Jorge Prado: Chasing Gajser

Two-time MX2 World Champion, Jorge Prado is probably having his best season ever in MXGP, but still there are question marks around his performance, mostly by the Spaniard himself. Holding down second place in the MXGP championship points and with a victory at the MXGP round held at Agueda in Portugal a couple of weeks ago, you would think all was okay for the Red Bull GasGas Factory rider, however that isn’t completely the case.

In Trentino the Spaniard made the podium for the fifth straight time in 2022, but he still couldn’t manage to put too much pressure on Team HRC rider and series leader Tim Gajser.

"It was a tough weekend for me,” Prado said. “The team did a great job this weekend and really made me comfortable. I was pushing for second in the first race, but just could not pass and it was the same in the second race. I was happy to get a clear track early in the second race, but I made a mistake in the third sector. I think that would have been a very good race – I was feeling good.”

Of course, a week earlier he did get the better of Gajser around the red clay of Agueda in Portugal. On that day Prado scored his first GP win for almost a year. It was a special moment for the youngster.

“My first win since Loket last year. I got on top of the box, and I was happy, it has been a long time. I clicked everything together for the whole weekend, no mistakes and that was the key to get the overall. I had good, timed practice, good qualification, good starts, I stayed up front and that was how I won, that was the key to winning here.”

Prado knows that he has the speed, but there is something missing when it comes to controlling his race, or at least do it as well as Gajser has done in 2022. Being a consistent GP winner isn’t something that happens overnight.

“The level I am now, or the level Gajser has, you have that, or you don’t have it. The thing is, you want to ride on that level at every single race in every single moment and sometimes you want to ride at your full potential, but what is happening with me at the moment, I am not going full zen mode, so it is taking a little bit longer. I got this first one out of the way and I think this will help me a lot coming to the next races.”

Of course Prado will head to Kegums in Latvia for the next round and then Maggiora in Italy, two tracks the Spanish rider likes a lot and I get the feeling he might be able to put more pressure on Gajser in these two rounds and hopefully enter the second part of the season with more confidence and a closer points gap in the championship standings.