Romain Febvre about his race in Villars-sous-Ecot
The MXGP of France was a direct success for home rider Romain Febvre. In the first series he managed to get a nice third place and he was even able to win the second.
Just two weeks after a heavy fall forced him to sit out the Spanish GP, he inevitably needed time to get back into his usual rhythm on Saturday, but he already showed his intentions on race day with the second-fastest time in the morning warm-up.
The KRT team had clearly found an optimal set-up for the physically and technically demanding hill circuit, as in the first moto Febvre narrowly missed the holeshot in the first corner and crossed the finish line in third place, after all title contenders had an exciting battle for the had done honor.
But there was more to come in the second moto; again he narrowly missed the holeshot and quickly settled into a safe second place. He shadowed leader Jeremy Seewer and carefully weighed line options before blasting past on the twelfth of seventeen laps, immediately taking a significant lead with the fastest lap of the race. The home favorite and his countless fans greeted each other on the final lap, with a huge heel click over the big jump on the final stretch through the valley raising the roof.
It was also a moving success as Romain took his first MXGP win at the same venue in 2015. The impact of the points loss in Spain still runs deep, but the second heat win and overall podium have dropped him back to third in the championship standings; he is seventy-nine points shy of the current leader, but with twelve of the nineteen-round series to go, there is still everything to play for.
Romain Febvre: “As everyone knows, I crashed in Spain two weeks ago and it was quite hard with the concussion. I took a week off and even this week I felt very second-guessed when I rode; it was difficult to analyze my speed, but I was determined to do everything I could to race here. Yesterday the track was even more difficult than today, especially for me because I had some difficulty with my concentration, but I stayed positive and I felt much more comfortable today. The atmosphere in the second moto when I took the lead was great.”
“Physically I am good and I pushed until the end. On the last lap I saw that I had a lead and I was able to celebrate for the fans; I was born just an hour and thirty minutes from here so it was especially fun to make something for everyone who showed up to support me. I'm not 100% and still need to take some time to recover, but I think I deserved that heat win after what happened in Spain. Two weeks ago we thought the season was over but now I almost won the GP and the championship is long. Today's success is fantastic, not only for me but also for the team and Kawasaki; let's keep working on it!”
Photos: Kawasaki Racing Team
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