Positive Trentino weekend for HRC as Gajser closes gap at the top

Team HRC’s Tim Gajser put in three solid motos over the course of this MXGP of Trentino to close up the gap at the top of the 2024 MXGP World Championship to just 13 points. The Slovenian backed up his second place from yesterday’s qualification race to go two-four for third overall as he extended his podium streak to four.

In race one, a good jump off the line saw him rounding the corner in a decent position, despite being forced into the inside wall of the first turn. He quickly made the necessary moves and by the time they crossed the lap for the first time, he was into third place. Knowing that he couldn’t afford to let the front two get away, he put on a charge and as they passed the halfway mark, he made the move on second place. Despite a last-ditch effort, crossing the line just 0.3 seconds behind the leader, he had to be content with second place and focus on moto two, knowing that a victory would have saw him stand on the top step of the podium.

Unfortunately, he got caught up in some first-turn carnage and only just about stayed on two wheels. Way down the field and knowing he had a lot of work to do, he once again sliced through the field in the opening couple of laps to get up to sixth. A lap later he was in fifth and after a mistake from a rider in front he moved into fourth. Trying to push as much as possible, he couldn’t quite make the necessary moves and instead had to settle for fourth place, which gave him third step on the podium, much to the delight of the thousands of Slovenians who had crossed the border and were supporting their hero.

Teammate Roan van de Moosdijk was missing from the action after deciding to withdraw from the MXGP. After the qualification race yesterday, it became apparent that the Dutch rider was in too much pain, to be riding at 100% and as such, decided it would be better not to line-up. He will now travel home to see a specialist and work out a plan of action based upon those results.

With two weekends off now, there is plenty of time for both riders to prepare themselves for what will a tough run of three races in three weeks. First up is Portugal on May 4-5 before the series heads to a new venue in Lugo, Spain a week later. The triple-header is then rounded out with a return to the magnificent St Jean D’Angely track in France which always brings the crowds out in force.

Tim Gajser 243

“I felt my riding was good for the most part, but I didn’t get the best starts, especially in race two and that really made my job difficult. So, two-four for third overall is still a podium but I really wanted to get on the top step for me, the team and for all the fans that supported me this weekend. It was great to see so many people coming out and I missed this race last year so it was really cool to see everyone again. Now we have a couple of weekends to re-group and try to get that victory that I feel like I’m close to achieving.”

Roan van de Moosdijk 39

“Overnight I made the difficult decision to pull out of the GP. I didn’t have a good qualification race and I know my body and it just wasn’t feeling right, and I knew it was similar to how I was feeling in the pre-season and that wasn’t good for me. Now I have to get it checked out properly and once we get that information, we will make a decision how to proceed. A big thank you to all of Team HRC who have helped me these past couple of weeks and accepted my decision in a supportive way.”

Marcus Pereira de Freitas – HRC General Manager – MXGP

“A positive weekend in the championship as we closed up the table by a few of points and that’s always a good thing. Tim rode really well over all three races, making a lot of passes on a tight, tricky track and he can be proud of the effort he put in. Of course, we can see he was a little disappointed with how the second moto went but we will work on things in these next couple of weeks and try to make sure he is ready to go for the three races in a row coming up.

“It was disappointing news for Roan but we could see he wasn’t able to perform at 100% and we hope that the news will be good after the check-up this week. From there we can make a plan for how we approach the rest of the season.”

Words and Images by Team HRC