The temperatures climbed to the high thirties in the Tuscan hills above the city of Montevarchi as the Crossdromo Miravalle venue presented an old-school, hardpack circuit that challenged riders’ throttle control and skills of finding traction, making the Qualifying Races for the MXGP of Italy a tense and therefore thrilling spectacle!

A combination of poor starts and first corner crashes hindered the progress of leading title contenders in both classes, and we saw some unusual names at the front of the field, which led to some great racing as the fastest men fought to recover and score the most points possible!

In MXGP, Tim Gajser took his first Qualifying Race win for over a year, and the first one with his new Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP team! Incredibly, he led a Slovenian 1-2 as TEM JP253 KTM Racing privateer Jan Pancar claimed a career best second place, ahead of former MX2 World Champion Andrea Adamo, who was third for Red Bull KTM Factory Racing!

The MX2 class was dominated by Mathis Valin, as the second-year French teenager took his third career Qualifying Race win for Kawasaki Racing Team MX2. After fighting through from first lap adversity, Triumph Racing Factory Team duo Guillem Farres and Camden McLellan took second and third, a result which put the Spaniard up to second in the Championship heading into tomorrow’s Grand Prix races!

Sunday should see the fightback from some of the top Championship contenders, but it won’t be easy against those who have already found their pace on the slick surface of Montevarchi!

In Free Practice, it was a Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP 1-2 as five-time World Champion Tim Gajser led his French teammate Maxime Renaux, with Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP’s Romain Febvre in third.

In an action-packed Time Practice session, Febvre came in with a great late charge to grab the first gate pick for the Qualifying Race, as the Honda HRC Petronas machine of Jeffrey Herlings came up to second place ahead of Gajser, Renaux, and surprise package Jan Pancar! There was a little concern for the Championship leader, as Lucas Coenen was down in 13th for Red Bull KTM Factory Racing. 

At the start of the Qualifying Race itself, it was Tom Vialle, returning from injury with Honda HRC Petronas, that looked to have got the lead, but the Frenchman ran wide and allowed Pancar to sneak into the lead from an unshakeable inside line! He was followed by Fantic Factory Racing MXGP’s Alberto Forato, sending his home crowd into raptures! Vialle was able to recover for third, but it wasn’t long before Gajser was able to dive into that position with an aggressive move in front of Pit Lane! 

The Slovenian then made short work of Forato to take second, and Adamo also moved forward past his countryman into third place! Behind them, Renaux had forced past Vialle, while Calvin Vlaanderen gave chase for the Red Bull Ducati Factory MXGP Team.

You may have noticed that we still haven’t mentioned any of the series top three! Coenen, Febvre, and Herlings finished the first lap together from 11th to 13th, and on the busy, slick surface weren’t even able to advance from there for at least another lap!

Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing’s MXGP rookie Kay de Wolf and Honda HRC Petronas’ Ruben Fernandez had been involved in a big incident in Time Practice, as the Spaniard crashed heavily, and the Dutchman then hit his fallen machine. Both tried to race and started in the top ten, but would both succumb to the pain from their injuries and are doubtful for tomorrow’s races.

It took until lap four for Gajser to get past Pancar, which he did with a slick inside move at the top of the circuit above the grandstands, but Adamo was not able to catch the two Slovenians out in front! Meanwhile, Forato was holding station in fourth, and came under relentless assault from Renaux! As Coenen, Febvre, and Herlings all moved forward, they were able to get past Vialle, and benefit from a small crash for Vlaanderen, putting them in sixth to eighth positions by the end of lap nine. In a five-rider freight train, they stayed that way for a further two laps before Renaux finally put an inside move on Forato to take fourth!

Then it was Coenen’s turn to make his attempt, but as he was pinched to the inside of a downhill right hander, the opportunistic Febvre blasted round the outside of the Belgian to take sixth! The Champ followed this up with a clever outside-to-inside move past Forato on the penultimate lap, then the Italian finally gave way, dropping to eighth at the flag. It was still the Fantic rider’s equal-best of the year so far, and he finished ahead of Vialle and the second Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP bike of Pauls Jonass in tenth.

