Thibault Benistant of the Monster Energy Yamaha team has been waiting a long time to get another Grand Prix victory on his CV. It was way back in 2023, when the talented Frenchman won the French Grand Prix at the Villars sous Ecot in France on the 21st of May. Two years to the day in fact.

Like so many of the current Frenchmen, GP victories don’t come easy with the recent domination of riders like Tim Gajser, Jeffrey Herlings, Jorge Prado, Kay De Wolf, Liam Everts, or Lucas Coenen.

We still haven’t forgotten that Romain Febvre scored his first Grand Prix victory in two years in Lugo, Spain a couple of weeks ago, and while the MXGP rider owns the red plate, his MX2 countryman, Benistant, is still finding it hard to get past the tough Austrian domination of the 250 boys, as De Wolf, Everts, Andrea Adamo, and Simon Langenfelder steal all the glory on their Husqvarna and KTM machines.

The road to Ernee this weekend has been something of a rollercoaster, with two podiums and a race win, but sitting in fifth place in the championship points isn't really where he wants to be.

For Benistant, the GP in Trentino, a circuit that suits his style, gave some good moments, a race win and a podium finish, but no GP win. Still, a 12-1 was enough to finish third overall.

"For sure, it feels good to get the race win. I’ve had some struggles recently—like in the first race today, I just wasn’t riding well and couldn’t explain why. But in Race 2, I felt like myself again, physically strong and fast. I pushed really hard on the final laps and managed to make the pass, which was a nice payback for when Andrea (Adamo) passed me in France. That was cool!"

In Switzerland the Yamaha man fought hard to score points with 11-5 for seventh overall.

“It’s not been an easy weekend. I had a good start in race one but then crashed on the first lap. I then crashed again later in the race, and after that it took me a while to get into a good rhythm. My speed was good; it was just the crashes that let me down. Race Two was much better. I had a good start and made passes, but I rode a little tight for a lot of the race. Now it’s onto Portugal in two weeks’ time.”

13-7 in the mud of Agueda in Portugal was a huge disappointment for Benistant, and he didn’t mind sharing that information.

A really tough weekend in these conditions. Bad starts made it even more difficult for me and I wasn’t able to ride freely in either race. Hopefully, the weather will be better next weekend, and I can ride like I know I can.

The last Grand Prix in Lugo, Spain was a much better effort, his best of the season where he went 3-5 for third overall. A perfect confidence builder for his home GP in Ernee this coming weekend.

“The weekend (in Lugo) was probably the best weekend of my season so far as I had good results in all three races. It was a shame to miss the overall podium today and it’s partly my fault because I wasn’t always looking at the pit board to know the points situation. If I knew I needed to make a pass, then I’d have taken some risks for sure. But overall, my speed is good and so is my fitness, so I think I’ll have some even better results as the season continues.”

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