We look at Max Nagl’s return to racing and consider who will be his 2016 IceOne team-mate…
Speaking with the official mxgp.com website the German admitted that he had to shelve plans for a swift comeback after surgery to fix a broken tibia with two screws when more complications with the bone were found. The second diagnosis meant a further three weeks away from his FC450 and ended his title aspirations after winning three Grands Prix and six red plates.
Nagl, who told Youthstream journalist Nikki Scott that he currently struggles to last a full moto distance and is not 100 per cent, is coming back to the premier class for this weekend’s Grand Prix of Lombardia at Mantova; a circuit where he scored third position overall the last time the FIM series visited the sandy venue in 2010.
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Who will be Max Nagl’s 2016 team-mate?
The IceOne squad will be content to be back at full strength for round 15 of 18 but there are still some talk of a third rider joining Nagl and Australian Todd Waters for 2016 with Nathan Watson allegedly out of the frame.
The Kimi Raikkonen-owned squad were allegedly keen on Rockstar Suzuki’s Kevin Strijbos before the Belgian reconfirmed his presence with the works Belgian crew several weeks ago. It is hard to see a reunion with Dean Ferris, a rider they worked with in the Australian’s debut GP term in 2012. Shaun Simpson could be a target and is firmly back in the factory reckoning with KTM in Mattighofen after his positive 2015 season, GP win at Lommel and fourth place in a recent wild-card AMA outing.
If IceOne do press ahead with a plan to field three racers in MXGP in 2016 then the remaining FC450 and the second RM-Z450 next to Strijbos will be the last official works spots to be filled.
