Gajser starts 2017 season on the podium in Qatar

Both Gajser and Bobryshev had a solid first race of the season taking second and seventh in the world championship standings to maintain Team HRC’s 100 per cent podium record at the Qatari venue since 2014.

Gajser, who has been fighting off an illness all weekend, found he had a battle on his hands in the first race as he fought for the podium between teammate Evgeny Bobryshev and Clement Desalle. It was the second race where he looked more comfortable and was able to take an early lead within the first few corners, pulling a gap between himself and Cairoli. In the last lap of the race Gajser’s energy waned and he sensibly surrendered his first-place finish to Cairoli. With a full season ahead, this is a positive start to the reigning world champions season despite the challenges he faced.

Bobryshev started well in the first race and quickly got himself into second place and was running strongly, looking comfortable in the lead group. A couple of mistakes in the last few laps of the race cost the Russian a podium finish as he settled into fourth place. In the second race Bobryshev didn’t have the same jump out of the start meaning he had his work cut out to get back through the pack from eleventh. With the track becoming harder to ride and the lines limited, Bobreyshev had to settle for a seventh-place finish but took fourth overall in the GP, to lie fourth in the World Championship standings.

In MX2 Michele Cervellin charged through a highly competitive class to take his first finish with HRC MX2 inside the top 5.

Cervellin missed the start on the first race meaning leaving him back in 17^th position. Then within the first 15 minutes he had battled his way into the top 10 in a spectacular ride. When others were flagging, Cervellin dug deep and by the last lap he was still pushing and was the fastest rider on track. In the second race Cervellin had a much stronger start and was fifth within the first few corners, he raced consistently and showed that he has the capability of reaching his goal this season of finishing top five by the end of the season.

 Despite feeling good on the bike, Notsuka didn’t have the weekend he had hoped for in his first GP season debut in Qatar. The young Japanese faced challenges such as being closed off at the gate and then following this he crashed early on costing him a competitive position in the race. Despite this, Notsuka picked himself up and finished the race which is important for him to do in his learning year in the MX2 world championship class.

Tim Gajser:
"Yeah I am actually really happy overall with the weekend. It didn’t start the best as I have been really sick all weekend but I was able to achieve two good races despite this. The first race I didn’t have the best start and I had to battle with Bobryshev and Desalle all race. It was tough to pass because there was only actually one fast line and the other lines were not the same speed. In the second race, I had a better start, I was leading and I pulled a gap between myself and Cairoli. Then, in the last two laps I was destroyed and I couldn’t give anymore but I am happy to start the season with second overall this weekend."

Michele Cervellin:
"I am really happy about my first GP in Qatar finishing fifth overall. The team and I worked well together and the bike was perfect. I think I may have been a bit nervous yesterday as it was my first GP with HRC and was a lot to take in but today it all felt good. I found a faster line in the first race for passing other riders and using this line helped me get up to sixth. I liked the track and I felt good on it. I look forward to trying to improve this in Indonesia next week."