The Belgian immediately found good speed around the hillside track to post second fastest time in timed practice and followed this up by leading the qualifying race for three laps before finishing fourth, but his starts were not so good on race day and he found himself charging up the leaderboard in both races. In race one he quickly moved from eighth to sixth before a couple of small errors cost him two places later in the race. He rode strongly in race two to finish fourth after starting in eleventh position. Despite riding the early rounds of the series with injuries and missing two more the Belgian has now advanced to thirteenth in the series standings.
Teammate Jordi Tixier enjoyed his best GP since his return from injury and was classified ninth overall from tenth and eleventh places in the two motos. He started eleventh in the first moto, advancing one place to finish tenth, and followed this with a fine second race in which he battled for fifth place for several laps before the lack of race practice forced him to slacken his pace to finish eleventh.
Tommy Searle of Monster Energy DRT Kawasaki moved forward quickly from fourteenth to eleventh in race one before issues with as damaged brake line forced his retirement, and the Englishman was again well to the fore in race two as he advanced to fifth before making a couple of mistakes. Recovering into the top six after remounting eleventh, he again encountered issues with the rear brake in the closing laps but persevered to finish ninth. He is now eleventh in the series points standings.
Clement Desalle: “Saturday started pretty well. I surprised myself with the second position in the timed practice period and then I led the qualifying race for several laps. It was good mentally, but I had a bad line in one section and lost three positions there. Anyway fourth was a good gate for the GP races; in the first race my start was not so good but I came back sixth before two mistakes dropped me back to eighth; I wasn’t so happy with my riding and we changed some settings for the second race. My start was even worse than the first one and I was eleventh after one lap but I had some good lines and came back fourth which is not so bad; the rhythm is really high now in MXGP and if you are not in the top five at the start it’s tough to get on the podium.”
Jordi Tixier: “It was much better this weekend than in Spain, with some good starts and that’s helpful to get better results ! My second start was the best of the weekend, and it was great to race for several laps with Nagl, Clement and Guillod; I pushed really hard to stay with this group, but in the last part of the race I didn't have enough energy to keep this speed. I had such a long period without riding that I need some more time to recover, but the feeling is good and I know that in a few weeks I will be faster and stronger. I’m back in the top ten and that was a first goal, now I will take one day off to recover and then we’ll move in the Netherlands to train with the team.”
Tommy Searle: "Four laps into the first race the rear brake line was damaged and I couldn't stop at the bottom of a hill so I crashed. I thought it was a stone at first but when it happened again I realised what had happened. I tried to continue but it was just too dangerous to ride a track like this with no rear brake so I had to stop. I got a good start in the second race but I made a small mistake which dropped me from fifth to eleventh. I got back to sixth again before I had more problems with the rear brake again; there were only two laps to the finish this time so I carried on to finish ninth. I hope for better luck in my home GP two weeks from now."