Lotte van Drunen of the de Baets MX team finished second during the first round of the Women’s World Championship in Arroyomolinos, Spain. She achieved this result by crossing the finish line in second place in both motos. Benoit Paturel managed to score two points in the MXGP class.
On Saturday morning, Lotte started her free practice with a good feeling. She found a good rhythm on the track and posted the fastest lap time. Lotte had a good feeling on the track and got ready for time practice. She did several fast laps and managed to take pole position. The gap with the competitors was one second on the second lady and the gap to the third lady was even five seconds.
In the afternoon, van Drunen had her first moto and when the starting gate fell she took the holeshot, but when she arrived at the first corner she braked far too late, causing several riders to come through on the inside. Lotte started her moto in fifth place and started to put pressure on the ladies in front of her.
She quickly took fourth position but didn’t pass the third lady fast enough, allowing the two leaders to get away and create a gap of more than twelve seconds. When Lotte took over third place, she had to close a big gap, which was a huge task. Soon she was in second place but she could not catch up with the leading lady but managed to reduce the gap to four seconds and crossed the finish line in second place.
On Sunday morning, around half past ten, the starting gate fell for the second moto. Lotte was well away and immediately managed to take over the lead in the first lap and rode in the lead for a long time with the second lady in her rear wheel. The two ladies distanced themselves from the rest of the field.
Lotte chose a wrong line when the second lady was close behind her and fell back to second place. Lotte stayed on the rear wheel of the leading lady and even passed her for a while, but had to settle for second place after a close finish. Lotte was close to victory. Lotte is very satisfied with her performance and what progress she has made on the hardpack tracks.
Benoit Paturel was riding his first Grand Prix of the season in Spain and this was only his second race of the year. Because Paturel started his preparation late, he still lacks rhythm, which made it difficult in Spain.
After an eighteenth fastest time in time practice, he drove a consistent qualifying heat. He was in fifteenth place throughout the race and eventually finished sixteenth.
A good start in the first moto ensured that he came out of the first lap in thirteenth place. The pace was high and Paturel was able to maintain this for a number of laps. Then the lack of rhythm started to play and he had to slow down. Exhausted, he crossed the finish line in 22nd place and didn’t score points!
In the second moto his start was not so good and his strategy was different. Paturel built up his race more slowly and this resulted in him crossing the finish line in nineteenth place and scoring two points.
With these results, Paturel finished in 22nd place in the overall classification. In the coming week, Paturel will continue to work hard to make progress at the next Grand Prix’s.
