Red Bull KTM’s Jeffrey Herlings ended the opening day of MXGP action in Sweden at the top of the pile, taking a closely-fought win over Romain Febvre in the qualifying race.
When the gate dropped the winner of the last MXGP race to be held in Uddevalla, Monster Yamaha’s Febvre, took the lead.
He was followed closely by Team HRC MXGP’s Tim Gajser but later managed to pull a slight gap on the #243. Behind the top two off the start was Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing’s Max Nagl and Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Jeffrey Herlings.
Herlings found his way around Nagl on the first lap putting the German between him and points leader Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Antonio Cairoli. Herlings then pushed forward to catch Gajser and apply pressure on the Slovenian.
Gajser managed to handle the pressure well however even when Herlings showed him the front wheel multiple times. Herlings was searching side to side looking for a way past and for a few laps backed off the pace.
Herlings after following the lines of Gajser regroup and mounted a second attack and this one was successful. After his pass on Gajser, Herlings set his sights on Febvre and with 2 laps remaining he took the lead. Febvre tried to retaliate but it wouldn’t be enough as Herlings won ahead of Febvre, Gajser, Nagl, and Cairoli.
“I’m feeling good, we were fast in each practice and I felt really comfortable today, the bike has been really well including the last few rounds. It was a bit hard to pass Gajser, he was riding really good and had some really good lines, he was tough to overtake but once we passed him I was able to close the gap to Febvre and pass him straight when I got near his rear wheel and managed to win,” said Herlings.
MXGP Qualifying Race Top Ten: 1. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 24:01.339; 2. Romain Febvre (FRA, Yamaha), +0:00.709; 3. Tim Gajser (SLO, Honda), +0:07.522; 4. Maximilian Nagl (GER, Husqvarna), +0:09.369; 5. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), +0:10.762; 6. Gautier Paulin (FRA, Husqvarna), +0:22.883; 7. Clement Desalle (BEL, Kawasaki), +0:26.080; 8. Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS, Honda), +0:27.920; 9. Shaun Simpson (GBR, Yamaha), +0:35.901; 10. Tommy Searle (GBR, Kawasaki), +0:36.797.
Click here for today's times and results
