Team HRC’s Tim Gajser won the second moto at the MXGP of Turkiye, to get himself on the top step of the podium for his first overall GP victory in 2023. It capped off an excellent weekend for the #243 who showed everyone once again that he is a force to be reckoned, now that he is back to full strength.
Teammate Ruben Fernandez also put a bit of a frustrating weekend behind him to ride excellently in the second race to get fourth place, giving him sixth place overall, and a much fairer reflection of how he was feeling coming into this event.
For Gajser though, it is almost a year to the day that he last won an MXGP and after topping timed practice yesterday to give him first gate-pick when the qualification race was cancelled due to a storm, he came into today’s motos feeling really confident. A good start in race one saw him quickly move into the lead on the third straight and although he tried to pull away, he understandably got a bit of arm-pump from leading this highly competitive MXGP field for the first time in 12 months. Still, he was able to cruise to a second place, knowing that a win in race two would give him the victory.
And that’s exactly he was able to achieve after once again getting into the lead round the second corner and putting in a display of riding that saw him pull out a 10 second lead at one stage. A small mistake saw him remount just in front of the chasing pack, but he regained his composure and once again pulled out a five second gap by the time he received the chequered flag, sparking scenes of jubilation for himself and all of Team HRC.
Since his return from a broken femur in February, the reigning world champion has slowly improved in each event, and this race was one that he had circled as a potential podium, but after being comfortable in the very first session, his target was upgraded to a victory and the Slovenian achieved it with a display of riding that showed everyone he is back to his 2022-best.
Following him across the line in fourth place was Fernandez, who finally got to show everyone that he had speed at this track and that he is also getting back to his best after a tough couple of months. He wasn’t able to put in a decent lap in timed practice yesterday and with the qualification race being cancelled, he didn’t have the opportunity to improve upon that 14th position.
Then in race one, after getting a good jump, he was taken out on the second straight and had to pick up his bike almost dead last. While his riding was good, he was only able to get back to 11th place, leaving him highly motivated to do a lot better in race two. And he was able to do just that, by once again getting a good start and moving quickly into fourth place. He maintained that for the duration and leaves Turkiye feeling much better about his performance.
Although there is weekend off now, both riders will be heading into Maggiora, Italy for the penultimate round of the season in excellent frames of mind and looking to keep this momentum up and really trying end this championship on a high.
Tim Gajser
I felt confident coming into this weekend and once I rode the track, I knew it was going to be a good weekend. Even though the storm meant we didn’t race yesterday, I had the first gate-pick and that really helped me get two good starts on my Honda CRF450R, giving me the opportunity to lead the races early on. The first race I had arm-pump so I had to settle for second, but race two I was just feeling so good on the bike. I had a really good lead, and even though I made a mistake, I was able to stay in front and then pull out a gap all over again. A big thank you to all the team, my girlfriend Spela and all the fans who have supported me this year when things haven’t gone my way. I’m really happy to show everyone that I am back and now I’m really excited for the final two rounds.
Race Round 17 MXGP of Turkiye
Race 1
Pos. Rider Num Nation Points Team Constructor Time/Gap
1 Febvre Romain 3 FRA 25 Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP Kawasaki 35:02.660
2 Gajser Tim 243 SLO 22 Team HRC - MXGP Honda 0:04.675
