Guadagnini: Back Home Again

After an outstanding 2021 MX2 championship season, Red Bull GasGas Factory Racing rider Mattia Guadagnini was expected to come into the 2022 season as one of the favourites for the title hunt. The Italian rider hasn’t really had the season so far that he had hoped for, with the last three round being very up and down after a strong performance in round three in Argentina, where Guadagnini went 3-4 for fourth overall.

Seventh in the World championship points at the moment, is not where anyone expected the Italian to be come round seven, and despite the odd strong showing, we still haven’t seen the best of Guadagnini.

In Portugal around a month ago he could only pick up 25 points and his confidence took a bit of a knock. Feeling comfortable on the bike the Italian continues to make mistakes, mistakes that he felt cost him at the least a podium finish.

“My riding was really good this weekend,” Guadagnini said. “However, I just made too many mistakes. That cost me a podium and maybe even a win, so I am quite sad about that. I think that we have some positives to take from the weekend though, like the start in the first race and my riding. We are just going to keep working! The championship is long, and we need to be there fighting for the podium.”

Back home in Trentino for the next round, Guadagnini improved somewhat with 7-4 scores and the hard pack gave him some joy as he battled the best 250 riders in the World. Feeling that the speed was there, starts didn’t help his cause.

"I was feeling really, really good on the track this weekend. I showed what I could do in the second race and did one of the best laps of the race towards the end; I just need to focus on the start. If I start in the top three, then I know that I can go for the win. The best thing to come from this weekend was my speed.”

And at the last round in Kegums, Latvia, Guadagnini once again dropped major points as he made more mistakes, even running off the circuit in the opening race and finished in 14^th, before coming back strong in the second race to claim a much better fifth place finish.

“It was not the best weekend. I went off track in the first race and lost a lot of time, then I lost my rhythm and could only manage to get fourteenth. That was really bad. I had a better start in the second race, but I was not riding the best in the first few laps and got passed. I did not want to make any mistakes and throw another race away, so I just took fifth place. I know that I can do more than this. The results will come.”

Now, as Guadagnini enters round seven, back home in Italy again and at the magnificent Maggiora circuit, you get the feeling he can once again pick up some solid points and possibly move further up the MX2 World championship points standings. Trying to get his season back on track is the ultimate goal for the GasGas rider.

Photo Copyright: Juan Pablo Acevedo