Another capacity crowd attendance created one of the most atmospheric Grand Prix events of the 2022 FIM MXGP Motocross World Championship at Intu Xanadu Arroyomolinos and Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Tom Vialle rushed to 1st position overall.
MXGP basked in more generous sunshine for the third trip in a row to the purpose-built Intu Xanadu Arroyomolinos circuit south of Madrid and a boisterous Grand Prix of Spain. Red Bull KTM came to the meeting fresh from Tom Vialle’s latest victory of the year in Sardinia and optimistic of more podium contention.
As well as the warm weather, Intu Xanadu Arroyomolinos was hard-packed, extremely rutty and bumpy in some corners and mixed fast sections with some impressively big jumps. Vialle quickly got to grips with the terrain and the layout; a holeshot leading to his second Pole Position of the season on Saturday.
From P1 in the gate on Sunday, the 21-year-old ripped to the front of both moto starts. In the first race he chased rival Jago Geerts until the Belgian made an early mistake and then finished a clear distance of Simon Laegenfelder. In the second affair he pressurized Geerts and another slip by his rivals allowed Vialle to take maximum profit. His fifth overall win from the last six Grands Prix was also his eighth podium appearance of the year.
Liam Everts took his DIGA Procross KTM 250 SX-F to 4th overall and ran at the front of both motos, especially the second sprint where he blasted to the holeshot. The Belgian’s 6-4 scorecard saw him narrowly miss his maiden podium result.
The MX2 championship table shows that Vialle holds the red plate and is ahead of Geerts by 10 points. MXGP will stop for the first of two dates in France next weekend. The steep hillside setting of Ernee brings the series to round ten and into the second half of the campaign.
Tom Vialle, 1st and 1st for 1st overall in MX2: “A great weekend for me. I controlled the first moto but it was not easy because there was a lot of water on the track. It was sketchy and I’m glad the ground was better in the second moto. Once Jago made a little mistake then I had the lead. I felt great on the bike. Some decent results before my home GP next weekend. It’s nice to have the red plate but Jago is riding well and the competition is close, so it’s tough for both of us. My riding style is good for Ernee so I’ll hope for another happy weekend.”
Results MX2 Spain 2022
1. Tom Vialle (FRA), Red Bull KTM Factory Racing, 1-1
2. Simon Laegenfelder (GER), GASGAS, 2-3
3. Jago Geerts (BEL), Yamaha, 9-2
4. Liam Everts (BEL), KTM, 6-4
5. Stephen Rubini (FRA), Honda, 3-9
Standings MX2 2022 after 9 of 19 rounds
1. Tom Vialle, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing, 382 points
2. Jago Geerts, 372
3. Simon Laengenfelder, 287
4. Mikkel Haarup, 266
5. Kevin Horgmo, 259