Febvre celebrates seventh Grand Prix victory with dominance in Mexico

2015-09-14 15:01
MXGP World Champion Romain Febvre used his works Yamaha Factory Racing YZ450FM to plough through muddy conditions and score his seventh victory (and fourth double) at Leon for the Grand Prix of Mexico and the second-to-last round of the 2015 FIM Motocross World Championship. 32,000 spectators braved the largely wet and slippery circuit in the Parque Metropolitano as thunderstorms and heavy rain threatened a washout.

On a drier and warmer Saturday Febvre made good use of recent tests in the wake of his fantastic title success at Assen to blast to his third Pole Position of the season with a commanding performance across the fast hard-pack. Teammate Jeremy Van Horebeek was unlucky to suffer a fall on the first lap that meant he needed to charge through the diminished pack (the entry list hindered by injury) to eighth.

The terrain and playing field changed entirely after Saturday evening's weather reversal. First into the gate Febvre knew he had to ride a smart race even if it wasn't the quickest. The new No.1 unveiled a performance of both virtues. In second place on the first lap he chased Glenn Coldenhoff until the Dutchman made a mistake and crashed. Enjoying the challenge of the track he then pulled away from Shaun Simpson to win by more than forty-five seconds: it was his thirteenth moto chequered flag of the year. Van Horebeek didn't make the best getaway and endured to seventh position.

Sunshine did its best to dry the track for the second moto and the depth of the wet mud meant that the course carved into an attackable plethora of lines and ruts. Febvre again gated well and nestled into second place behind Gautier Paulin. On lap two he overtook his countryman and Motocross of Nations teammate to again pull away to triumph comfortably. The race saw a more effective Jeremy Van Horebeek with the Belgian part of a five-rider tussle for second place. The former championship runner-up started in third position and ended the moto in fourth for an improved feeling and fourth overall.

'461' is number one thanks to his unbreakable margin in the points. He has now accumulated 688 due to his twelve consecutive podium finishes and seven victories. Van Horebeek hovers in sixth with a sixteen point gap to Max Nagl in fifth.

DP19 Yamaha Racing's David Philippaerts was not present in Mexico as the Italian has undergone an operation on his right elbow. Yamaha will now move north and west across the continent to the United States and California where the revered Glen Helen circuit will host its third U.S. Grand Prix this century and bring the 2015 series to a close.



Romain Febvre
1st and 1st for 1st overall. Championship position: 1st
"I am so happy to win both motos here. I felt good all weekend on this track even if this morning it was really muddy. I enjoyed it. We had some time off after Assen and we did some tests and made some improvements on our starts so that's a really good point [from today]. We are already working for next year because the championship is already won. We can try different things and even if they are not working then it is not so bad; for sure this weekend it worked very well. The first race was muddy and it stuck to the bike a lot. The second moto was like how a track should be - many lines - and I enjoyed it."

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Jeremy Van Horebeek
7th and 4th for 4th overall. Championship position: 6th
"Much better second moto…but I am still struggling with the starts. I was lucky in the second moto because Simpson went straight-on around the first turn and I cut behind everybody. So my starts are still a weak point and everybody can see that when I get away with the leaders I can stay there. I lost a position to fourth but I had run out of tear-offs. Overall I'm not happy about the weekend. I don't know what to say. I know I can do it [product the results] and people can see it, but the package is not coming together at the moment. We'll keep going and the season is almost done. We'll have a break and then full-focus on 2016."



2015 MXGP Mexico
Leon 14/09/2015
race I
1 Romain Febvre Yamaha FRA 36'35.450
2 Shaun Simpson KTM GBR 0'45.231
3 Evgeny Bobryshev Honda RUS 1'14.599
4 Gautier Paulin Honda FRA 1'22.649
5 Glenn Coldenhoff Suzuki NLD 1'26.466
6 Dean Ferris Husqvarna AUS 2'06.200
7 Jeremy Van Horebeek Yamaha BEL 2'08.975
8 Maximilian Nagl Husqvarna DE 2'20.819
9 Jose Antonio Butron KTM ESP -1Laps
10 Tyla Rattray Kawasaki ZAF -1Laps
11 Todd Waters Husqvarna AUS -1Laps
12 Adam Sterry KTM GBR -1Laps
13 Kei Yamamoto Honda JPN -2Laps
14 Andres Benenaula Honda ECU -2Laps
15 Alexis Garza Kawasaki MEX -4Laps
16 Eduardo Andrade Yamaha MEX -6Laps
race II
1 Romain Febvre Yamaha FRA 35'32.826
2 Shaun Simpson KTM GBR 0'02.302
3 Evgeny Bobryshev Honda RUS 0'04.833
4 Jeremy Van Horebeek Yamaha BEL 0'06.685
5 Glenn Coldenhoff Suzuki NLD 0'08.990
6 Maximilian Nagl Husqvarna DE 0'11.136
7 Tyla Rattray Kawasaki ZAF 0'12.221
8 Jose Antonio Butron KTM ESP 0'13.728
9 Gautier Paulin Honda FRA 0'37.447
10 Dean Ferris Husqvarna AUS 0'39.006
11 Todd Waters Husqvarna AUS 0'40.693
12 Adam Sterry KTM GBR 0'49.953
13 Kei Yamamoto Honda JPN 1'39.806
14 Andres Benenaula Honda ECU -1Laps
15 Alexis Garza Kawasaki MEX -1Laps
17 Eduardo Andrade Yamaha MEX -3Laps

