Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP’s Jeremy Seewer celebrated his third race win of the 2020 season on his way to second overall at the Grand Prix of Pietramurata. As a result, the Swiss rider has moved within 4-points of second position in the MXGP Championship Standings. Meanwhile, substandard starts cost Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP’s Gautier Paulin and Arnaud Tonus the results they desired. Paulin finished eighth overall, while Tonus was 15th.
Sensational from the first session out on track, Seewer was able to secure his first ever Pole Position since making the jump to the premier class three years ago. The ‘91’ posted the fastest lap time, a 1:38.887, while Tonus and Paulin were less than a second off the pace posting 1:39.064 and 1:39.527 lap times to qualify fourth and seventh, respectively.
After setting the pace in Timed Practice, Seewer carried his momentum into Race 1 where he pulled an incredible holeshot and led every lap for his third-ever MXGP race win.
Paulin and Tonus almost hit the gate after another rider jumped the gun and moved too soon. The false reaction meant both riders had to start their races from the back of the pack.
With limited line choice at the tight and compact clay circuit, the Monster Energy Yamaha Factory duo had to get creative and think ahead as they tried to push forward. After using a lot of tear-offs to keep their vision clean, Paulin managed to run an incredible pace on his way back to ninth, while Tonus found he missed some ‘race aggression’ and only managed to get back to 15th.
In the final race of the day, Seewer got off to another phenomenal start. The Swiss rider was shuffled back to third by Romain Febvre but remained at ease knowing that the 20-points claimed for third would be enough to take his seventh piece of podium silverware.
For Paulin and Tonus, the importance of a good start was magnified. All of the riders had to line-up with dirty tyres after the race was restarted due to a red flag on the opening lap of the initial ‘final race’, which didn’t play into the hands of Paulin who suffered wheel-spin off the line.
Despite starting outside of the top-15, Paulin ran the pace of the front-runners during his frantic charge forward. The ‘21’ crossed the line in seventh, while Tonus could only fight back from first turn crash to 17th.
Seewer remains third in the MXGP World Championship Standings, while Paulin is currently sixth, 9-points shy of a place inside of the top-five. The 18th and final round will take place here in Pietramurata, Italy, on Sunday 8th November. Tonus remains 17th.
Jeremy Seewer
2nd MXGP of Pietramurata, 45-points
2nd MXGP World Championship Standings, 584-points
“I got my first Pole Position and that felt great. I’ve been second many times in qualifying this year. It doesn’t really matter for the start; it just feels good to be on Pole. After that, I had an amazing first race. Although, hats off to Tim Gajser and congratulations to him on winning the World Championship, he did great this year. I had some solid results today and got some important points for the championship.”
Gautier Paulin
8th MXGP of Pietramurata, 26-points
6th MXGP World Championship Standings, 467-points
“It was a pretty tough day today. In the first moto, the rider next to me anticipated the start too soon, and that made me move too soon for the start, and then right after the gate a rider cut across. I started from really far back after that, but I made my way back to the top-10. The riding was good, but it was difficult to make a good result after a start like that. In the second moto, we had a red flag on the first lap, and hopefully the rider involved is well and the injury is not too bad. After that we had to start with dirty tyres and I had a big spin on the mesh, so I didn’t start so good. On this type of track, it’s hard to pass, everyone forms a train. Here it is really important to have a good start, but on the bright side, the pace is good and physically I feel good.”
Arnaud Tonus
15th MXGP of Pietramurata, 10 points
17th MXGP World Championship Standings, 176-points
“The day was tough. Speed is there but struggled in the motos with bad starts and then after that I stuggled to find my rhythm and I lost too much time. I miss that ‘racing aggression’ you would say. In first moto I had a bad start and finished 15th and in the second moto I crashed in the first turn and don’t know where I ended up. It was just a rough day, so we will regroup for the final round.”
