A third trip to Italy this season drew MXGP to the historic Maggiora Park circuit near Lago Maggiore, north of Milan and to the venue that hosted the Italian Grand Prix in 2021 as well as the 2016 Motocross of Nations. Tom Vialle captured 2nd position for his sixth top three appearance in 2022.
Red Bull KTM Factory Racing continued their role as protagonists in the FIM MX2 World Championship. The series attacked the hard-packed and stony steep hills of Maggiora Park for round seven. Cloudy skies delivered occasional heavy showers so the Italian soil was sticky, rough and significantly slower on Sunday compared to Saturday.
Vialle started from Pole Position for the first time this season after a narrow victory during Saturday’s qualification heat race. The success allowed the #28 to place the KTM 250 SX-F first into the gate for Sunday. Rainfall overnight meant the track was wetter and thicker and ruttier as a result.
In the first moto Vialle made a great launch but was held-up in the third corner behind falling leader Mattia Guadagnini. Vialle had to pick-up, restart and regain ground to enter the top five. In the second race he was mere meters from seizing the holeshot but still grabbed the lead on the first lap and was then undisturbed all the way to the flag for his fifth race victory in 2022.
DIGA Procross KTM’s Liam Everts managed a career-best 4th in the first moto. The rookie was 13th in the second race for 8th overall.
Tom is now just six points behind Jago Geerts at the top of the MX2 standings. MXGP stays within Italian territory but crosses to the sapping sand of Riola Sardo for the Grand Prix of Sardinia next weekend.
Tom Vialle, 5th and 1st for 2nd overall in MX2: “I missed a little bit of luck in the first moto. My bike was completely blocked behind Mattia and I think a lot of riders crashed behind me. I felt like I was quite far down, maybe 15th or something, but I came back to 5th on a track that was pretty sketchy for passing. The result was not so bad. I almost had the holeshot in the second moto but still took the lead and led every lap. Jago came quite close but I was able to win. I’m quite happy because there were some positives to take from today and the new bike is working really well. We made some improvements and we had two great starts, which is great for the races to come.”
Results MX2 Italy 2022
1. Jago Geerts (BEL), Yamaha 1-2
2. Tom Vialle (FRA), Red Bull KTM Factory Racing, 5-1
3. Stephen Rubini (FRA), Honda 2-6
4. Simon Laengenfelder (GER), GASGAS, 6-3
5. Kay de Wolf (NED), Husqvarna, 9-4
Standings MX2 2022 after 7 of 20 rounds
1. Jago Geerts, 291 points
2. Tom Vialle, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing, 285
3. Simon Laengenfelder, 216
4. Kay de Wolf, 211
5. Mikkel Haarup, 211