MXGP of Germany podium comments

After the eleventh round of the MXGP World Championship, the MXGP and MX2 riders that got themselves a podium spoke to the media to offer their thoughts after a challenging day in Germany.

Gajser: It was a really positive weekend. I was feeling great on the track yesterday and today. The starts we improved so I am super happy. In the first moto we got the holeshot and made a little gap to control the lead. In the second race I didn’t get the holeshot but managed to make some passes to get into second behind Jeremy (Seewer). Jeremy was riding really well in the second moto and had a great pace so I just settled for second. It was quite sketchy out there and with the sun being low. But anyway I am really looking forward to Indonesia. I want to wish Maxime (Renaux) a get well soon and I hope he is back racing as soon as possible. The championship lead is nice but there’s a long way to go as we are just over half way. I will just go out there to try and have some fun and not think too much about the championship.

Seewer: It was a nice weekend. In the first moto I was frustrated because I couldn’t get Pauls (Jonass), I tried for a few laps but then I just couldn’t get around him. I knew I needed a good start and then in the second moto I got my first holeshot of the year, it was one of my best rides so far this season. I felt comfortable with a good rhythm and I felt amazing on the bike. My fitness was really good and I am super happy. Tim (Gajser) was super fast all weekend, I think he won every single session except the second moto so it feels good. I am second in the championship now but it’s a long season and I try not to look too much to the championship. It’s a big gap to Tim but I will go race by race and just try to win moto’s like I did and just be consistent. There’s a long way to go and we saw yesterday with Maxime that a lot can still happen. I want to wish him a good recovery but there’s still a long season to go.

Prado: Let’s say it’s an okay weekend. After the first moto I didn’t expect to be on the box so it’s not too bad. The riding yesterday was okay but today I didn’t feel so good on the track. I didn’t have so much speed and was struggling a little bit. I’m a little sad in that aspect but in that second moto I worked hard to get that third. I feel we made some steps in some directions but we still have a lot to improve in many others. I am not performing like these two guys next to me, I really tried but they were too fast for me. I just need to work more to get better. I am happy to go to Indonesia, it’s nice to ride new tracks so I am looking forward to it.

Benistant: For sure, I was happy knowing that I was going to win the overall. We are all working for this and I’ve worked pretty hard for this. I know that I could win some races and some GP’s but we just had to wait. Now to make it happen, I am really happy.  Step by step I am making progress and I think also that I am starting to feel better on the bike.

Geerts: I am quite happy about the weekend with two second places. It was a solid weekend, I didn’t feel great on the track. The track was sketchy and I didn’t have a great rhythm all weekend so I was a bit surprised that I had really good speed in the first race, I almost won the moto. In the second heat I didn’t feel that comfortable so I didn’t want to take any risks. I saw that Tom (Vialle) was off the track so I knew I’d have the red plate. I didn’t feel great so I just wanted to finish safely. It’s nice to have the red plate but there’s still a long way to go. It’s always nice to ride a new track in a country like Indonesia so I just want to do some more training this week. I didn’t do much riding the past two weeks because of my shoulder injury so it will be nice to do some more training.

Haarup: The Danish fans were great and I really loved it. I love to see Danish fans coming to see me race and it was nice for them as well to see me on the podium. Overall, it was a great weekend. I made some good passes, I didn’t have the best of starts but I did manage to improve it over the past couple of weekends which resulted in the podium I think. I am happy with my riding but there’s still a lot of things to improve to try and catch up with the guys in front of me. It was great, I had a lot of fun and now I’m looking forward to Indonesia. The past few GP’s were tough, we made it difficult for ourselves with the bad starts so it was just unfortuante, I would get stuck behind some riders so we lost a lot of points so it was frustrating. It is nice to bounce back with a podium and also for the team. I believe we can improve as well going forward to the rest of the season.

Quotes via the MXGP press conference

Pic: Martin Plesník