MXGP Heads to France For The MXGP of Europe at St. Jean D’angely

por admin · 20 marzo 2025

The FIM Motocross World Championship swings into its third round at the classic French venue of the Circuit du Pay de Poursay at Saint Jean D’Angely, a circuit with genuine elevation change and spectacular sections, nearly all of it visible from the spectator banks that should be full of passionate French fans eager for some early season MXGP action!

Over 50 circuits in France have hosted Grand Prix Motocross in some form throughout its history, and St Jean has hosted more than any other in the country, with 18 events and two Motocross of Nations, in 2000 and 2011. Its first World Championship event in 1984 was won by the Austrian Heinz Kinigadner, although many local fans remember the day for French legend Jacky Vimond winning the opening race, the first of what would be a distinguished and celebrated career.

In 2024 the venue hosted the Monster Energy MXGP of France, with changeable conditions proving challenging in both classes, which were won by Lucas Coenen and Tim Gajser, although home hero Romain Febvre celebrated on the MXGP podium before learning that a penalty to another rider had altered the overall result. For sure the determined Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP rider will be eager to make amends for his adoring fans!

The MXGP class saw a dominant French 1-2 at the opening round in Argentina, with Maxime Renaux taking the win for Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP ahead of Febvre, but at last weekend’s MXGP of Castilla La Mancha it was Gajser who had a perfect weekend for Honda HRC. He now holds the red plate and a 20-point advantage over Febvre, with Renaux just a further point behind after a troubled Grand Prix! For sure the two-pronged French attack will have full vocal support at St Jean!

In MX2, it’s Kay de Wolf who holds the red #1 plate for Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing, with a six-point lead over his teammate and Cozar winner Liam Everts. The French crowd will be cheering for last week’s Qualifying Race winner Thibault Benistant, who was injured at this circuit in practice last year and will be looking for better memories as he tries to climb from sixth in the series for Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MX2. Reigning EMX250 Champion Mathis Valin will also hope to be fit after hurting his wrist in Spain, but he will try to line up for Kawasaki Racing Team MX2 for his first GP on home soil.

The only Frenchman with a red plate at St Jean will be EMX250 European Championship leader Adrien Petit, and the 250cc two-stroke Yamaha rider will get a lot of the public behind him after his surprise win in the mud last weekend Some pre-season favourites will be looking for redemption after a torrid time at Cozar, although last year’s EMX125 Champion Noel Zanocz, who won a race here last year, is second for JM Honda Racing and just three points back, with Mads Fredsoe another three behind for Cat Moto Bauerschmidt Husqvarna. Paolo Maschio and Alexis Fueri will also be keen for better results than last week in front of their home fans.

The EMX125 Championship Presented by FMF series also has its second round this weekend, and is currently led by Jarne Bervoets of the Yamaha Europe EMX125 squad, with Niccolo Mannini second for TM Moto CRD Motosport, just six points behind. The leading French kid is reigning EMX85 Champion Sleny Goyer, who finished 17th in the mud of Cozar, although Mano Faure is another Yamaha rider looking to perform on native ground, as he did with a podium here last year!

The MXGP of Europe should deliver an incredible day’s racing on the west coast of France!

After a full season of zero GP victories for the French nation, their eager fans would have been mightily relieved to see a French 1-2 at the YPF Infinia MXGP of Argentina, and although Maxime Renaux has lost the red plate due to a crash-affected MXGP of Castilla La Mancha, he has certainly shown himself capable of running at the front once more, although his form at St Jean d’Angely has not been stellar, with a best of fifth overall in 2022. He missed this track last year through injury.

Romain Febvre’s record here is definitely superior, with overall victory in 2016 and two podium finishes in 2022 & 2024, last year’s result remarkable after picking up a thumb injury in Free Practice that would eventually finish his title hopes. Redemption will certainly be on the Kawasaki man’s mind.

Tim Gajser, however, has won the last three GPs here, in 2019, ’22, and ’24, and has never finished off the MXGP podium, with a total of five race wins to boot. Only Jeffrey Herlings, sadly still out injured for Red Bull KTM Factory Racing, has won more here. Tim’s 50th Grand Prix win at Cozar last weekend also gave him a twenty-point advantage, and the Slovenian is not the sort of character to let that slip easily.

Glenn Coldenhoff earned Fantic Factory Racing’s best GP result last weekend with 2nd overall, but St Jean has never been the kindest to him, with a best of sixth overall here – three times! Behind him, fifth in the points, is Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s rookie Lucas Coenen, who looked fast in Spain before crashes ruined his weekend, but he has a great history at this track, with a double victory in MX2 last year, as well as a double victory in EMX250 back in 2022. So he has only ever tasted victory around the slopes of St Jean! Will his streak be broken, or could the teenage Belgian truly kickstart his campaign this weekend?!

Another rider with happy memories of this weekend’s circuit is Aruba.it Ducati Factory MX Team rider Mattia Guadagnini, with an EMX125 victory in 2018, and another podium in 2019. He will be hoping to bounce back from a disastrous Cozar, which dropped him from fourth to tenth in the standings.

Aside from Renaux and Febvre, there are three other French riders on the entry list, including Tom Guyon, who could make history as the first Triumph rider to compete in MXGP. He also recorded a 1-1 in EMX125 at this circuit, back in 2019.