Febvre caught up to Renaux but could not pass his countryman, as they finished fourth and fifth, then came Coenen in sixth, making another one-point gain over Herlings in the Championship standings.

After a tough few GPs, Gajser coasted to a popular win, and Pancar didn’t look like getting caught for second spot, bettering his previous career high of fourth from Germany last year. Adamo’s third place equalled his best in the class so far, matching his scores from Argentina and Trentino, and it moved him up in the Championship past the unfortunate Fernandez for seventh. Renaux is now within striking distance of De Wolf, just five points behind the Husqvarna man in fifth.

Will the Coenen versus Herlings battle for supremacy from previous rounds be back in play tomorrow, or will we see this unusual circuit deliver more shocks and surprises on Grand Prix Sunday?!

Tim Gajser: "I'm so happy. The first qualifying win with Yamaha is special, and to do it here in Italy. I was feeling good all day long. The track was not the easiest, so the start was really important. I got a solid start from the inside and then made a pass quite quickly at the beginning. Jan was riding really good, but once I made the pass I pushed for a couple of laps to make the gap, and that's what I did, then just controlled the race. Tomorrow is going to be a hot one, but I'm really looking forward to it."

Jan Pancar: "You could nearly say it was a Slovenian national championship out there. But yeah, I'm really happy to be in front. I got the holeshot. I was always saying I needed that start to be up front, and today I got it. The riding was good."

Andrea Adamo: "First of all, congrats to Jan, who's a privateer, txo finish P2 so close to the Tim. That's amazing, so congrats to him. My race didn't have the best start. I had a good jump, but in the first corner I didn't make the right choices and had to fight my way back from P6 to P3. After that I had a solid race. Looking forward to tomorrow."

MXGP - Qualifying Race Classification: 1. Tim Gajser (SLO, Yamaha), 25:07.852; 2. Jan Pancar (SLO, KTM), +0:04.855; 3. Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), +0:07.065; 4. Maxime Renaux (FRA, Yamaha), +0:10.800; 5. Romain Febvre (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:11.947; 6. Lucas Coenen (BEL, KTM), +0:14.911; 7. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, Honda), +0:17.335; 8. Alberto Forato (ITA, Fantic), +0:18.302; 9. Tom Vialle (FRA, Honda), +0:18.623; 10. Pauls Jonass (LAT, Kawasaki), +0:23.083;

MXGP - World Championship Classification: 1. Lucas Coenen (BEL, KTM), 409 points; 2. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, HON), 346 p.; 3. Romain Febvre (FRA, KAW), 316 p.; 4. Tim Gajser (SLO, YAM), 304 p.; 5. Kay de Wolf (NED, HUS), 273 p.; 6. Maxime Renaux (FRA, YAM), 268 p.; 7. Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), 249 p.; 8. Ruben Fernandez (ESP, HON), 247 p.; 9. Tom Vialle (FRA, HON), 221 p.; 10. Pauls Jonass (LAT, KAW), 176 p.

Guillem Farres topped Free Practice in the morning, by over half a second from Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Championship leader Sacha Coenen, while very local ace Ferruccio Zanchi looked good in third for Beddini Racing Ducati Factory MX2 Team. Sadly, the rider from nearby Florence had a painful crash in Time Practice that hampered his efforts for the rest of the day, made worse by a technical problem on the start line that prevented him from even competing in the Qualifying Race.

Coenen restored normal order to grab first gate pick from Time Practice, although a late charge from Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing ‘s Liam Everts got close, making it a Belgian 1-2 in front of Farres, the Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MX2 rookie Janis Reisulis, and Camden McLellan in fifth.

Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s reigning World Champion, Simon Längenfelder, looked to have started well, but slid to the ground in turn one, starting a chain reaction that claimed Coenen, Farres, Everts, and Janis Reisulis, to put many leading contenders on the floor immediately!