3 Renaux Maxime 959 FRA 20 Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP Team Yamaha 0:14.345
4 Vlaanderen Calvin 10 NDL 18 Gebben Van Venrooy Yamaha Racing Yamaha 0:18.329
5 Forato Alberto 303 ITA 16 SM Action Racing Team Yuasa Battery KTM 0:23.491
6 Coldenhoff Glenn 959 NDL 15 Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP Team Yamaha 0:26.600
7 Guadagnini Mattia 101 ITA 14 Red Bull GasGas Factory Racing GasGas 0:27.218
8 Seewer Jeremy 91 SWI 13 Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP Team Yamaha 0:27.627
9 Guillod Valentin 92 SWI 12 Team Ship To Cycle Honda SR Motoblouz Honda 0:34.203
10 Paturel Benoit 6 FRA 11 De Baets Yamaha MX-Team Yamaha 0:35.425
11 Fernandez Ruben 70 SPA 10 Team HRC - MXGP Honda 0:46.553
12 Evans Mitch 43 AUS 9 Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP Kawasaki 0:51.895
13 Prado Garcia Jorge 61 SPA 8 Red Bull GasGas Factory Racing GasGas 0:54.130
14 Bogers Brian 189 NDL 7 Standing Construct Honda MXGP Honda 0:54.705
15 Östlund Alvin 161 SWE 6 JWR Honda Racing Honda 0:55.528
16 Watson Ben 919 GBR 5 MRT Racing Team Beta Beta 1:22.828
17 Lupino Alessandro 77 ITA 4 MRT Racing Team Beta Beta 1:44.489
Race 2
Pos. Rider Num Nation Points Team Constructor Time/Gap
1 Gajser Tim 243 SLO 25 Team HRC - MXGP Honda 34:19.435
2 Renaux Maxime 959 FRA 22 Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP Team Yamaha 0:05.834
3 Febvre Romain 3 FRA 20 Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP Kawasaki 0:11.824
4 Fernandez Ruben 70 SPA 18 Team HRC - MXGP Honda 0:13.603
5 Vlaanderen Calvin 10 NDL 16 Gebben Van Venrooy Yamaha Racing Yamaha 0:17.274
6 Jonass Pauls 41 LAT 15 Standing Construct Honda MXGP Honda 0:19.023
7 Forato Alberto 303 ITA 14 SM Action Racing Team Yuasa Battery KTM 0:21.175
8 Coldenhoff Glenn 959 NDL 13 Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP Team Yamaha 0:26.087
9 Prado Garcia Jorge 61 SPA 12 Red Bull GasGas Factory Racing GasGas 0:27.761
10 Seewer Jeremy 91 SWI 11 Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP Team Yamaha 0:28.302
11 Guadagnini Mattia 101 ITA 10 Red Bull GasGas Factory Racing GasGas 0:43.411
12 Paturel Benoit 6 FRA 9 De Baets Yamaha MX-Team Yamaha 0:56.087
13 Bogers Brian 189 NDL 8 Standing Construct Honda MXGP Honda 0:58.241
14 Östlund Alvin 161 SWE 7 JWR Honda Racing Honda 1:03.163
15 Lupino Alessandro 77 ITA 6 MRT Racing Team Beta Beta 1:09.776
16 Watson Ben 919 GBR 5 MRT Racing Team Beta Beta 1:37.560
17 Evans Mitch 43 AUS 4 Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP Kawasaki 1 Lap
18 Guillod Valentin 92 SWI 3 Team Ship To Cycle Honda SR Motoblouz Honda 3 Laps
MXGP 2023 Sunday, September 3rd 2023
Rider standings
Pos. Rider Num Nation Points Team Constructor
1 Prado Garcia Jorge 61 SPA 841 Red Bull GasGas Factory Racing GasGas
2 Febvre Romain 3 FRA 774 Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP Kawasaki
3 Seewer Jeremy 91 SWI 676 Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP Team Yamaha
4 Coldenhoff Glenn 959 NDL 628 Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP Team Yamaha
5 Fernandez Ruben 70 SPA 570 Team HRC - MXGP Honda
6 Vlaanderen Calvin 10 NDL 532 Gebben Van Venrooy Yamaha Racing Yamaha
7 Herlings Jeffrey 84 NDL 455 Red Bull KTM Factory Racing KTM
8 Forato Alberto 303 ITA 444 SM Action Racing Team Yuasa Battery KTM
9 Guillod Valentin 92 SWI 310 Team Ship To Cycle Honda SR Motoblouz Honda
10 Renaux Maxime 959 FRA 302 Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP Team Yamaha
11 Paturel Benoit 6 FRA 244 De Baets Yamaha MX-Team Yamaha
12 Evans Mitch 43 AUS 233 Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP Kawasaki
13 Guadagnini Mattia 101 ITA 227 Red Bull GasGas Factory Racing GasGas
14 Watson Ben 919 GBR 221 MRT Racing Team Beta Beta
15 Bogers Brian 189 NDL 217 Standing Construct Honda MXGP Honda
16 Östlund Alvin 161 SWE 207 JWR Honda Racing Honda
17 Gajser Tim 243 SLO 198 Team HRC - MXGP Honda
18 Koch Tom 226 GER 150 KTM Kosak Team KTM
19 Lupino Alessandro 77 ITA 150 MRT Racing Team Beta Beta
20 Jonass Pauls 41 LAT 125 Standing Construct Honda MXGP Honda
Honda