On Saturday afternoon another shower ruined one part of the track which looked like an enduro section! None of the three GPKR riders were able to give their best with Kevin Strijbos and Sébastien Pourcel finishing 9th and 13th in the timed practice period while Alexandre Rouis failed to qualify.

One day later on a sunny day but with a still wet circuit the GP took place. Kevin started the opening race in the top 10 while Sébastien had to make a pit stop after one lap to repair a gear level damaged in a collision.

Coming back on the track last and far behind everyone else he crashed twice during the 35-minute moto and finished 16th while Kevin took the seventh spot right behind Manuel Priem and Joshua Coppins.

The second start was not great for the GPKR riders either as Kevin was 16th after one lap and Sébastien last after a big crash in a fast section. Neither Kevin or Seb found a good rhythm in the second race and Seb retired before half distance after a pretty big crash while Kevin scored 14th position. For sure these results are not what the riders and the team were expecting and everyone will work harder to show much improvement before the Spanish GP in two weeks time.

Kevin Strijbos:

“The conditions were very different to last weekend and on this wet sand I didn’t feel comfortable on the bike. We worked on the suspension last week but my main problem here came from the engine. We are late in our testing program but we now have two weeks to prepare the following round of the championship.”

Sébastien Pourcel:

“It’s a weekend that we must forget promptly and on Monday I will work harder to prepare for the other GPs. I practiced this winter on sandy tracks but I never found such wet sand as we had here in Valkenswaard. On Saturday I was unable to post a good time and in both races I crashed in the opening lap. I scored some points in the first race but that’s not enough and I retired in the following one after three crashes. I’m of course disappointed but I will never give up and I will work hard to be ready for revenge in Spain.”

Alexandre Rouis:

“It was my first experience on a track like this one and it was really difficult for me. On this circuit you must open the throttle and not think too much but I was too stressed for my first attempt in a GP. It was a good experience and I will use it for Spain in two weeks.”

Patrick Geladé:

“Unfortunately we did not do so well at this race. We have to work hard in the next two weeks, we know what we have to do and in Spain you will see another GPKR team on the track. As I already said we lost valuable testing time with Kevin’s shoulder injury as we postponed several testing sessions.

“Early in the season we fixed the settings of the engine that we use on hard tracks but we have some development to do for the sand. For example we have in the workshop two engines that Kevin has never tested and only he can do this as he doesn’t ask for the same characteristics as Sébastien.”

Roger Pourcel:

“The weekend was difficult despite the fact that we worked more than in the past on sandy tracks to be ready. In the future Sébastien will have to compete more in Belgium and race on tracks like this one. I was expecting better results from Kevin even if I know that we have to work to adapt the bike to his riding style. The mechanics worked hard in the past few weeks and they will continue, we’ll be racing next weekend at the French MX3 GP in Castelnau de Lévis and that will be another testing session. Alex was way off qualifying here because he didn’t ride enough on sandy tracks yet but this qualifying experience will help him for the future.”