Team HRC riders Gautier Paulin and Evgeny Bobryshev expect improved results as the FIM Motocross World Championship heads to South America.
Team HRC’s Gautier Paulin and Evgeny Bobryshev arrive in South America this weekend to do battle on a new Patagonia Race Track in Nuequen, Argentina, for round three of the FIM Motocross World Championship, and both men are expecting to move closer to the top of the series standings.
Paulin of France, who is currently sixth in the MXGP standings, is hoping that changes made to his tire program will help him in particular, as he will be using the same Dunlop tire combination that he used during his dominant performance in the 2014 Motocross of Nations. He will be looking to rebound from a disappointing round two in Thailand where unfortunate incidents kept him outside the top three. Paulin already has a podium finish for Team HRC, which he earned at the season opener in Qatar.
“I’ve just seen a few photos and video of the track, but it’s always different when you see it for real so we’ll just see how it’s going to be when we walk it on Friday,” Paulin said. “The start line looks pretty big, and we don’t know exactly how the ground is going to be, but it’s different to what we’ve seen at the first two rounds so hopefully it will be an awesome track.”
Bobryshev is also looking forward to round three. The Russian rider has been training hard and will be looking for improvement as he gets back into the flow of racing after missing the second half of last season due to an injury.
“For sure I’ve looked at the video and photos of the track ,and it looks really nice and really enjoyable to ride,” Bobryshev said. “There are fast sections and some big jumps. It’s a sand surface, we can see that, but we don’t know the exact surface and how it’ll be in the race, but I hope to really enjoy the weekend. I’ve been training hard since Thailand and I feel like I’m just starting to come back. I need the time at racing to continue to come back fully in my speed in confidence. Until I come back to the level I know I can be, I’m just aiming to keep working hard and keep the consistency of results.”
The Patagonia Race Track at Neuquen is located near the Argentina-Chile border. Surrounded by lakes, mountains and forest, the picturesque track features volcanic and sandy soil, creating a soft surface that isn’t too deep. In contrast to the humid heat of Thailand, the Patagonian conditions should be slightly cooler and less humid, although temperatures are still expected to be in the high 20s Celsius.
MXGP track action starts with Free Practice on Saturday at 11:15 a.m. local time with Sunday’s MXGP races beginning at 1:15 and 4:10 p.m. local time.
FIM Motocross World Championship MXGP Point Standings (After 2 of 18 rounds)
1. Clement Desalle-88
2. Antonio Cairoli-79
3. Max Nagl-78/1 win
4. Ryan Villopoto-70/1 win
5. Roman Febvre-67
6. Gautier Paulin-67
7. Kevin Strijbos-55
8. Evgeny Bobryshev-45
9. Todd Waters-40
10. Shaun Simpson-38
FIM Motocross World Championship MX2 Point Standings (After 2 of 18 rounds)
1. Jeffrey Herlings-100/2 wins
2. Dylan Ferrandis-78
3. Pauls Jonass-70
4. Julien Lieber-62
5. Valentin Guillod-58
6. Alexandr Tonkov-56
7. Thomas Covington-53
8. Tim Gasjer-52
9. Petar Petrov-41
10. Jeremy Seewer-38
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