the standings (just 2 points behind Tony Cairoli) and eventually finishing 6th, Prado now has more knowledge of the competition and the demands of MXGP and believes he can be one of the main protagonists.
“Every year there are always questions about who will be good but, in the end, it is always the same guys at the front,” he said in a Q+A conducted by KTM on the forthcoming 2021 campaign. “I feel like I am also in the group. Not because other people are saying it but when I see the results. I’m not a guy that really builds myself up but if I look at the results of last year then I have to be honest and say: ‘this year I can fight for those positions again and I need to be ready’. My goal is to fight for the title and that’s it.”
Prado once again forms part of the most formidable race team in Grand Prix history with Tony Cairoli and Jeffrey Herlings helping to contribute to a grand total of 15 world championships between the three athletes.
Words: Adam Wheeler
Pic: Juan Pablo Acevedo