MXGP World Standing
Rider Standings After Race 17 of 19
1. Romain Febvre Yamaha FRA 688
2. Gautier Paulin Honda FRA 566
3. Evgeny Bobryshev Honda RUS 539
4. Shaun Simpson KTM GBR 481
5. Maximilian Nagl Husqvarna DE 442
6. Jeremy Van Horebeek Yamaha BEL 426
7. Antonio Cairoli KTM ITA 416
8. Glenn Coldenhoff Suzuki NLD 393
9. Todd Waters Husqvarna AUS 344
10. Clement Desalle Suzuki BEL 331
11. Kevin Strijbos Suzuki BEL 287
12. Dean Ferris Husqvarna AUS 284
13. Tyla Rattray Kawasaki ZAF 263
14. Jose Antonio Butron KTM ESP 217
15. David Philippaerts Yamaha ITA 185
16. Christophe Charlier Honda FRA 183
33. Jeffrey DeWulf Yamaha BEL 21
37. Cedric Soubeyras Yamaha FRA 15
39. Matevz Irt Yamaha SVN 13
43. Pier Bertuzzo Yamaha ITA 12
48. Eduardo Andrade Yamaha MEX 9
49. Mike Vanderstraeten Yamaha BEL 9
52. Paul Coates Yamaha GBR 7
65. Alfie Smith Yamaha GBR 1
69. Lewis Gregory Yamaha GBR 0


Circuit Length:
Last Years Winner:
Gautier Paulin



Paturel takes landmark first Grand Prix podium finish in Mexico
The Grand Prix of Mexico brought the 2015 FIM Motocross World Championship up to the penultimate round of eighteen on the calendar and the rain-hit circuit of Leon - entertaining MXGP for the second year in a row - was the scene for Kemea Yamaha Yamalube's Benoit Paturel to plough through the mud to third place and record his first podium finish in his rookie GP term. The trophy and celebration represented the second rostrum achievement on the bounce for the Belgian team.

Poor weather before the event and then on Saturday evening after a dry practice and qualification schedule (where Lieber finished a decent second on his YZ250F) meant the Mexican terrain kept shifting in terms of the demands it forced. The high altitude of the venue - some 1800m above sea level - meant that the team already had to work on engine configuration to achieve the best power and performance.

The first moto on Sunday saw Paturel quickly find third position. The thirty minute and two lap sprint was an exercise of caution, luck and consistency. There was little action of note on the track but Paturel showed maturity to keep his YZ250F the right way up and enter the top three of a Grand Prix of the first time in his career. Elsewhere Standing Construct Yamaha's Julien Lieber was one of many fallers and retired with a technical problem. Teammate Valentin Guillod was nursing a weak right shoulder after his crash two weeks previously at the Grand Prix of the Netherlands. The Swiss had a tough time after being caught in Petar Petrov's first corner pile-up and several mistakes pushed him down to tenth position and two laps behind the leaders. Brent Van Doninck was also involved in the Petrov melee and then fell on the last lap to belatedly cross the line in ninth.

There was a gaggle of Yamahas disputing third position in the second moto. The track had dried and become quicker and more varied in line choice and options for the riders. Paturel was again in the mix but he also had a lively Lieber and Guillod for company. Eventually Lieber made third place his own (ninth overall) and was chased by the Swiss (sixth overall) and then Paturel who had enough points with fifth to walk the podium. Van Doninck (fourteenth at the end of the day) was disappointed to suffer a mechanical glitch that ended his moto prematurely.

Romain Febvre has clinched the MXGP series on his YZ450FM but the MX2 contest still has to be settled. Pauls Jonass and Tim Gajser are disputing the number one plate and Guillod can still rest in third place if he can outpoint Max Anstie by 31 at Glen Helen. '92' is eight points in front of Jeremy Seewer. Lieber is now up to seventh, Paturel in ninth and Van Doninck is twelfth, although he missed two rounds through injury.

The Monster Energy U.S. Grand Prix is the eighteenth and final appointment on the FIM slate for 2015 and will take the series into the hills around San Bernardino where the layout of Glen Helen snakes around the sharp slopes.

Source: Yamaha Motor Europe N.V.

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