Round three of the MXGP World Motocross Championship heads to the first sandy circuit of the year at Riola Sardo for the MXGP of Sardegna this weekend!
After the dominant display on home ground by Red Bull GASGAS Factory Racing team leader Jorge Prado, who swept all three races at round two in Spain, the chasing pack will be hoping that the deep sand will give them a chance to find a weakness in the reigning Champion’s armour. The #1 plate holder still has that red background and a ten-point lead over Team HRC’s Tim Gajser.
The MX2 class has proven to be wildly unpredictable this season and Kay de Wolf brings the red plate on his Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing to the circuit where he so nearly won his first Grand Prix last year. He has won both of the first two GPs and holds a 12-point advantage over Simon Laengenfelder, who won a race at the venue earlier this season for Red Bull GASGAS Factory Racing at an international event.
This will be the fourth Grand Prix to be held at the popular training venue on the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, and the previous three editions have all seen Dutch winners in the MXGP class. The MX2 class will see a new winner at the circuit this season, as it has only ever seen GP wins for Tom Vialle and Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP Team’s Jago Geerts leading into this season.
The MXGP of Sardegna will also host the second round of the FIM Women’s Motocross World Championship, as last year’s Riola Sardo winner Daniela Guillen looks to build on her 6-point lead from the emotional win at her home GP at intu-Xanadú Arroyomolinos. Dutch ace Lotte van Drunen on the De Baets Yamaha-MX Team will be looking to chase Daniela down to avenge her narrow defeat in Spain.
The EMX125 Championship Presented by FMF Racing also gets underway this weekend, with Hungarian prospect Noel Zanocz in a confident mood after winning here in February for Fantic Factory Racing EMX125, and Dutchman Gyan Doensen should also be a force for Racestore KTM Factory Rookies. Northern Irish star Cole McCullough also climbed the podium here in February and will be one to watch on his Fantic as well!
Jorge Prado hit an amazing milestone in Spain with his 40th career Grand Prix victory, and looked in amazing form on home ground. Tim Gajser was able to keep within reach in the Championship, and with a double win in the February international at Riola Sardo, he will be hopeful that he can match that form with Prado in the race this time. Tim’s best GP race result at the circuit was a 2nd, back in 2022, and he was out injured for last year’s GP.
Red Bull KTM Factory Racing star Jeffrey Herlings is historically the most successful MXGP rider at Sardegna, with a double victory in 2021 (finishing ahead of Prado and Romain Febvre both times), and taking the overall GP with two 2nd places last year. Prado did win both the RAM Qualifying Race and the first GP race in 2023, before dropping to 6th in race two. Glenn Coldenhoff took the second race victory, his most recent in GP racing. His replacement at Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP Team, Calvin Vlaanderen, won both GP races in 2022 for his only overall victory in the class. Prado is the only non-Dutch rider to take an MXGP chequered flag at the circuit.
Kawasaki Racing Team’s Romain Febvre lies third in the Championship, and finished 2nd to Gajser here in February. He hasn’t got as high as his 2021 finishes here in a GP since then, but also needs to try and halt the Prado express train. Herlings lies 37 points behind the Spaniard and knows that this is one circuit where he needs to go all out for another GP win to stay in the title hunt!
There will be new faces for 2024 at the MXGP of Sardegna, as Fantic Factory Racing MXGP line up with two riders in the class for the first time, having signed Brian Bogers up to join Coldenhoff on the XXF 450 for the rest of the season. Sardegna will be the first home GP of the season for Ivo Monticelli of the Italian team MRT Racing Team Beta. English racer Todd Kellett, winner of the FIM Sand Races World Cup, gets a fill-in ride with the Monster Energy Yamaha MXGP Team in conditions that should feel very comfortable for him. Roan van de Moosdijk returns from a pre-season injury to take a fill-in ride for Team HRC and make his MXGP class debut. JM Racing Honda also have a new fill-in rider joining them, with Swedish racer Tim Edberg standing in for Brent van Doninck.