Briefly in the lead was a 16-year-old Italian, EMX125 graduate Andrea Uccellini, a surprise stand-in rider for TM Moto CRD Motosport, doing their beautiful special home livery proud! From his 11th gate pick, however, Mathis Valin tucked into the lead through turn two, and proceeded to march away from the competition. Behind Uccellini, Jens Walvoort of the SB Racing KTM Team led Hungarian Noel Zanocz from Venrooy KTM Racing, and another surprise early runner was Italian Morgan Bennati on the Fly Over Competition Triumph!

Sacha Coenen’s recovery was quite brilliant, fighting through to tenth at the end of the first full lap, and Farres was not far behind in 12th, while Everts and Längenfelder languished in 22nd and 27th positions respectively!

Uccellini was swiftly shuffled back, and was no doubt still delighted with his 14th position at the flag. Walvoort and Zanocz stayed in second or third until a rampant Farres, who had pulled a brilliant move on Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MX2 man Karlis Reisulis, among others, fought past them both in a glorious seventh lap for the Spaniard.

While Farres had passed teammate McLellan on the way through, the South African also made rapid progress to claim third at the flag, while Coenen’s progress was stunted by a rear end slide-out in front of Pit Lane. He still picked it up very quickly and was able to recover to fourth place, passing Zanocz and Walvoort with three laps to go, in a fashion that disrupted the Dutchman enough for him to also lose a place to the Hungarian, who was elated with fifth, his first ever points on a Saturday to improve his career best by a considerable margin!

Walvoort was denied the chance to match his career best Qualifying Race by a last lap pass from Janis Reisulis for sixth, while Karlis took eighth ahead of Everts, and the DRT Kawasaki of Kay Karssemakers. Längenfelder did pick up the pace but couldn’t get into the points, winding up 11th.

Valin held perfect form to hardly lose any time to the chasing Farres until the closing laps, and as a result he moves past Everts into fifth in the standings. Ahead of them in the table, Farres moved past Längenfelder to rise to second in the points chase, backing up his claims that he is a genuine title threat! He is now 38 points behind red plate holder Coenen, and if those two get out of the gate well tomorrow it could give us a titanic tussle between them!

As always, MX2 is wide open and unpredictable for tomorrow’s races, and it’s gotta be said that MXGP feels like that as well after today’s results! It’s one you do not want to be missing, so tune in on Sunday for the MXGP of Italy from Montevarchi!

Mathis Valin: "Timed practice and free practice were horrible for me today. And just before going into the gate I had a problem, so it was tough. That's why I was a bit far back, but I managed a good start and took the holeshot, so I'm really proud of that. It was a good, consistent lap. I had to manage the race a bit because the heat is quite crazy and we need to save energy for tomorrow. See you tomorrow."

MX2 - Qualifying Race Classification: 1. Mathis Valin (FRA, Kawasaki), 25:09.572; 2. Guillem Farres (ESP, Triumph), +0:02.887; 3. Camden Mc Lellan (RSA, Triumph), +0:04.002; 4. Sacha Coenen (BEL, KTM), +0:16.035; 5. Noel Zanocz (HUN, KTM), +0:20.380; 6. Janis Martins Reisulis (LAT, Yamaha), +0:21.235; 7. Jens Walvoort (NED, KTM), +0:23.273; 8. Karlis Alberts Reisulis (LAT, Yamaha), +0:30.071; 9. Liam Everts (BEL, Husqvarna), +0:32.516; 10. Kay Karssemakers (NED, Kawasaki), +0:37.917

MX2 - World Championship Classification: 1. Sacha Coenen (BEL, KTM), 387 points; 2. Guillem Farres (ESP, TRI), 349 p.; 3. Simon Längenfelder (GER, KTM), 343 p.; 4. Camden Mc Lellan (RSA, TRI), 334 p.; 5. Mathis Valin (FRA, KAW), 318 p.; 6. Liam Everts (BEL, HUS), 316 p.; 7. Janis Martins Reisulis (LAT, YAM), 285 p.; 8. Karlis Alberts Reisulis (LAT, YAM), 226 p.; 9. Valerio Lata (ITA, HON), 216 p.; 10. Kay Karssemakers (NED, KAW), 162 p.