MXGP Race Reports

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MXGP of Italy Report

Published Sunday, 4th July, 2021

The second weekend of a double-header in MXGP found the paddock in the North of Italy, where Maggiora hosted Round 3 of the 2021 season.

Unlike the previous two rounds, championship leader Tim Gajser was unable to extend his lead in the standings and instead leaves Italy with just a six-point lead over Jeffrey Herlings, compared to a 15-point lead the Slovenian had just one week ago.

There were new names on the top-step of the podium this year, as Romain Febvre took the win in the first race of the weekend, with Herlings ending the third round victorious in Race 2.

MXGP Race 1

In the first race of the day, it was Febvre who took the Fox Holeshot ahead of Jorge Prado’s KTM and Antonio Cairoli.

That’s pretty much how it remained for the rest of the race with the top-three runners, Febvre keeping his cool at the front to take the win over Prado and Cairoli.

Elsewhere however, it wasn’t as plain sailing. Herlings found himself stopped at the side of the track in order to remove a rock which was jammed in his rear brake, meaning he had to put up a strong fight to end the race in sixth.

Behind the top-three, Glenn Coldenhoff ended the race fourth, putting up a good defence from Gajser who finished fifth ahead of Herlings.

Pauls Jonass put his GASGAS bike in seventh with a comfortable margin over Jeremy Seewer in eighth.

After a tenth-placed finish in his home weekend last week, Ben Watson took ninth and his best result of the year so far ahead of Brent Van Doninck who rounded out the top-ten.

MXGP Race 2

Race 2 of the day took a rather wild turn just before the start, as heavy rain fell onto the Maggiora track meaning the riders had another obstacle to deal with.

Cairoli took the Fox Holeshot at the beginning of the race ahead of Herlings and a surprise name at the front of the pack, Henry Jacobi got off to a solid start and found himself third in the race ahead of Prado.

Championship leader Gajser started the race down in 11th meaning the Honda rider had a hill to climb during the race.

The battle for the lead was more intense compared to Race 1, with Herlings eventually passing his Dutch compatriot Coldenhoff, closing a four second gap to take the lead.

At the end of the race it was a Dutch 1-2 with Herlings taking the chequered flag 6.911s ahead of Coldenhoff, Cairoli rounded off a strong weekend in third.

Jonass ended the race fourth, with Jacobi taking a great result in fifth place ahead of Gajser who will see the GP of Italy as a damage limitation weekend.