Josh Gilbert – “First round in Argentina did not go to plan!”

The 2024 season officially started in Argentina hosting the first round of the MXGP world championship, with Josh Gilbert competing in the premier MXGP class for the Gabriel SS24 KTM team.

Words by Gabriel SS24 KTM – Images courtesy of Ray Archer

Feeling good after a solid off season Josh headed out on the technical circuit for free practice. After learning the track and assessing his times he knew he had to work on sectors two and three, to which he did in timed practice where he placed 18th.

Going into the final session of the day on Saturday he lined up for the qualifying race. After a top 15 start and avoiding the first turn crash he knew he needed to ride safe and bring home a solid position to line up for Sundays races. This is when disaster would strike and upon avoiding a fallen rider Josh had to change his line on a fast part of the track to which he caught an edge and ended up going down hard.

Despite his best intentions he was not in a position to race and made the difficult decision to withdraw from the races and look ahead to recovering for Spain in 2 weeks time.

On his Social Media Josh said, “First round in Argentina did not go to plan! Had a nasty crash in the qualifying race on Saturday which unfortunately ruled me out of racing for Sunday. Now to get get a bit of recovery in and be ready for Spain in 2 weeks.