Team HRC's Tim Gajser ends 2020 with another Grand Prix win

Team HRC’s Tim Gajser once again delivered yet another Grand Prix overall win - repaying his team of dedicated professional crew as the 2020 season closed its doors for the final time.

Although ‘Tiga’ led race one in the early stages, he dropped one position on lap four and brought his CRF450RW home in second place - good enough to regroup and try for the win in race two.

Tim pushed hard on lap two of the second moto and took and early lead, setting lap times that his rivals could not match, eventually winning the race by almost 16 seconds to take the overall GP victory and another trophy for Team HRC, ending a challenging season of race calendar uncertainly and restrictive working conditions, which everyone worked hard to overcome.

The MX2 class once again saw a block of Honda CRF250Rs finish the day neck-and-neck in the overall points.

In race one Team Honda Assomotor’s Stephen Rubini finished the race in a very credible fifth place, ahead of Honda 114 Motorsport’s stand-in rider Morgan Lesiardo and Stephen’s teammate Alvin Östlund in 12th.

Rubini struggled to match his race one start hitting turn one in the mid-pack and dropping from 16th to 22nd on lap four. The likeable Frenchman managed to climb his way up to 17th at the chequered flag, but this was a disappointing end to the day as he was hoping for top five or a podium finish to his season end.

Team Honda Assomotor’s Alvin Östlund had a better end to the day with an eighth place finish - climbing his way up from 12th on lap one. Ninth and tenth place in race two went to Honda 114 Motorsport’s riders Bailey Malkiewicz and stand-in rider Morgan Lesiardo - the Italian finding quick form on the competitive CRF250R.

Quotes

Tim Gajser

As I’ve said many times, I was super happy to win my fourth world title on Wednesday. 

Today, my goal was just to go out there and have fun and we did that, winning the last overall of the year and it couldn’t have gone better. I want to say a huge thank you to all my team who have worked so hard and put in so much effort. 

In March, we did two GPs in Matterley and Valkenswaard and they went well, but then we had a long break and when we returned, I wasn’t feeling good, I was struggling. Now, the second half of the season I found good speed, I was consistent, and I was able to win the title.

In the first moto today, we were running the same pace but I was losing a lot of time in the third sector and I didn’t know where so he passed me and I followed him for a couple of laps before mounting an attack. 

Unfortunately, the pass didn’t happen so I finished second. In race two, I got a good start and I was in front early on, and again we were riding the same pace but the gap was three or four seconds so he couldn’t follow me so easily. Then I think he made a mistake and I had a big gap so I was able to win the race, get the overall and finish off the season in perfect fashion!

Morgan Lesiardo

In the first moto I got a good start in ninth on lap one. I felt a little bit stiff after crashing in qualifying but found a good flow and came back to 11th and I was happy with my riding and the CRF250R.

I made some small setup changes for the second moto. My start was OK but had another crash and finished the race in 10th, which gave me 9th overall and this is my first top-ten of the year, so I’m really happy and I think this a good result for me and the team.

Gordon Crockard

Today marks the close of the season and I think the performance of our guys pretty much sums this up correctly. Tim winning and our young riders demonstrating strong potential and development.

Rubini clinching fifth in race one of MX2 is super encouraging as we already look to next year. Paturel equally impressive with his eighth in MXGP having just returned from injury. These are well backed with Östlund, Lesiardo, Malkiewicz and Walsh - all nailing down successful moto results. Valentin Guillod also took his CRF450R to a very promising 10th in race one, matching his last-Wednesday’s race result.  

Some inconsistencies need attention but the ingredients necessary are in place, good speed, good bikes, good starts and the all important team work to make the dreams a reality is all present.

I think today was a fitting end to conclude the most unusual season we’ve just encountered. Thank you to all our great athletes, team members and valued partners, it’s been a great pleasure going racing with you. See you next year!