2014 MX2 World Champion Jordi Tixier is slowly feeling his way into his rookie season in MXGP with the works Monster Energy Kawasaki.
He commented at the weekend on the main differences to competing in the premier class. “I think it is just the speed,” the 23-year-old said. “Everybody is so fast and it is just ‘wide-open’ from the beginning until the end. You cannot be just in third or fourth or sixth or seventh [position] by yourself and riding alone. There is always someone fighting and pushing to the limit.”
Tixier has completed three Grands Prix since returning from a second operation on his right wrist: “I feel like I am getting fitter every race because eight months out is pretty tough.”
St Jean d’Angely last weekend saw the #911 touching the fringes of the top seven, especially in a busy second moto where Tixier circulated with the likes of Searle, Nagl and Cairoli. The Frenchman is still working on what he can bring to the race personally but knows his development with the brand new KX450F is also in progress. “There is still a lot of work to do because we couldn’t ride in the winter and I couldn’t test,” he explains. “We have a really good team and everybody is working in the same way. After Spain we tested for two days and I already feel the difference.”
