Nederlands
Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MX2 team’s Thibault Benistant continued his strong and consistent start to the 2024 FIM Motocross MX2 World Championship with sixth overall at round two in Spain. Riding tight following a heavy crash in practice on Saturday, Benistant went on to deliver improving results throughout the weekend, with his race one seventh followed up by a fifth in race two. Andrea Bonacorsi also impressed with 10th overall while Rick Elzinga placed 12th.
Benistant started upfront in both races, but struggled to find his rhythm and faded back to seventh in race one and fifth in race two.
Following two rounds of close racing action, the talented Frenchman has dropped to fifth in the MX2 World Championship standings. Improving upon his 14th overall at the season-opener in Argentina, Bonacorsi charged hard in Spain for 10th overall and has moved up to 11th in the series standings.
Continuing to race himself back into peak form following an off-season setback, Elzinga put valuable points on the board to secure 12th overall, and has ultimately moved into the MX2 Championship top-10.
The next round of the FIM MX2 World Championship will take place in Riola-Sardo, Sardinia onApril 6th and 7th.
Thibault Benistant: “It was another tough GP again. I had a big crash on Saturday morning in practice and I was quite lucky to be okay after that one, although I was quite sore today and that made things a little harder. Fifth in race two was good though considering, and my weekend was okay overall. Of course, the result can be better. We will keep working, and we’re already looking ahead to Sardinia.”
Andrea Bonacorsi: “My weekend was okay and so far, it’s been a good, consistent start to the season. I felt really comfortable on the bike here in Spain, and I improved each time I was out on track, so things are going in the right direction. We have Riola-Sardo next up on the calendar and I really like that track, so I’m looking forward to racing there.”
Rick Elzinga: “Throughout the weekend we were able to make some improvements, although the results don’t show it. It has been a tough, physical weekend and maybe I used too much energy yesterday. Today, though, in race one, I had a really good start and then dropped a few places. My start in race two wasn’t so good, around 12th, and then it was a tough race as I’m not quite feeling 100%. We made improvements on round one so we’ll keep working before the next one.”
Photocredits – Fullspectrum Media