Tim Gajser and Turkiye

2022 MXGP World Champion Tim Gajser heads into this weekend’s MXGP of Turkiye with confidence that the Afyon Motor Sports Center in the interesting town of Afyonkarahisar will again hand him victory. The Team HRC rider won this event in 2022 and while injuries have cost him any chance of defending his MXGP title, he still wants to finish the season with success.

The 26 year old, who is currently 17^th in the MXGP championship points has since his return to racing finished with 7^th, 15^th, 6^th 10^th and 5^th placed finishes and while that is nowhere near his performances from 2022, when he dominated many of the GPs, the classy and always friendly Gajser is looking at making a splash this weekend, a circuit he has enjoyed before and a country he enjoys being in.

“The MXGP of Turkiye is a track I really like, and I’ve won at before,” Gajser said. “So that is definitely in my thoughts as I head there again this year. We’ve made some good progress since I’ve returned to racing and while the overall results haven’t been there, I still feel good about where we are. Now I really want to finish this season off strongly and I fully believe that can happen this weekend, where I’ll be aiming for the podium positions.”

Two weeks ago, in the deep sand of Motorportpark Gelderland Midden the Slovenian picked up his most impressive performance since his return to racing, although not seeing the defending MXGP champion either winning or on the podium just doesn’t seem right, not for us the fans and not for Gajser himself.

“Overall, even though it is my best points haul since I returned from injury, I wanted higher and to challenge with the podium guys so I’m not 100% happy to only finish fifth. My riding was good today and we improved a lot and worked on some things that will definitely help in the future so it was positive and really, I shouldn’t be too hard on myself. I felt I could have got a couple of extra points in the second moto and came close to the pass for fourth but couldn’t quite make it happen. It is another step up though and for that I am looking forward to Turkiye which is a track I’ve done well on before and should be good after a weekend off. “

With just three rounds remaining in Turkiye, Italy and Great Britain, you can expect to see Gajser standing amongst the top three and if that doesn’t happen, then rest assured his winter will be an intense one and one where he will want to gain the speed and confidence to regain a MXGP Championship.

Photo Credit: Bavo Swijgers