Yahoo Autos Febvre hunting fourth-straight MXGP win in Flanders
Shortly after the running of the MXGP of Lombok at the Selaparang Circuit, Antti Pyrhonen, team manager of the Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP program, was reflecting on the back-to-back Grands Prix team rider Romain Febvre won while competing in Indonesia.
“I believe the two wins in Indonesia will allow Romain to win more often,” said Pyrhonen on the eve of the MXGP of the Czech Republic. “The competition is very strong, and you need a perfect start and a perfect race to bring it home, but he is in rally good shape, and he is confident with the bike. I can’t see why he can’t win this weekend or in Lommel.”
The 2015 MXGP world champion did in fact win his third consecutive MXGP Grand Prix of the 2023 season. In good spirits and now looking to this weekend’s MXGP of Flanders at the famed Lommel sand circuit, Febvre spoke about the task at hand.
“I’ve been doing good lately,” said Febvre. “The championship is not done. It is going to the end. Jorge Prado has some lead now. I missed one race and that was in Spain, and he did good at that race. Jeffrey Herlings also took 50 points from that race. For sure it is going to be tough to fight for the title if nothing happens to Jorge, like if he has a mechanical failure or something like that.”
Currently second in MXGP points, Febvre is keenly aware that he and his Kawasaki KX450-SR will need to go on a charge to reel in the 114-point lead GASGAS racer Jorge Prado currently enjoys.
“Yes, I am the hunter and I’m chasing down Prado,” said Febvre. “It’s fine and I’m winning GPs, but every time I make headway, I’m not taking points away from Jorge so much because now we have the qualifying races, which are with points, and he’s tough to beat like that because he always takes a good start. The qualifying races are only 20 minutes of racing, so he has always been able to take a few points from those races. Maybe I’ll do well on Sunday and be gaining points, but at the end and due to the qualifying races, I’m not gaining points, you know? It has been a bit difficult, but I believe it’s his strategy to do this. Yes, I will try my best to catch him, and we will see.
“I didn’t win three GPs in a row since 2015. That has been good for the confidence. It has also been great for the team, because the last time we won with Kawasaki was in 2021, so it is good to be back on top. And yeah, we’ve won three times in a row now. Now we are going to Lommel this weekend, which is a track that I like and I won there in 2021. I would like to win there on Sunday. It’s a track everyone in Europe knows it. It’s a little bit like Glen Helen in California, where a lot of the American guys ride. I really want to do good there. Now I am good in the sand, so hopefully I can win again this weekend”
Following this weekend’s MXGP of Flanders, Febvre and the globetrotting GP contingent will move off to Grands Prix in Finland, Sweden and The Netherlands. The summer swing for the world’s best motocross pilots, Febvre is committed to moto wins and Grand Prix overall victories.
“Yeah, yeah, honestly, that’s my goal,” he said. “My goal is to win as much as possible with both motos and GPs. That’s the only way that I can gain points on Prado. All of the tracks coming up now, I really like them. At the moment I don’t see a big problem where I can have a struggle on the track with. I’m looking for the win.”
