Fernandez & Geerts top MXGP of Patagonia-Argentina

2023 MXGP World Motocross Championship
Round One – MXGP of Patagonia-Argentina

Round one of the FIM Motocross World Championship has been run and won, with the MXGP of Patagonia-Argentina witnessing Team HRC’s Ruben Fernandez and Monster Energy Yamaha Factory Racing MX2 Team’s Jago Geerts claiming the leads in their respective classes.

In MXGP, the Latin and Spanish world were gifted with some exciting racing with Ruben Fernandez and RedBull GasGas Factory Racing’s Jorge Prado who together led every lap of the two races and only saw the consistency of returning RedBull KTM Factory Racing’s Jeffrey Herlings to interfere in the overall podium. The final podium was completed by Jeffrey Herlings in second and Jorge Prado third who is the first red plate holder of the 2023 season.

Meanwhile, in MX2 Geerts dominated with topping not only race 1 and 2 but also the RAM Qualifying Races to add a complete hat-trick to his season’s opening. Geerts was joined by RedBull KTM Factory Racing’s Andrea Adamo and Monster Energy Yamaha Factory Racing MX2 Team’s Thibault Benistant, second and third respectively.

Mitch Evans and KRT management decided after morning warm-up that it was better for the Australian to sit out racing rather than risk delaying further his complete recovery from an early-season thumb injury, having qualified in 17th.

Antti Pyrhönen – KRT Team Manager

“We knew that it would be difficult for Mitch even before we came here but we gave it a try; his performance in timed training was reasonable with twelfth-fastest time but the pain from his thumb injury was just too much for the intensity of racing on a rough track so we decided not to risk it more this weekend.”

MXGP Race One

In the opening MXGP race of the MXGP of Patagonia-Argentina, it was Jorge Prado who grabbed the Fox Holeshot starting the season as he finished the last but it was Ruben Fernandez who rapidly took the lead and kept it over 5 laps until Prado managed to make a move to take back the lead.

Kawasaki Racing Team’s Romain Febvre made a good start to find himself fourth and quickly overtook Standing Construct Honda MXGP’s Pauls Jonass who saw his fourth position being threatened by Monster Energy Yamaha Factory Racing MXGP Team’s Maxime Renaux on lap 5.

Renaux would see his hard work and the third place going wasted when he lost the control of his back and went down to only get back racing on 7th position.

He would get on a heroic charge to come back to third on lap 16 overtaking along the way his teammate Monster Energy Yamaha Factory Racing MXGP Team’s Glenn Coldenhoff, Jonass as well as Fernandez and Herlings. The Frenchman would keep his third place until the end.

Febvre would go on to make it second on the lap 13 due to Fernandez falling down and kept his ground until the end. Fernandez would settle for fifth after a scare on lap 14.

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Herlings rode a consistent race and grew in confidence to safely get to fourth having started at the seventh place.

Talking about consistency, JM Honda Racing’s Brent Van Doninck started eight and kept his position all way through and not being overtaken by SM Action Racing Team Yuasa Battery’s Alberto Forato who had a similar race behind him in ninth.

MXGP Race One Results

MXGP Race Two

Race two saw Coldenhoff take the FOX Holeshot although the Dutchman quickly moved down to seventh. Them followed the start of a dominant display from Fernandez who took the lead in the first lap to never give it up.

While it was his first race win of his career on top of being checked out by Herlings in second position for the large majority of the race, the young Spaniard never lost his cool, and had a comfortable 8 seconds lead for the second part of the race.

The comeback of Herlings was one that everyone was waiting for, and “the bullet” did not disappointed. We saw Herlings growing in confidence throughout the weekend and particularly in this Race 2 where he came off the gate drop on very fast to find himself third on the first lap and quickly made the move on Jonass, who displayed a strong weekend too, to get to second. He never put Fernandez in too much pressure but Herlings was exactly where he wanted to be as he showed a calm, experienced and fast racing.

Finishing in third, Seewer made one of the most heroic races after an average start for his standards leaving him tenth after the first lap. But the Swiss was quick to show his qualities as he made an assault on Standing Construct Honda MXGP’s Brian Bogers and his teammate Coldenhoff on lap 5 on a big jump to move to seventh.

Seewer was then on a mission as he clocked the best lap and overtook Guadagnini, Prado and Jonass in the space of 3 laps. He would keep this advantage until then end.

Displaying a strong performance during this weekend, Jonass regularly in the top ten, ended race 2 in a promising fourth place.

Finishing fifth was Febvre who was able to maintain his racing level after the first race and showing some classy move such as the overtake on Prado on lap 17. While Prado was maybe not as incisive as he was in race 1, he settled for the sixth place and this gave him a place on the overall podium.

