World Championship winners and MX2 class defending #1s, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing, launched the 2024 MXGP season with Andrea Adamo scoring a top five finish in the dark sandy volcanic soil of Neuquen for the Grand Prix of Argentina and the first round of twenty in the new campaign.
- MXGP fires into life with the traditional hike to Patagonia and the fast, rough and popular Neuquen circuit with a busy attendance watching the fastest international dirtbike racers embark on another GP season
- Jeffrey Herlings takes 8th overall on his KTM 450 SX-F and his first MXGP appearance since the 2023 Grand Prix of Germany. The Dutchman races to a brace of top tens in the two motos
- MX2 World Champion Andrea Adamo makes a solid step in his world title defence with 5th on the KTM 250 SX-F
- Sacha Coenen starts his second career world championship season and in Red Bull KTM colors and runs to 8th. Liam Everts is still in recovery from right thumb surgery and is hopeful of returning to action by round two in Spain
The wide and rippled course of Neuquen has become a familiar Grand Prix staple for the MXGP field and since the circuit first entered the world championship in 2015. Red Bull KTM Factory Racing made the long journey from central Europe to the depths of South America with three of their four riders in play and with 5-time title winner Jeffrey Herlings making a welcome return to the orange set-up.
Under cloudy, chilly skies and with typically vocal and passionate native support, the GP got going with the RAM Qualification Heat on Saturday providing both MXGP and MX2 classes with their first gate drops of the season. Herlings rode to a steady 6th place while Adamo started excellently in MX2 and led until the last two laps. The Italian brought his KTM 250 SX-F home in 3rd for a decent gate choice pick for Sunday. Coenen rode to 9th.
Andrea Adamo, opting to keep his career number of #80 in place of #1, strived to be hot away from the line for the first race on Sunday and in sunnier weather. The Italian fared better in the second moto where a 5th position represented the highest ranking for the team on the day. Andrea was 5th overall. Sacha Coenen, who finished 17th at Argentina in 2023, suffered from a few small mistakes but his runs to 6th and 10th was good enough for 8th.
Jeffrey Herlings took a measured approach to the difficult, fast and bumpy Argentine soil. Playing a smart game and fully aware of the 57 starts still to come after the Nequen fixture Herlings plotted charts to 8th and 7th for 8th in the final rankings.
Fellow Belgian Liam Everts missed the trip to Argentina due to an injury with his right thumb. The 2023 multiple Grand Prix winner is recovering from corrective surgery and is hopeful of re-joining the team for round two. The following fixture sees MXGP return to European shores and to the Intu Xanadú – Arroyomolinos in Madrid for the Spanish Grand Prix on March 23-24.
