Romain Febvre: ‘A bad weekend for me, but I’m still on the podium’

Leader of the World Championship at the halfway point of the season, Romain Febvre finished third at Teutschenthal at the weekend, behind KTM factory riders Jeffrey Herlings and Lucas Coenen. On a track that wasn’t conducive to overtaking, and despite showing good speed, the Kawasaki factory rider had to contend with average starts and a one-line track.

“Let’s say it was a bad weekend for me, but I’m still on the podium,” admitted Romain after the German GP. “I’m happy with my consistency because I know that will be key at the end of the season. I’ll take a podium. I didn’t get good starts this weekend, and that played a role in the results. It was also very difficult to pass on this track – I think that was obvious. Only Jeffrey – and Lucas – managed to pass me in the second moto. In the first race, from first to fourth, we all just followed each other. We were wheel to wheel, and nobody made a pass. I did try. I tried everything; every line possible. I also made some mistakes because when you’re looking for solutions and trying new things, you can sometimes get caught out. I’m glad the next GP is in the sand because in the sand, you can really make the difference. My speed was good this weekend, but I paid for my bad starts. Still, I’m on the podium, and that’s a good thing.”

In these conditions, the French rider relied on his experience to secure strong championship points rather than taking unnecessary risks. With the world title as the priority, Febvre is playing the consistency card. However, he did concede 11 points to Lucas Coenen in Teutschenthal, who now sits just 36 points behind the red plate.

“I’m not the type to make stupid decisions,” explained the Frenchman, well aware of the risk-reward balance this weekend. “I try to be as smart as possible on the track to avoid contact with other riders. I tried everything, but nothing worked. In the second moto, the track was really muddy, which helped new lines form and created some overtaking opportunities. But in the first moto, everyone just hugged the inside everywhere. We’re still a long way from the end of the season, so I’m going to do everything I can to get the best results every time.”

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Ten years after winning the MXGP World Championship (2015), Romain Febvre finds himself once again in a position to fight for the ultimate prize, but he’s keeping a cool head.

“It’s hard to compare year to year,” responded Romain when asked if he thinks this is the best form of his career. “Yes, I’m in good shape right now. Everyone keeps telling me, ‘You’re riding as well as in 2015,’ but that was ten years ago… It doesn’t matter to me. I just try to ride at my best level.”

Since the start of the season, riders have noticed a few changes to the MXGP tracks – notably at Cozar, Saint Jean d’Angely, Ernée, and also Teutschenthal. These changes have been welcomed by Febvre, though he regrets that they haven’t necessarily led to more overtaking options for riders.

“Like I said at Ernée last weekend – even though the changes to the tracks don’t necessarily create more solutions – it’s still cool to arrive and see that they’ve altered certain sections,” concluded the French rider. “I’d say the real problem lies more in the track preparation, because the layout itself was fine. I’d say overall, it’s better than before. The thing is, on every track, we end up with two good lines and it’s really hard to pass. We need to be able to create new lines and have support in the outside sections. Wherever we go, on any track, we’re not using the outsides in the corners because there’s no support. When it’s muddy like this weekend, everyone just follows the inside lines. We talked about it last weekend, last year, two years ago – but nothing changes. The track builders aren’t with us in this room, so we can’t talk to them about it. We can bring it up, but it’ll be the same thing for the next 10 years, and nothing will change.”

Seven riders have shared the 30 motos (including qualifying races) since the beginning of the season: