Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP's Romain Febvre pulled himself back into contention in his defence of the FIM World MXGP Motocross Championship title with his third podium in a row in the British round of the series at Foxhill Moto Parc. On the Saturday, Febvre narrowly missed victory in the Qualifying race, which set him up for a solid Sunday.

The Frenchman posted fourth-fastest time in Timed Practice and used his good gate-pick to immediately slot into third in the Qualifying race. He was clearly faster than the riders ahead of him but the rider in second was riding a clever defensive race to continually protect his position as their lines came together.

During the closing stages both riders passed the initial leader and, although he closed the gap to his race-long rival on the final lap, the Kawasaki leader had to content himself with second, just over a second behind the winner.

"I took quite a good start and I expected it to be easier to pass with many lines in the morning, but in the end it was more difficult than I thought as the lines came together so I could not take my rhythm, and the low sun mde it tricky on the hills at the end of the day. I took Tom at the end and came back to Fernandez so the race was OK but I should have won that race. The track became hard really quickly during the course of the day; I guess that is the nature of the ground."

On the Sunday, Febvre immediately slotted into fourth in the long run to turn two in the first moto; the front-four were so fast that they had dropped the remainder of the field by more than twenty seconds by half-distance but such was the pace that none could make a pass until four laps from the end when the rider in third finally succumbed to the pressure from Febvre.

"I'm feeling good at moment and we are building every weekend. The track was a little different each day; yesterday the dirt was deeper but it packed hard today so it was good for the race. The starts are coming nowso I can run at the front with the other guys from the word go; there were some options for different lines today but it was still difficult to pass because we had similar speed. I still didn't take a moto on race day yet but I'm trying to stay consistent, I'm feeling strong phyiscally, I'm getting closer to the win every week and I'm excited for the next races as I really like both Loket and Lommel."

The Kawasaki rider then closed down second but ran out of time to mount an attack and had to be satisfied with third at the finish. The second moto was even more tense as Febvre again gated fourth but was third within half a lap and engaged in a titanic chase as the leading trio matched each other's tempo.

At twenty minutes he started to apply the pressure and reaped the reward as the rider ahead was forced into a mistake. Continuing to lap faster than his rivals he was in the wheeltracks of the leader through the closing stages and went into the final lap less than a second back but there was no way through and he had to be satisfied with second in moto and overall.

With the points-leader experiencing a difficult GP and the Frenchman claiming fifty-one points over the weekend he has nearly halved the gap to the red plate heading into the final seven rounds of the series.