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18-09-2023 | MXGP News |
JORGE PRADO BECOMES THE 2023 MXGP WORLD CHAMPION WHILE SEEWER WINS HIS THIRD GP OF THE YEAR |
The eighteenth round of the season in Maggiora for the MXGP of Italy held all its promises with the coronation of a new MXGP World Champion, Red Bull GASGAS Factory Racing’s Jorge Prado.
The season has been long for the Spaniard who took the Red Plate right
from the first race in Argentina. Prado showed an incredible determination
to keep his cool in front of riders who pushed hard to take his place
such as former MXGP World Champions Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s
Jeffrey Herlings and Kawasaki Racing Team’s Romain Febvre. However,
Prado never flinched and display an amazing consistency throughout the
whole season as he won 10 RAM Qualifying Races, 14 races, 16 podiums and
2 Grand Prix victories. The World Champion was helped by his legendary
fast starts to take 14 FOX Holeshots so far this season.
Thanks to his race win in Race 1 of the MXGP of Italy and the retirement
from Romain Febvre, Prado manage to win the Championship on the first
race of the day against all odds. The Spanish has won his third Motocross
World Championship and can now proudly sit alongside those who made it
to the top in the MXGP class. With one Grand Prix to go in Great Britain,
Prado could still increase in amazing stat but he will be coming into
the starting gate of the first race with a sense of relief and pride of
being the 2023 MXGP World Champion.
The MXGP of Italy saw Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP Team’s
Jeremy Seewer win his 3rd Grand Prix of the season in front of Jorge Prado
who ended on the second step of the podium which was enough to win the
Championship. Third on the podium was an excellent Team HRC’s Rubén
Fernández
The venue saw an huge attendance with the fans being very noisy and cheery
the whole day in a very special atmosphere that pushed the riders to show
their best selves in front of the outstanding support from the home crowd,
delighted to be part of unique moment in the Championship.
In Race 1, it was none other than Jorge Prado who took the FOX Holeshot
to take the lead from the start. Prado was not leaving anything to chance
and flew with the lead. Behind him Jeremy Seewer got under pressure early
on from Romain Febvre who knew he had to get pass Prado to keep his hopes
of winning the Championship alive. He pushed very hard and even passed
Seewer for a brief moment before losing balance and leaving the Swiss
off the hook. The heart-breaking moment for Febvre happened on lap 6 of
18. Febvre first got untidy and crashed out of 3rd place to pick himself
in 5th but the Frenchman kept charging forward, only to find himself a
lap later hitting the bank of the track after pushing hard. The bike started
to lose power and Febvre would never manage to get the bike going again,
leaving the path free for Prado to win the Championship.
With that in mind, Prado needed only the 4th place and above to win the
Championship. Prado didn’t realise that but kept riding superbly
to win the race and discover the whole team and his family waiting for
him after the checkered flag.
Seewer kept riding strongly to finish at an excellent 2nd place after
battloing off Febvre early on in the race. After winning his first race
on Saturday, Forato confirmed his form to start very well going 4th on
the opening lap.
Forato benefit from Febvre’s nightmare to get an incredible 3rd
place, his best sunday race finish of the season.
Behind them, things settled pretty quickly with Team Gebben Van Venroy
Yamaha Racing’s Calvin Vlaanderen, Team HRC’s Rubén
Fernández and Standing Construct Honda MXGP’s Pauls Jonass
all staying consistent to keep they rank throughout the whole race and
all gaining one position due to Febvre’s retirement. Vlaanderen
finished 4th, Fernandez 5th and Jonass 6th.
For Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP Team’s Glenn Coldenhoff his
riding allowed him to put pressure on the good performer De Baets Yamaha
MX-Team’s Benoit Paturel who found himself 8th and then 7th for
nearly the full race. Paturel could not contain Coldenhoff’s assault
on lap 16 ad Coldenhoff finished in 7th while Paturel settled for 8th.
The most incredible performance of the race was from Team HRC's Tim Gajser
who fell in the first corners to pick himself in the last position. However
already on the tur of the opening lap, Gajser went up to 17th. The Slovenian
kept charging and overtaking rider after rider to finish 9th in the end
which shows that his riding and confidence are reaching incredible heights.
In Race 2, the freshly MXGP World Champion Prado continued on his path
and clinched another FOX Holeshot and the lead. However this time, Febvre
rode strongly and following a strong battle managed to make a great move
to pass the Gold Plate on lap 8 of 18. Gajser followed the French rider
and passed Prado too. Febvre had to deal with a fast-pacing Gajser who
tried to pass a couple of times. Prado held his own and won the race in
front of Gajser. Unfortunately, both riders missed out on the podium,
finishing 5th for Gajser and 9thfor Febvre.
Prado was riding his own race in 3rd until lap 17 when he crashed and
moved down to 6th position. This mistake denied him the perfect win which
would have been the cherry on the cake. In the end Prado went 1-6 to finish
2nd overall. This mistake benefitted two riders immensely. First, Fernandez
who was solidly riding in 4th from the opening lap and then finished 3rd
to get the 3rd place on the podium for the first time since Germany. Second,
Seewer who battled so hard with Forato for the 5th place. The Swiss knew
he had to pass the Italian to get on the podium. Seewer in the end managed
to make a beautiful move and went elbow to elbow with Forato over a couple
of corners. Seewer in the end got the better of Forato and moved up to
5thand then 4th with Prado’s crash which offered him his 3rd Grand
Prix victory of the season.
