More than 39 thousand fans enjoyed a weekend full of action, adrenaline, and emotions at the Patagonia Race Track in Villa La Angostura, Province of Neuquén. Tim Gajser and Tom Vialle were the MXGP and MX2 classifications winners, respectively. The weather was good until the end and both the protagonists and the spectators were already expecting the 2023 edition of the event.
A real human tide filled the impressive Patagonia Race Track in Villa La Angostura, which hosted the third round of the FIM Motocross World Championship this weekend. Under a bright sun, which was only covered by the clouds shortly before the start of the last race on Sunday, the best motocross riders in the world thrilled the Argentinean fans who came from all corners of our country.
MXGP: Gajser took the top prize
With front brake problems in Saturday’s qualifying race, that brought him back to the seventh position, Tim Gajser seemed to say goodbye to his chances of winning; especially because his rivals were very strong. However, already in the first race on Sunday, he managed to get to fourth place at the start and from there he did a neat job that left him second behind Frenchman Maxime Renaux.
Gajser and Renaux were the main protagonists of the second race. The Slovakian took the lead and managed to get away in the first laps, while the Frenchman tried to get rid of Jorge Prado. In this way, he gained a gap that turned out to be conclusive.
Reanux managed to finish second in Race 2. The Spanish Gas Gas rider lost his third place in the last jump of Race 2 to his fellow national Ruben Fernandez. However, he managed to keep the third place on the podium in MXGP Argentina.
In this way, Gajser and Renaux were even on points for the weekend, but the victory went to the Honda rider for having won Race 2. This victory allows him to leave Argentina with a wider lead at the top of the standings. He now has 141 points, against Renaux’s 124, while Prado is third with 118.
The best qualified Argentinean rider in the senior division was Dario Arco who was 18th overall. The rider from La Rioja was 20th in Race 1 and moved up to 16th place in the second race.
MX2: Vialle surprised Geerts at the end of the race
Tom Vialle achieved what seemed impossible before Race 2 in MX2: to take the lead from Jago Geerts. The Frenchman set a devastating pace in the first laps, which allowed him to gain two positions and to be the leader by the fifth lap.
Once in the lead, the KTM rider began to stretch the gap and rode straight to his first win of the season. Geerts, who had dominated Saturday’s qualifying, Sunday morning’s Warm-up and Race 1, had to make do with a second place in the last race, and therefore, he also finished second overall. The third place went to Denmark’s rider Mikkel Haarup.
Geerts remains at the top of the standings with 137 points, followed more closely by Vialle, who has 111, one more than Simon Laengenfelder.
The best local rider of the weekend was Pablo Jeremías Pascual who was 13th after finishing 15th in the first race and 11th in the second.
Statements:
Tim Gasjer
I´m pretty happy. It was good weekend for us. We had a bit of bad luck yesterday in the Qualy race. But I knew I had the speed. I had two solid starts and I was battling until the end.
Tom Vialle
This victory is nice for me because the last two weeks were a little bit tough.. I didn´t have a good winter, I didn’t ride for much of the winter and I was not prepared as in the past years. But I’m coming back. The weekend went pretty good, with good flow, good rhythm. I felt good on the bike and good on the track. The championship is long, and we´ll see.
Jago Geerts
It was a strong weekend for me. I felt good all the weekend on the track. The track was really nice to ride, so it was fun. At the end I got blisters on my hand and I had to drop the pace a little bit because I didn’t want to take too many risks.
Resultados del MXGP Patagonia Argentina – Categoría MXGP
Resultados GP:
1° Tim GAJSER (Honda) 47 points
2° Maxime RENAUX (Yamaha) 47 p
3° Jorge Prado (GasGas) 36 p
Clasificación Campeonato Mundial FIM de Motocross:
1° Tim GAJSER 141 points
2° Maxime RENAUX 124 p
3° Jorge Prado 118 p
Clasificación Campeonato Constructores:
1° Honda 141 points
2° Yamaha 131 p
3° GasGas 118 p
MX2
Resultados GP:
1° Tom VIALLE 47 points
2° Jago GEERTS 47 p
3° Mikkel HAARUP 38 p
Clasificación Campeonato Mundial FIM de Motocross:
1° Jago GEERTS 137 points
2° Tom VIALLE 111 p
3° Simon LAENGENFELDER 110 P
Clasificación Campeonato Constructores:
1° Yamaha 137 points
2° GasGas 128 p
3° KTM 127 p