Monster Energy Yamaha Factory Racing’s Maxime Renaux and Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Tom Vialle will go to the line first tomorrow as they claimed victories in the MXGP and MX2 qualifying heats, with Renaux claiming his second qualifying win in MXGP and Vialle his first of 2022.
In MXGP qualifying race, Monster Energy Yamaha Factory Racing’s Maxime Renaux was flying out of the gate as he led Team HRC’s Tim Gajser, Gebben Van Venrooy Yamaha Racing’s Calvin Vlaanderen, Monster Energy Yamaha Factory Racing’s Jeremy Seewer and Honda 114 Motorsports’ Ruben Fernandez.
As riders fought for positions on the opening lap, Vlaanderen dropped down to sixth, while Gajser began to apply the pressure onto Renaux, with Seewer keeping a close eye on the pair ahead.
Standing Construct Husqvarna Factory Racing’s Pauls Jonass made a couple of nice passes to get himself into fifth, as Monster Energy Yamaha Factory Racing’s Glenn Coldenhoff took sixth from Vlaanderen.
Gajser then set the fastest lap of the race in the early stages as he was searching for every opportunity to get around Renaux while for a moment it looked like Seewer was losing touch on the pair.
On lap five Standing Construct Husqvarna Factory Racing’s Brian Bogers crashed out of ninth ahead of Alberto Forato of SM Action Racing Team YUASA Battery, as wildcard rider Christophe Charlier of Riley Racing moved up to tenth with Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP’s Ben Watson just behind him. Charlier held on to the position until the end of the heat, as Watson dropped back to 13th.
In the closing stages, Vlaanderen began to close the gap back down to Coldenhoff as he searched for a way to take back the position he lost earlier, all while Gajser started to look impatient as he struggled to find a way past the Frenchman ahead of him.
Renaux did a great job to not crack under pressure as he secured his second qualifying win of the season in MXGP, ahead of Gajser, Seewer, Fernandez and Jonass.
“It was a great qualifying; it was good to get another holeshot in qualifying, but I want to get those holeshots in the races.” said Renaux. “It was a nice race, I had a lot of pressure from Tim throughout the whole race and I felt that he was pushing. It’s a good warm-up for tomorrow, I felt good on the track and let’s try to make two good starts in the races tomorrow, that would be nice”.
