Photo courtesy of KTM (2019) © Ray Archer
World Championship leader and title defender Jorge Prado reigned supreme at a dusty and hot Talkessel circuit, his ninth win in 2019. He is still unbeaten this year and has half a season of victories under his belt. Tom Vialle rode to a third podium result of his rookie term on what was his first race at Teutschenthal.
Prado steered his KTM 250SX-F to a sixth Qualification Heat victory on Saturday (his fourth in a row) that permitted first choice in the gate and for the fast drop down to the opening left-handed turn. Prado again aced his start in the first moto and ran undisturbed ahead of Vialle, giving the team a dominant 1-2 classification. The second race was a similar story: Prado, with 14 holeshots now, rode to his seventeenth moto win (from eighteen appearances) and eighth double but Vialle was 3rd behind Mathys Boisrame, which still allowed him to occupy the second step of the podium.
Prado has extended his lead in the MX2 standings to 44 points over Thomas Kjer Olsen while Vialle is now 4th.
Jorge Prado: “It was another good weekend and I’m happy because I was struggling a bit yesterday. I felt better in the second moto, on a track that was far from easy, because it was tough to get a flow. It was enough to get the job done today. We’ve had a lot of races recently but I will go back home in this small break and keep training. My goal this season is to keep improving.”
Tom Vialle: “A really good weekend for me and a good turnaround because I didn't have a great feeling on the bike yesterday. Today I had two solid starts and races. The track was very hard: it wasn’t so fast but with really deep ruts and I liked it. I have been going step-by-step with my confidence and feeling this year and I’m really happy.”
Russia, Latvia and Germany represented an eastern European flavour for MXGP in the last three weeks but the series will head even further afield in a fortnight’s time. The first of two back-to-back Grands Prix in Indonesia will be staged at Palembang on July 7th.
Results MX2 Germany 2019
1. Jorge Prado (ESP), Red Bull KTM (1-1)
2. Tom Vialle (FRA), Red Bull KTM (2-3)
3. Mathys Boisrame (FRA), Honda (7-2)
4. Thomas Kjer Olsen (DEN), Husqvarna (4-4)
5. Henry Jacobi (GER) Kawasaki (3-9)
Standings MX2 2019 after 10 of 18 rounds
1. Jorge Prado 447
2. Thomas Kjer Olsen 403
3. Jago Geerts 313
4. Tom Vialle 284
5. Henry Jacobi 283