MXGP: Seewer Secures First MXGP Race Win in Faenza Race One

The MXGP of Citta di Faenza faced some drama before the motos, as Jeffrey Herlings was out of action following a crash in timed practice in the morning. The championship, then, was once again wide open. 

Jorge Prado made the holeshot of the first moto, to absolutely no one’s surprise, and immediately bolted. Behind him, Mitch Evans slotted into second place, ahead of Jeremy Seewer and Romain Febvre. 

The trio of Evans, Seewer and Febvre were able to pull away from Antonio Cairoli and Tim Gajser behind in the first five minutes, and before end of the second five minutes, the Swiss and the Frenchman were past the Australian.

That left Cairoli in a HRC sandwich, with Evans in front and Gajser behind. The Italian, though, was suffering the reality of Faenza, which is that passing is difficult to pass. With 17 minutes to go, though, Cairoli was through, just as his teammate, Jorge Prado, was being caught by Seewer and Febvre out front. 

Two difficult laps for Prado in the middle of the race allowed Seewer to take the lead and then open his own advantage of around three seconds. The Spaniard was able to recover his pace, though, before Febvre was able to pass. 

In the end, the pressure from Febvre evaporated as the Frenchman faded towards the end of the race, and Prado remained safe in second place. 

However, the Spaniard could do nothing about Seewer, who won in the end by 15 seconds. It was Seewer’s eighth moto win at Grand Prix level and his first in the MXGP class – now the #91’s attention will turn to securing his first MXGP overall win later on today in the second race.

Prado’s second place was his best moto finish in the MXGP class, as the rookie continues to make steps forward. The speed of Seewer means it is hard to see how the Spaniard could achieve his first overall win in the second race but, as we saw with Herlings this morning in the most unfortunate circumstances, anything is possible in motocross. 

Romain Febvre’s pace faded towards the end of the race which limited the #3 to third place, but the Kawasaki rider’s pace has remained since Sunday, and he remains in the frame for the overall podium looking to the second race. 

Also in the picture for that overall podium is Cairoli, who was able to pass Evans at around mid-distance as he was coming under pressure from Gajser. The Italian is still struggling with the knee he twisted in Latvia, and the adhesive nature of the surface in Faenza plays with the #222’s confidence when putting his foot down. In those circumstance, fourth is not such a bad result for the nine-times World Champion, who is now 42 points behind Herlings in the points standings. 

Behind Cairoli was reigning World Champion Tim Gajser, who was forced to ride the entirety of the second half of the race without goggles. This prevented the Slovenian from closing in on Cairoli at the end, as he had to protect his face from the roost. He was, though, able to get past his teammate, Evans, before that, and secure fifth place and important points for the championship. Looking to the second race, the podium is not out of the question for the #243. 

The top six was rounded out by Glenn Coldenhoff, who fended off pressure from an impressive Alessandro Lupino in seventh place who was charging at the end. The #77 ended up just 1.6 seconds shy of the Latvian GP winner, and was ahead of Gautier Paulin by almost two seconds at the finish. Paulin, in turn, was clear of Mitch Evans by 0.2 seconds at the flag, the Frenchman coming out on top in their battle for eighth, whilst Arminas Jasikonis came back from a first turn crash to complete the top 10. 

Clement Desalle has been struggling with back issues, which seem to be continuing for the Belgian who finished 11th in race one, ahead of Calvin Vlaanderen, Jeremy van Horebeek – who was caught up in Jasikonis’ crash at the first turn – and Henri Jacobi, whilst Brian Bogers completed the top 15. 

Jordi Tixier was 16th, ahead of Pascal Rauchenecker, Dylan Walsh, Arnaud Tonus who sprained his ankle in the second moto last Sunday, and Nicholas Lapucci who completed the top 20.