Following a one-weekend break, Monster Energy Yamaha Factory Racing’s Romain Febvre and Jeremy Van Horebeek, and Wilvo Yamaha Official MXGP’s Jeremy Seewer and Shaun Simpson are ready to tackle the second stint of three back-to-back Grand Prixes with the sixteenth round of the FIM Motocross World Championship set to take place on Seewer’s home soil in Frauenfeld-Gachnang, Switzerland, this weekend August 18th and 19th.
As always, Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP’s Romain Febvre heads into the MXGP of Switzerland in hopes of a podium finish. Fifteen rounds and thirty championship races have been completed this season. Febvre has finished inside the top-five at thirteen of the fifteen rounds, and has finished inside the top-five in twenty of the thirty races. He has narrowly missed the podium on six occasions where he has finished fourth overall, and he has celebrated from the box, on the third step twice – in Great Britain and in Indonesia. He is currently fifth in the MXGP Championship Standings, 10-points shy of Tim Gajser in fourth position.
Following the announcement that Wilvo Yamaha Official MXGP’s Jeremy Seewer will join Romain Febvre on the Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP team next year, the Swiss riders motivation to put his YZ450F inside the top-five is higher than ever. It is no secret that, despite making solid progress at each and every round, he wants more from his season. The twenty-four year-old will be wearing extra special IXS race wear as a tribute to his nation and will be hoping to deliver a top-five result for the thousands of fans that will be out in full force and support of the number ’91’ this weekend.
Wilvo Yamaha Official MXGP’s Shaun Simpson is eager to chalk up some top-ten results, while his teammate Arnaud Tonus is finally back on the bike following a double shoulder reconstruction earlier this year. Unfortunately, the twenty-seven year-old, who won the opening race at the MXGP of Switzerland last year, will be watching from the sidelines this weekend, as he is not yet 100% ‘bike fit’. Nevertheless, he will be in the paddock signing autographs and will be a special guest on the MXGP Studio Show which will be aired live on www.mxgp-tv.com at 13:00 on Saturday 18th of August.
After five fruitful years with the Yamaha Factory MXGP Team where he has placed his YZ450FM on podium eighteen times, won a Grand Prix, and was crowned vice World Champion, back in 2014, Jeremy Van Horebeek and Yamaha will be parting ways at the end of this season. The Belgian, who is currently ninth in the 2018 MXGP Championship Classification, is motivated to finish the year the same way it started, inside the top-five before moving on to new racing challenges.
Yamaha Motor Europe wishes Jeremy Van Horebeek the very best in his future racing endeavors, and looks forward to being a part of his end of season success where he will continue to receive full support from the Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP Team for the remaining five rounds of the MXGP World Championship and the Monster Energy Motocross of Nations.
The Swiss Grand Prix marks an exciting moment for the Kemea Yamaha Official MX2 Team with riders Ben Watson and Jago Geerts set to line up onboard the all-new 2019 YZ250F. Watson is currently fourth in the MX2 World Championship and has been a podium contender all season-long. The highly skilled Briton hopes that the improved handling will help him achieve his goal of finishing inside the top-three in the championship, while teammate Geerts hopes to carry his momentum from the final race at the MXGP of Belgium two-weeks ago, where he finished second-place, into Frauenfeld-Gachnang this weekend.
Anthony Rodriguez will also line up on a Kemea Yamaha Official MX2 YZ250F, as a replacement for the injured Vsevolod Brylyakov, for the seventh time this season.
Joining the premier classes in Switzerland this weekend for the ninth round of the EMX250 Championship, ASTES4-TESAR Yamaha Official EMX250’s Roan van de Moosdijk will be hunting a fourth consecutive podium finish as he chips away at the top-three in the championship chase. With three rounds to go, the Dutchman is currently fourth place in the overall classification, 27-points shy of third. He will also be joined on the gate by teammate Caleb Grothues.
Frauenfeld-Gachnang could be a happy hunting ground for the MJC Yamaha Official EMX125 team at the penultimate round of the EMX125 Championship this weekend. Thibault Benistant leads the championship with a 54-point advantage over his closest rival, and has a solid chance at claiming Yamaha’s first title of the 2018 season. Meanwhile teammate, Jörgen-Matthias Talviku will be looking for more points as he hopes to improve on his twenty-third position in the Championship Standings.
The Frauenfeld-Gachnang circuit is situated in the North East of Switzerland. It will be the third consecutive year that the purpose built track will host a round of the MXGP World Championship. The man-made track – that is flat yet rough, rutty, fast and jumpy – was built specifically to rebirth the Swiss Grand Prix in 2016. Before making its vibrant return to the calendar – that saw the grand stands swell with 45,000 screaming fans – the last time Switzerland hosted a round of the FIM Motocross World Championship was back in 2001, at one of the most historic Swiss venues, Roggenburg.
Jeremy Seewer
8th MXGP Championship Standings, 350-points
“I am really excited to race this weekend in Switzerland. It has been nice to have one weekend off, time to recuperate after Lommel because that was a really tough Grand Prix. I rode quite a lot last week and I felt really good. I did some more testing to be better off the start, and then I was able to relax a little bit in the weekend before heading to France to do some laps on the hard-pack tracks. I enjoy the track in Switzerland, I feel like I have been strong there in the past and my results are usually pretty good. Hopefully I can get good starts, even better than Lommel, which was already pretty good. I definitely want to be on the podium this weekend, my main focus is to finish the season inside the top-three and I will give my all to achieve this.”
Jeremy Van Horebeek
9th MXGP Championship Standings, 337-points
“Switzerland is the kind of track that depends on the weather, if it’s raining or not. If it rains, it’s not my favourite place because the track becomes really deep and messy, and it’s not nice, but if it’s sunny, I think it will be okay. Either way, I will give my best and hope to get some good results.”
Shaun Simpson
16th MXGP Championship Standings, 146-points
“It has been a good weekend off, especially coming off the back of Lommel. There was quite a lot of training and preparing going on before Lommel and then the race itself is quite tough, so it was important to take a couple of days off, a welcome little break. Even though it was nice to have a couple of days off, in the back of my mind I was eager to get back on the bike and start testing on the hard-pack as I have been putting in a lot of work in the sand recently. I was able to ride with Jeremy Seewer for a couple of days, and we had two absolutely amazing days on the bike. Arnaud Tonus joined us on Saturday and that was really cool to be back to a full line-up and have all three of us out on the track. It was nice to shadow Jeremy and use him as a base or target for Switzerland because he has been riding inside the top-five or top-seven now consistently. It’s a good gauge, and I feel my speed is pretty good. I am perhaps missing some fitness but I am working on that. Going into Switzerland, I just hope to enjoy and I hope that the track is as deep and rutted as it usually is and I hope to come out of the weekend having had a lot of fun and with a couple of top-ten results.”
Romain Febvre
5th MXGP Championship Standings, 468-points