Reigning MXGP World Champion Tim Gajser returned to victory circle in Sweden yesterday, standing on the Uddevalla podium twice to take the overall win in tricky conditions that made tyre choice critical.

In race one, the Team HRC man started in the top five while teammate Evgeny Bobryshev took the Fox Holeshot. He lost the lead quickly to Monster Energy’s Romain Febvre, as Gajser took third away from Rockstar Husqvarna’s Gautier Paulin.

Gajser and Bobryshev battled shortly but Gajser made it by the Russian along with Red Bull KTM’s Glenn Coldenhoff. Leading the GP that he won in the last visit Febvre made a mistake and fell out of the lead, remounting in 12th.

While Gajser, Coldenhoff, Bobryshev, and Paulin where battling up front, Red Bull KTM’s Antonio Cairoli was back in 15th and his title rival and team-mate Jeffrey Herlings was sixth chasing down Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Clement Desalle.

On lap four Bobryshev lost third to Paulin and five laps later lost fourth to Herlings who had finally found a way around Desalle. Herlings and Paulin both passed Coldenhoff and then Bobryshev did the same. One lap later Herlings took over second from Paulin.

On the last lap a mistake dropped Bobryshev from fourth to seventh letting Coldenhoff back into the top five. At the finish Gajser beat out Herlings by over nine seconds with Paulin taking the podium spot, then Desalle, Coldenhoff, and Febvre who worked his way back from 12th to finish sixth.

Race two started similarly but with a holeshot for Febvre just ahead of Herlings, Gajser, and Paulin. Gajser passed Herlings quickly but a few laps later a mistake of Gajser let the Dutchman through.

Herlings was charging toward leader Febvre but had a bike issue which immediately ended his race. Gajser retook secnd position and set his sights on the #461. The Slovenian and the Frenchman battled for several laps coming extremely close at times.

Behind the front two was Paulin in a race of his own well ahead of Desalle and Coldenhoff. Cairoli struggled again in race two starting from ninth and only making his way to seventhth by the finish. At the chequered flag, Febvre won the race ahead of Gajser to secure second while the HRC rider took the overall win.

“I am really happy, it has been a tough season for me. We finally made a good step forward and we can start at the front. I finally got on the podium this weekend after I finished fourth I think three times so it is good,” said Febvre.

Gajser’s win was his third this season but the first since Leon 12 rounds prior: “It feels amazing to be back after quite a long time, we have been working really hard, we had some bad weekends and some bad races but we are now getting better and better. I am really happy, really glad and I just want to say thank to everyone.”

Gautier Paulin's pair of thirds took third overall to which he said: “It is always good to be on the box, I made a few mistakes and the first race I had good start. I’m feeling 100 per cent right now.”

Cairoli, though finishing seventh overall gained points in the championship and in the post race press conference he said: “I’m really happy about the result, for sure today it could be better on the track which was very difficult with a lot of ruts but the competition is very high.”

MXGP Overall Top Ten: 1. Tim Gajser (SLO, HON), 47 points; 2. Romain Febvre (FRA, YAM), 40 p.; 3. Gautier Paulin (FRA, HUS), 40 p.; 4. Clement Desalle (BEL, KAW), 36 p.; 5. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, KTM), 32 p.; 6. Jeremy Van Horebeek (BEL, YAM), 29 p.; 7. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), 26 p.; 8. Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS, HON), 24 p.; 9. Arminas Jasikonis (LTU, SUZ), 23 p.; 10. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 22 p.

MXGP Championship Top Ten: 1. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), 631 points; 2. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 530 p.; 3. Gautier Paulin (FRA, HUS), 526 p.; 4. Clement Desalle (BEL, KAW), 519 p.; 5. Tim Gajser (SLO, HON), 453 p.; 6. Romain Febvre (FRA, YAM), 441 p.; 7. Jeremy Van Horebeek (BEL, YAM), 377 p.; 8. Maximilian Nagl (GER, HUS), 364 p.; 9. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, KTM), 352 p.; 10. Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS, HON), 344 p.