Last season’s MXGP races here were full of twists and turns, and there’s no reason to think that 2025 will be any different!

MXGP – World Championship Top 10 Classification: 1. Tim Gajser (SLO, HON), 108 Points; 2. Romain Febvre (FRA, KAW), 88 Points; 3. Maxime Renaux (FRA, YAM), 87 Points; 4. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, FAN), 79 Pts; 5. Lucas Coenen (BEL, KTM), 57 Points; 6. Andrea Bonacorsi (ITA, FAN), 56 Points; 7. Kevin Horgmo (NOR, HON), 55 Pts; 8. Ruben Fernandez (ESP, HON), 53 Pts; 9. Pauls Jonass (LAT, KAW), 53 Pts; 10. Mattia Guadagnini (ITA, DUC), 52 Pts;.

The MX2 World Championship, like it did for much of last season, has been far more wild than the results might suggest. Many would have picked defending World Champion Kay de Wolf to be leading the series, but he has not had it all his own way at all, with a 1-5 card being enough for the overall win in Argentina, and consistency in Spain paying its dividends to give him a six-point lead over his Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing teammate, Liam Everts.

Everts is becoming known as the master of the mud after his win in Cozar, and the weather forecast is not completely clear for this weekend, so will he be doing his best rain dance to help his fortunes? With little pre-season bike time due to his 2024 injuries, it’s uncertain if dry conditions would be as favourable, but the tough Belgian has got his teeth into this season now and will not give up without a fight! Neither Nestaan rider has won here before, although Kay was second to Lucas Coenen last season.

Simon Laengenfelder sits third in the Championship, where he has finished at the end of each of the last three years. It seems strange that the German has never climbed the podium at St Jean d’Angely, but fourth in 2024 is the best he has done here. His Red Bull KTM Factory Racing teammates, Sacha Coenen and Andrea Adamo, are tied on 71 points for fourth in the series, after both holding the red plate following the Saturday races this season! The Italian 2023 World Champion stood on the podium here last year, and is happier with the bike in 2025, so could be one to watch!

Thibault Benistant will truly be the one to watch for the French fans, with an excellent record around this circuit prior to his unfortunate practice crash here, that ended his title hopes for 2024. The Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MX2 rider took a race win and third overall here in 2022, and EMX podium finishes in both 2019 and 2018. Winner of Saturday’s Qualifying race in Cozar, he is the highest placed Japanese bike rider in the MX2 class, 34 points down in sixth, and keen to not drop any further back.

For the Honda HRC team, Ferruccio Zanchi took his first career race win and overall podium at Cozar, the first podium for Honda since Stephen Rubini in 2022, and the first race win since Calvin Vlaanderen won in Sweden in 2019! Capitalising on a Fox Holeshot and holding on in the mud for his race win last weekend, it will be interesting to see how this result boosts the young Italian’s confidence, after shooting him up to eighth in the standings.

French passport holder, albeit originally from Réunion island in the Indian ocean, Quentin Marc Prugnières holds down tenth in the series for WZ Racing KTM, and stood on the EMX250 podium here behind Lucas Coenen in 2022. Last year’s EMX250 winner at St Jean, Mathis Valin, is hoping to be fit to perform at GP level in front of his home fans for the first time, and his 18th in the series is not a reflection of his speed for Kawasaki Racing Team MX2!

The MXGP of Europe should see an incredible atmosphere in front of a passionate crowd in south-western France! Raise a glass of finest Bordeaux vintage to an amazing weekend of racing at St Jean d’Angely!

MX2 – World Championship Top 10 Classification: 1. Kay de Wolf (NED, HUS), 97 Points; 2. Liam Everts (BEL, HUS), 91 Pts; 3. Simon Laengenfelder (GER, KTM), 78 Points; 4. Sacha Coenen (BEL, KTM), 71 Pts; 5. Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), 71 Pts; 6. Thibault Benistant (FRA, YAM), 63 Pts; 7. Cas Valk (NED, KTM), 61 Pts; 8. Ferruccio Zanchi (ITA, HON), 53 Pts; 9. Guillem Farres (ESP, TRI), 46 Pts; 10. Quentin Marc Prugnières (FRA, KTM), 43 Pts.

TIMETABLE

SATURDAY:

07:35 EMX125 Group 1 Free Practice, 08:00 EMX125 Group 2 Free Practice, 08:25 EMX250 Group 1 Free Practice, 08:50 EMX250 Group 2 Free Practice, 09:15 EMX125 Group 1 Qualifying Practice, 09:50 EMX125 Group 2 Qualifying Practice, 10:25 MX2 Free Practice, 10:55 MXGP Free Practice, 11:55 EMX250 Group 1 Qualifying Practice, 12:35 EMX250 Group 2 Qualifying Practice, 13:15 MX2 Time Practice, 13:50 MXGP Time Practice, 14:35 EMX125 Race 1, 15:25 EMX250 Race 1, 16:20 MX2 Qualifying Race, 17:10 MXGP Qualifying Race.

SUNDAY:
08:45 EMX125 Race 2, 09:25 MX2 Warm-up, 09:45 MXGP Warm-up, 10:30 EMX250 Race 2, 12:15 MX2 Race 1, 13:15 MXGP Race 1, 15:10 MX2 Race 2, 16:10 MXGP Race 2.

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