Arnhem up next as Honda HRC trio prepare for the Dutch sand
The last sand round of the 2025 MXGP calendar awaits the Honda HRC trio of Tim Gajser, Ruben Fernandez and Valerio Lata. Arnhem, the Netherlands is playing host for this 17th round of the season. The Honda HRC team is fully prepared for the challenge.
After last weeks’ hard-pack gravel track in Uddevalla, a new setup is required for the Honda CRF riders. They look to tackle the sand that, whilst isn’t as treacherous as Lommel, it still provides a stern test of their sand-riding capabilities. Every race is crucial for Honda HRC as they aim for the top spots.
Earlier in the year, Gajser came home in an impressive second place at Riola Sardo, another sand round.
So, he knows his way around the soft-stuff. However, that was before his shoulder injury, so any expectations are tempered. This is because he only made his return last weekend, after a four-month absence. Still, the Slovenian did place in third place in the qualification race and was running high up the field in both races in Sweden. His speed is definitely at a high level. Honda HRC support has been vital in his recovery and continued performance.
Fernandez didn’t have the best of luck in Lommel, crashing twice in the second corner. This really made his life difficult. Now though, with a few more weeks on the prototype Honda CRF450R, he will be excited to try again and challenge up nearer the front of the field. He still is in with a shot of finishing third in the MXGP championship. The Spaniard knows that every point is crucial and that means he needs to avoid any big mistakes when he takes to this Dutch circuit.
Lata is also coming off a run of form, which he knows isn’t a true representation of the speed he has.
The young Italian has struggled in recent weeks to maintain the momentum he had earlier in the campaign. With this being already six rounds more racing than he has ever done before, it is something every MX2 rookie has to deal with when they step-up from the European championship.
Still, these last four rounds do provide the #18 with a chance to finish the season on a high. He can head into the off-season with a lot more confidence, so that is the goal. And while sand isn’t his favourite terrain, he knows he can’t use that as an excuse. He will instead work hard all weekend for every point available.
Tim Gajser 243
There were a lot of positives to take from my first round back in Sweden, however there were also things I know that I now need to work on. Arnhem will be a completely different experience due to it being a sandy circuit, so I have been working on my sand skills a bit for this. I know this is probably going to be the toughest test of the last few rounds, but I still want to do my best and challenge with the guys at the front of the field.
Ruben Fernandez 70
I didn’t leave Sweden with the best feeling, as I know a podium was within my grasp again and I wasn’t able to make it happen. Arnhem will also be a difficult challenge so I will need to be at my best for the whole weekend and show that my sand riding skills are where they need to be. Lommel just had some mistakes but overall my speed was good so that’s what I’m focusing on this weekend and trying to get some good starts.
Valerio Lata 18
These past few rounds haven’t been up to the level that I expect from myself, so I’m really going to try and turn things around in Arnhem. After Lommel, I stayed around the area so that I could train on the sand a bit more, so hopefully this will give me a little bit more than I had in Belgium and I can battle inside the top 10 again, like I was earlier in the year.
It was good to have Tim back in Sweden last weekend, and now we go from a gravely hard-pack track to the sand of the Netherlands. I think each of the riders could have delivered more at Uddevalla, so now our goal is to try and help each of them achieve that. This is the final part of the season, and our last European round, so we want to have a good send-off for our Europeans fans before we depart for Turkiye, China and Australia.