MXGP – World Championship Top 10 Classification: 1. Jorge Prado (ESP, GAS), 114 Points; 2. Tim Gajser (SLO, HON), 104 Points; 3. Romain Febvre (FRA, KAW), 92 Points ; 4. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 77 Pts; 5. Pauls Jonass (LAT, HON), 73 Pts; 6. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, KAW), 68 Pts; 7. Maxime Renaux (FRA, YAM), 63 Pts.; 8. Calvin Vlaanderen (NED, YAM), 56 Pts; 9. Valentin Guillod (SUI, HON) 49 Pts; 10. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, FAN), 49 Pts;
2023 MXGP of Sardegna MXGP Top 3:
- Jeffrey Herlings
- Glenn Coldenhoff
- Jorge Prado
Although none of the MX2 riders heading to Riola Sardo have ever won a GP at the circuit before, Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing’s Championship Leader Kay de Wolf only lost the 2023 edition to Jago Geerts on a tie-breaker, after winning his first GP race outside of Lommel in the first outing. He also took a podium in his rookie season here in 2021. The Dutch teenager holds a 12-point advantage over Simon Laengenfelder, who has never finished on the overall GP podium in Sardegna, despite winning a race in the pre-season international here.
Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Andrea Adamo showed a welcome return to form in Spain with the second race victory and third overall, and he now lies third in the points as well. With a 31-point gap between himself and De Wolf, a win against the Dutchman on the series leader’s favourite surface would be a great mental blow for him! De Wolf’s teammate Lucas Coenen currently occupies fourth in the standings and will be hoping to improve from there, as will fifth-placed Thibault Benistant for the Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MX2 Team. The Frenchman has been on the podium twice before in the sands of Sardegna, so might be a bigger threat than many might think. His teammate Andrea Bonacorsi will be one of the local riders coming at Riola Sardo. The Italian won last year in EMX250 and will take that experience on board to try to collect big points this weekend.
Mikkel Haarup will look to pick up the pace again for the new Monster Energy Triumph Racing team, after a dream debut podium in Argentina was followed by a difficult weekend in Spain, but he still lies sixth in the standings and is no pushover in the sand.
Marc-Antoine Rossi is the top rookie in the series for Red Bull GASGAS Factory Racing and will be looking to dig into these conditions, while Ferruccio Zanchi from Team HRC will be hoping to lift himself from 13th on a circuit where he took a surprise win ahead of Laengenfelder and Adamo in February.
Liam Everts is just ahead of Zanchi in the points for Red Bull KTM Factory Racing, and after a decent return to racing after missing the Argentina opener, the Belgian will be looking to show his sand skills and advance further. His team is the most successful in MX2 history here due to wins for Tom Vialle in 2021 & 2022.
As always in MX2, it could be anybody’s race and a real shoot-out for victory in the savage sand!
MX2 – World Championship Top 10 Classification: 1. Kay de Wolf (NED, HUS), 113 Points; 2. Simon Längenfelder (GER, GAS), 101 Points; 3. Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), 82 Pts; 4. Lucas Coenen (BEL, HUS), 75 Pts; 5. Thibault Benistant (FRA, YAM), 72 Points; 6. Mikkel Haarup (DEN, TRI), 64 Pts; 7. Marc-Antoine Rossi (FRA, GAS), 59 Pts; 8. Sacha Coenen (BEL, KTM), 53 Pts; 9. Camden McLellan (RSA, TRI), 52 Pts; 10. Rick Elzinga (NED, YAM), 42 Pts;
2023 MXGP of Sardegna MX2 Top 3:
- Jago Geerts
- Kay de Wolf
- Thibault Benistant
TIMETABLE (CEST)
SATURDAY: 08:20 WMX Free Practice, 08:50 EMX125 Group 1 Free Practice, 09:20 EMX125 Group 2 Free Practice, 09:50 WMX Qualifying Practice, 10:30 MX2 Free Practice, 11:00 MXGP Free Practice, , 12:30 EMX125 Group 1 Qualifying Practice, 13:05 EMX125 Group 2 Qualifying Practice, 13:40 MX2 Time Practice, 14:15 MXGP Time Practice, 15:00 WMX Race 1, 15:45 EMX125 Race 1, 16:35 MX2 RAM Qualifying Race, 17:25 MXGP RAM Qualifying Race.
SUNDAY: 09:45 WMX Race 2, 10:25 MX2 Warm-up, 10:45 MXGP Warm-up, 11:30 EMX125 Race 2, 13:15 MX2 Race 1, 14:15 MXGP Race 1, 16:10 MX2 Race 2, 17:10 MXGP Race 2.
