More water, mud and challenging circumstances at the Grand Prix of France for Jeffrey Herlings.
MXGP again ran the gauntlet with changeable weather conditions at the popular hard-packed St Jean D’Angely circuit in western France for round seven of the campaign and the third weekend of action on the bounce. The venue is one of the principal sites for Grand Prix racing in the country and has twice hosted the prestigious Motocross of Nations this century. The slick and stony course welcomed a typically large and boisterous crowd but the instability of the climate – summed up by sunshine and then thundery showers through practice and qualification on Saturday – soaked the track and made it muddy, rutty and hard to judge.
Jeffrey Herlings was 10th in the MXGP affair on Saturday. On Sunday decent starts were going to be key to podium contention, particularly for sodden second motos for both classes as the heavens erupted. Herlings worked to gain 6th in the first race from 8th. After the second start he made his way to 2nd on the opening lap and then had to keep his concentration under pressure from Tim Gajser. The track was almost flooded but Jeffrey found a faster groove and pulled away to catch Romain Febvre, seizing the lead with a gutsy move around the outside down one of the St Jean hills. He crossed the line in 1st for his second checkered flag of the season. Herlings took part in the podium ceremony as runner-up but with Gajser gaining places due to rider penalties he was later lowered to 3rd.
MXGP will travel east and to Talkessel in Teutschenthal for the German GP in a fortnight. Trips to Kegums (Latvia) and Maggiora (Italy) will follow hard upon.
Jeffrey Herlings, 6th and 1st for 3rd overall in MXGP: “We finished 6-1 for 3rd and it could have been better, could have been worse. The results changing after the race meant I lost a few points to the others but I’m pretty satisfied with my second moto. The bike worked well, and ran clean all moto in those conditions, so the team did great. I’m looking forward to Teutschenthal now after a practice race in the UK next week. Difficult this weekend, and we need to think about the health of the riders and think professionally. That’s my opinion.”
Results MXGP France 2024
1. Tim Gajser (SLO), Honda, 1-4
2. Romain Febvre (FRA), Kawasaki, 3-2
3. Jeffrey Herlings (NED), Red Bull KTM Factory Racing, 6-1
4. Jorge Prado (ESP), GASGAS, 2-5
Standings MXGP 2024 after 7 of 20 rounds
1. Tim Gajser (SLO), Honda, 348 points
2. Jorge Prado (ESP), GASGAS, 343
3. Romain Febvre (FRA), Kawasaki, 319
4. Jeffrey Herlings (NED), Red Bull KTM Factory Racing, 287
5. Pauls Jonass (LAT), Honda, 253