Jeffrey Herlings takes 10th season victory at MX2 of France

Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Jeffrey Herlings is a man of all seasons and all racing surfaces, and on Sunday took his tenth victory of the season at Saint Jean d’Angely, France. He has now won every MX2 GP this season and has 19 moto wins from 20, having dropped only three points. Herlings also picked up his 57th career GP win to equal that of his now boss, Joel Smets, KTM’s Motocross Sport Director.

Jeffrey Herlings, also the first rider to win three times at the French venue, divided his race day into two different episodes. Entering a heavily watered track in his first moto, he rode cautiously in the opening stages, tucked into third place behind Jeremy Seewer and home favorite Benoit Paturel who exchanged the lead in the early laps. Twelve minutes into the race Herlings had moved into second and then began to chase down the leader. He put in his fastest lap on the KTM 250 SX-F with three laps to go and went on to win by almost six seconds.

Then after getting forced off line by another rider at the start of his second moto, Herlings fought back hard from 12th place, and at the end of lap nine closed in on race leader Max Anstie. One minute later he took control and crossed the line with a comfortable 2.5-second margin.

Herlings: “We made it ten in a row this season, I’ve only lost one moto where I finished second and we should be really happy. This track is not one of my favorites but my first moto was good, the second not so good but overall with the qualifying and the two motos we won all three races. I think we can look back on a very good weekend.”

 

Herlings said he was looking forward to racing the next round in Matterley Basin, UK, adding that the tracks that follow would suit him well. Commenting on his 57th career victory, the Dutch rider said he hoped to achieve his long-term goal to surpass the existing current record of 100 career GP wins.

Results MX2 Saint Jean d’Angely 2016
1. Jeffrey Herlings (NED), KTM (1-1)
2. Benoit Paturel (FRA), Yamaha (2-3)
3. Jeremy Seewer (SUI), Suzuki (3-4)
4. Pauls Jonass (LAT), KTM (5-5)
5. Dylan Ferrandis (FRA), Kawasaki (6-7)

Standings MX2 2016 after 10 of 18 rounds
1. Herlings, 497 points
2. Seewer, 363
3. Jonass, 332
4. Paturel, 293
5. Aleksandr Tonkov (RUS), Yamaha, 269