Unfortunately, Forato had to settle for 5 going 3-5 for 4th overall. This
was his best finish of the season but the young Italian sit on the podium
for a large part of the race to see it disappear in the end.
Jonass rode another strong race to go 7th from start to finish and get
the 6th overall while Ship to Cycle Honda SR Motoblouz’s Valentin
Guillod went 10-8 for 10th overall. Coldenhoff settled for 9th in the
end to finish 8th overall.
Jorge Prado: “Oh what a day! It was a pity that I made a mistake
otherwise I would have gotten the overall but hey I’m the new World
Champion and it’s just amazing you know. I would never imagine at
the beginning of the season to be up here with this Gold Plate. It was
such hard work the whole season and many people didn’t believe that
it was possible but I believe in myself and I knew I could make it happened
and here I am, the best of the year.I cannot ask for anything better,
I enjoy and I am World Champion, I dreamed about that moment all my life”
Jeremy Seewer: “The track was pretty fast and high-speed racing
so it was hard to make a pass and make the difference. I knew in the second
race that I had to get Alby (Forato) to get on the podium but I didn’t
know I could win the GP. Of course, Jorge made a mistake but I’ll
take it and the fans here are crazy and noise they make is amazing. Big
congratulations to Jorge (Prado) for an amazing season, he deserves to
be World Champion. Unfortunately I was too far off but I’m feeling
good now and I’m looking forward for the last race and for next
season”
Ruben Fernandez: “This has been tough in the last races since I
had that crash in Finland as I have been dealing all the time with injuries
and couldn’t not ride the weeks. But I finally felt better and could
put on the work during the week and work hard. I felt more prepared for
this Grand Prix and felt confident to get a result, so I am so happy to
be getting back on the podium. The second heat was really fun and I enjoyed
it a lot and felt like myself again with a good speed. I’m happy
to get back into my rhythm for the next races”
MXGP - Grand Prix Race 1 – Top 10 Classification: 1. Jorge Prado
(ESP, GASGAS), 35:26.988; 2. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, Yamaha), +0:01.309; 3.
Alberto Forato (ITA, KTM), +0:02.884; 4. Calvin Vlaanderen (NED, Yamaha),
+0:26.251; 5. Ruben Fernandez (ESP, Honda), +0:36.013; 6. Pauls Jonass
(LAT, Honda), +0:37.716; 7. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, Yamaha), +0:39.330;
8. Benoit Paturel (FRA, Yamaha), +0:42.810; 9. Tim Gajser (SLO, Honda),
+0:44.649; 10. Valentin Guillod (SUI, Honda), +0:57.489
MXGP - Grand Prix Race 2 – Top 10 Classification: 1. Romain Febvre (FRA, Kawasaki), 34:48.254; 2. Tim Gajser (SLO, Honda), +0:01.628; 3. Ruben Fernandez (ESP, Honda), +0:06.011; 4. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, Yamaha), +0:07.604; 5. Alberto Forato (ITA, KTM), +0:09.310; 6. Jorge Prado (ESP, GASGAS), +0:29.315; 7. Pauls Jonass (LAT, Honda), +0:33.442; 8. Valentin Guillod (SUI, Honda), +0:34.900; 9. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, Yamaha), +0:35.514; 10. Alessandro Lupino (ITA, Beta), +0:42.756
MXGP – Grand Prix Top 10 Classification: 1. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, YAM), 40 points; 2. Jorge Prado (ESP, GAS), 40 p.; 3. Ruben Fernandez (ESP, HON), 36 p.; 4. Alberto Forato (ITA, KTM), 36 p.; 5. Tim Gajser (SLO, HON), 34 p.; 6. Pauls Jonass (LAT, HON), 29 p.; 7. Calvin Vlaanderen (NED, YAM), 28 p.; 8. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, YAM), 26 p.; 9. Romain Febvre (FRA, KAW), 25 p.; 10. Valentin Guillod (SUI, HON), 24 p
MXGP - World Championship Top 10 Classification: 1. Jorge Prado (ESP, GAS), 890 points; 2. Romain Febvre (FRA, KAW), 807 p.; 3. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, YAM), 719 p.; 4. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, YAM), 655 p.; 5. Ruben Fernandez (ESP, HON), 612 p.; 6. Calvin Vlaanderen (NED, YAM), 565 p.; 7. Alberto Forato (ITA, KTM), 490 p.; 8. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 456 p.; 9. Valentin Guillod (SUI, HON), 334 p.; 10. Maxime Renaux (FRA, YAM), 314 p
MXGP - Manufacturers Classification: 1. GASGAS, 902 points; 2. Yamaha, 894 p.; 3. Kawasaki,823 p.; 4. Honda, 728 p.; 5. KTM, 724 p.; 6. Beta, 305 p.; 7. Husqvarna, 80 p