In the end, with his win on race 2 Fernandez won the MXGP of Patagonia-Argentina and his first GP of his career in front of Jeffrey Herlings and Jorge Prado.

The next round in Sardinia will see however Prado with the red plate as he won 10 points in the RAM Qualifying Race ending at the end of this weekend with 50 points. Fernandez fresh GP winner is second in the Championship with 48 points and Romain Febvre third with 44 points.

Ruben Fernandez – P1

“It is unbelievable to have won this race and overall. When they told me I had won the GP, it was crazy, especially after the crash in race one when I was in second. It has been a long journey to get here, and I couldn’t be happier with how things have gone. It has been great working with all of Team HRC and it feels like a family already and to get all their support throughout means a lot to me. Winning the GP is a special feeling and I am really just so happy.”

Jeffrey Herlings – P2

“I got better throughout the weekend. I haven’t raced these guys for sixteen months and that amount of time means you should not underestimate the class. I have done hundreds and thousands of laps in training but you cannot replicate the intensity of racing here. Every session was getting a little easier and I don’t think it is bad to 2nd. If I had this option beforehand then I would have taken it. I just want to keep on building up my race rhythm now.”

Romain Febvre – P3

“Of course it’s a little frustrating to miss the podium on the day by two points, but honestly I wasn’t expecting such a good result so soon after three weeks off the bike following my arm surgery. My first start was good and I stayed calm as the track was slippery with the rain; a no-risk second was a good start to the season. In the second race my start was not so good and in the first few laps you can lose a lot of time passing riders as nobody want to give way at the start of the race; fifth is a decent result, but for sure with a better start the podium would have been possible. Anyway I’m happy to show I have the speed and to race both motos with a good rhythm… and with the new points rule I’m third in the championship. Now we fly home; we have some more testing planned before Sardinia.”

Jorge Prado – P4

“I think that I need to be happy, after winning the qualification heat yesterday and the first moto today. The second moto was not perfect, but I am very happy about my riding. I am happy! I am really happy that the next race is in sand because I feel great on my MC 450F in those conditions too. Hopefully we can extend our gap in the championship.”

Maxime Renaux – P6

“This weekend didn’t go exactly to plan, but looking at the positives, the speed is there, and we have something to build on. I like this track, but it can be quite tricky at times. I had a couple of big crashes. In the first race I still managed to fight back to third, but in the second race, the impact was a little bit bigger, and I only finished ninth. We obviously want more, so I am already looking forward to getting back behind the gate in Riola.”

Jeremy Seewer – P7

“The frustrating thing to start about this weekend is, none of what happened in the Qualifying Race and in Race One today was in my hands. This is a tough pill to swallow. You only need to look at the second moto to see where I belong. I didn’t do anything special to finish inside the top-three, I just rode my race. I think if the Qualifying Race ended differently, I would have been able to get better starts and potentially fight for the win. Anyway, the result is not the end of the world, there are still a lot of points on the table, so it’s fine.”

Mattia Guadagnini – P8

“Finishing second in the qualification race was really good! I did not have the best start in the first moto, but I was around sixth and then I made a mistake. I had to fight back from almost last place, but I made good passes and finished tenth. My lap times were good! I had a better start in the second moto, but I was not riding at my best. I am pretty happy with the first weekend of the season.”

Glenn Coldenhoff – P10

“This weekend started off good. Saturday I was running a good pace with good lap times, also in the Qualifying Race even though I was perhaps a little bit too stiff. The first moto was okay, I was behind Pauls Jonass all of the race, but didn’t find that little bit extra to make a pass, but the speed was okay. In the second moto, I took the holeshot, but was passed pretty much straight away. At the halfway point, I started finding my rhythm again, but then had a big crash. I had a headache from that but finished 14th. It definitely wasn’t the way I wanted to start the season, but we will build from here.

MXGP Race Two Results

MXGP Round/Standings

MX2 Race One

In MX2 Race One, the Fox Holeshot went to Nestaan Husqvarna’s Lucas Coenen before he crashed and had to stop racing. Jago Geerts had an ideal start as he quickly moved into the lead in front of his teammate Monster Energy Yamaha Factory Racing MX2 team’s Thibault Benistant.

The two riders would go on to fight for the top spot throughout the whole race with the Frenchman eventually getting his way passed Geerts on lap 3. Eventually Benistant would go down with De Wolf not able to avoid him and going down too, which gave Geerts the lead that would not give up until the finish jump.

Nestaan Husqvarna’s Kay de Wolf was also in the mix behind the two and put pressure on Benistant, then Geerts. It all went to halt for the Dutchman when he caught his front wheel in the ground on as turn on lap 9 and went down to find himself in sixth position.

Andrea Adamo displayed some strong racing during race one, going from fifth to fourth during an intense give and take with De Wolf between lap 9 and 11. The Italian rider kept on attacking and made a move on De Wolf’s Teammate, Nestaan Husqvarna’s Roan Van De Moosdijk for the third spot.

