New teams in the Grand Prix paddock
Every year new teams appear in the FIM MXGP-MX2 World Championship. This year we also see newcomers and since the World Championship starts this weekend, we have listed the newcomers.
With our orange heart we naturally start with Hutten Metaal Yamaha Racing, which has been active for two years. Last year the team from Hardenberg made a big step by recruiting Sven van der Mierden. In 2019 the team goes a step further with two riders in the MXGP class. Van der Mierden will stay and Micha Boy de Waal will become his teammate, the duo will compete in the European Grand Prix. With Raivo Dankers, the team is also active in the EMX250 and we expect Dankers to make his GP debut this year.
After a season with KMP Honda Racing, Nathan Renkens will be active in the MXGP with his own team. De Waal will be active in the World Championship and the ADAC MX Masters with the support of KTM Belgium. Renkens receives support from Raths Motorsport for the German series. The Belgian Julian Van der Auwera will compete for NR83 in the EMX125.
After there was no longer a place for Shaun Simpson at WILVO Yamaha, there were fears for his GP career. Fortunately, a solution came thanks to the RFX KTM Team. The team led by Dickie Dye will consist of five riders with Simpson as the standard bearer. Furthermore, the British team also has a top rider in the EMX125 with Joel Rizzi. The other riders will focus on the competitions in their own country this season.
The JWR Yamaha Racing Team is also new and is making the switch after years of competing in the Swedish Championship. JWR competes with three riders in the FIM MXGP World Championship; Kevin Strijbos, Anton Gole and Vsevolod Brylyakov. The Swede Tim Edberg will ride the EMX250, the team is supported by Yamaha Motor Europe and 24MX!
At the last minute, the French Team SR Honda was added to the championship, all with the support of Honda France! For a long time there seemed to be no place for Jeremy Van Horebeek in the GP paddock, but at the last minute the 29-year-old top rider found a place. The collaboration between SR Honda and 'The Jerre' was initially only for the French beach races, but they now also go around the world! Maxime Desprey will also play for the team after two seasons with Gebben Racing, but he will mainly focus on the French Elite Championship.
The North Europe Racing KTM will appear in the Grand Prix with two riders. Jeffrey Dewulf and Petar Petrov will compete for this new team in the MXGP. The Bulgarian has been active in the World Cup since he was fifteen years old. Dewulf has been competing at the highest level for years, hopefully he can take a big step forward this year. Daniel Lokker also hopes to be active in the MX2 class with Jeremy Hauquier.
The plan of GBO Motorsport KTM was to ride the EMX250 with Simone Furlotti. When promoter Youthstream decided far too late to also set an age limit for the EMX250, Matteo Bonini had to make a switch. The former GP rider has found the budget to ride all European GPs in the MXGP class with Furlotti.
Unfortunately, the collaboration between Morgan Lesiardo and the Marchetti KTM Team was difficult and the collaboration was terminated before the end of the season. The Italian was supported by KTM Racestore MX2 Max Bart during the races in Assen and Imola. The 250 EMX2017 champion will be in action during the European Grand Prix and can hopefully still make a breakthrough.
Last year Bogomir Gajser was active as a trainer with Maks Mausser. The collaboration will continue in 2019, Mausser will compete for the GT243 Honda Team in the FIM MX2 World Championship! The Slovenian comes over from EMX125 without having shown great things. So it is a big step for Mausser, but who does not dare...
By: Steven van Kempen/KEMCO
Photo: Hutten Metaal Yamaha Racing
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