Hear from the leading contenders as the MXGP World Championship gets ready to kick-off the most exciting GP season in years with the rookies ready to take on the legends for World Championship glory!
Romain Febvre started by explaining why he decided to run the number one plate he earned last year instead of his permanent number three: “I think I regret that in 2016 didn’t take it. So now I decided to take it.Somehow, like the last few years, the champion took the one like a bit more often than normal. So I was like, yeah, like the three didn’t mean anything to me. So I was like, yeah, I just take the number one. It will be a change and it looks really good. So yeah, that’s all.
“And yeah, for my winter, yeah, everything went pretty smooth. It was a long winter again. So happy to start racing again. And yeah, everybody’s fit and ready, so it will be a nice challenge.
Jeffrey Herlings spoke about how he is still adjusting to a new team and new people! “It’s a big change from where I’m coming from, 17 years on the orange bike.And then, you know, for the final part of my career to still switch brands, but it’s a new adventure. It’s a new challenge. I got a lot of motivated people around me.Still a lot of new faces and everything is brand new, like I said. I’ve been in one kind of structure for 17 years.
“So even yesterday we had a meeting about how things work and race weekends and everything.Also, it’s kind of a blessing because it’s, you know, like Honda HRC is a statement. It’s a big name in the sport. So to go and join that team, it’s quite a big thing, at least for me.So I’m very pleased to do it. And I’m definitely looking forward to go racing and to see where we’re at. You know, definitely the first month was a bit difficult for myself. .It’s a major change when you’re using 17 years on one bike and then to swap. And then you also work with all different people and whatsoever. But I feel like throughout the last weeks we kept improving and I think we’re in quite good spots.So very excited to see where we are.”
Tim Gajser, like Herlings wishes he ahd more time on the bike after only being able to ride the Yamaha since January but he is motivated! “I’m super motivated, you know, everything is new. Definitely, I would want to have more time on the bike, but we had a good two months on the bike already.We did good testing and I’m getting more comfortable with the bike. And we are here in Argentina, you know, for the first round. So really looking forward to start the season finally.Off-season went good. We did some races. We saw where we had to improve.We did some steps and, yeah, I can’t wait to start.”
Meanwhile the teenage superstar, Lucas Coenen, who is many people’s title pick, said of his change to the number five: “Overall, I’m good. Just changed my number. But overall, I’m good. Just doing the same as everybody does. Only when you change the bike, you need to adapt. But I have pretty much the same setup as last year. So, that’s good.But, yeah, I just wanted to change it up. You know, my normal number is 93. But I know Yago has it, so I might change it up.And I found out the five was quite nice. And I couldn’t make it all in a CNA. So, I was like, yeah, just switch it up, get the five, and maybe in the future, I can get back 93.