Van de Moosdijk never went out of the top four during race and oscillated between third and fourth to settle in the end in fourth. RedBull KTM Factory Racing’s Liam Everts showed great promise as he never got overtaken during the whole race.

His confident racing showed as he climbed up the table passing Monster Energy Yamaha Factory Racing MX2 Team’s Rick Elzinga and De Wolf.

RedBull GasGas Factory Racing’s Simon Laegenfelder was in a ride with ups and downs with being caught in a crash at the start and had to start his assault from the twenty first place on lap one. The German showed that we can count on him to bounce back as he made an impressive come back to eight in the end.

MX2 Race One Results

MX2 Race Two

In race two, F&H MX2 Kawasaki Racing Team’s Kevin Horgmo took the Fox Holeshot after an excellent start although it was Geerts who quickly took the lead.

Geerts, full of confidence quickly increased the gap to 7 seconds while Horgmo showed his speed by setting the fastest lap. The two riders would keep their advantage over the rest to finish first and second.

Adamo and De Wolf saw their path crossed. The good start from the dutchman in fourth position after two laps ended with a crash that left him hanging in seventeenth place on lap 6 while Adamo, who had a decent start and turning lap 1 in eight would see himself climbing the table with some classy moves such as the one charging on the inside of Laengenfelder on lap 6.

This ended a thrilling three-way battle for the fifth place between Adamo, Haarup and Laengenfelder.

MX2 Rookie Rick Elzinga also showed some great racings that saw him start strongly to keep his place in the top four. A great battle with Adamo saw him lose his advantage finishing fourth.

Haarup on his side made a good showing by climb his way up from the eleventh place to the sixth place.

Adamo eventually would finish Race 2 in third giving a second position on the GP standings. Rounding up the Top 3 is Thibault Benistant who finished race 2 in 8th which would anyway give him 45 points for the third step of the GP podium.

Jago Geerts – P1

“It feels really good to win the three motos this weekend. I didn’t expect it at all. I just felt really good on the track and just rode solid all weekend. Three good starts, and consistently good laps, there is not much to say. It was awesome, and I’m happy to start my season like this.”

Andrea Adamo – P2

“I’m really happy with this result. I changed my life quite a lot when I signed for the team: I moved to Belgium, starting training with Joel [Smets] and could work with Tony [Cairoli] as Team Manager. It is a perfect combination with lots of good guidance and advice. I didn’t have any goals this weekend apart from doing my best. We’ll keep working from here.”

Thibault Benistant – P3

“It’s already a good start to the season considering I was not even on the gate at round one over the past two years, so it was nice to line up this weekend better prepared. I am happy with the result, there are some things to work on, but we will keep pushing and keep training to be consistently up front.”

Kevin Horgmo – P4

“I had a great start, third into the first corner, in race one. I was right behind Coenen and Längenfelder when they collided and I had nowhere to go. I was stuck behind them and got hit from behind; my entire rear brake system was ripped off but I set off after a long delay to score as many points as possible. Making passes was OK and by the time I made it to the top-ten the gaps were hard to make up but I had a good feeling with my riding and that gave me confidence for race two. I took the holeshot and crossed the line second after a consistent moto; overall it was a positive day.”

Rick Elzinga – P5

“I would say I had a good MX2 debut. It’s nice. I think it’s a strong base for my MX2 career. I still have to get used to racing at this level a little bit, but I think if I keep starting up front, this will be the best way to learn. My riding overall, was really good and I scored a personal best result, so this is something I am proud of.”

Roan van de Moosdijk – P6

“Today was a consistent start to the championship! It was a solid way to start the new season and I know that I have the speed to run with the riders on the podium, so I am looking forward to making more progress at the next couple of rounds.”

Simon Langenfelder – P7

“I had a good Saturday – I felt so good on my MC 250F. I had an incident right at the start of moto one, unfortunately, and it was quite a big crash! I rode very good in the first race. I felt quite tired in the second race, because I pushed so hard in moto one. It can only get better from here.”

Kay de Wolf – P8

“The riding was not bad, but I did not feel great on this track. We cannot have results like a tenth. We can call it a bad day, but I want to make sure that I stay in the top six on my bad days. I showed speed sometimes, but I am looking forward to round two now. We will see what we can do in the sand.”

Mikkel Haarup – P13

“It was a tough weekend, but we got the bike ready just in time for the second moto and I had to start from the outside. I think I handled the situation professionally and took home some points, but it was tough after not being able to ride the track since yesterday morning. It wasn’t what we wanted, but I think my speed in the circumstances show that we are ready to fight for the title.”

MX2 Race Two Results

MX2 Round Overall

MX2 Standings