With five World titles to his name and 49 Grand Prix victories, Tim Gajser is just one championship, and two GP wins away from becoming the third most successful rider in the sports history. Of course, the two Kings of the Grand Prix are Stefan Everts with ten World titles and 101 GP wins and Antonio Cairoli, with nine World titles and 94 GP wins. In third place, is the legendary, Joel Robert, with six World titles and 50 Grand Prix victories, but as we mentioned above, the Slovenian is hunting down the Belgian great and could very easily pass Robert’s statistics in 2025.
“I mean,” Gajser said when I mentioned it to him. “I didn’t know that and its nice to know that. I mean, of course, it is nice to be with these legends, in such a high company. Definitely we are working hard and as you said, I am not into the statistics, but we are working hard, and we want to arrive in Argentina ready. Every GP I will try and win and give my best, but with the experience I have, we look at the big picture and the goal is always to fight for the championship. It is an honour to be in this type of company.”
Of course, the 2025 MXGP championship won’t be handed to the HRC factory rider, and he knows that, but with Jeffrey Herlings missing the early part of the season with his ACL injury, which goes a long way in the favour of Gajser. What Gajser does remember is winning sure beats losing and his 2025 loss to Jorge Prado doesn’t sit well with him.
“You always want to win, you know. It is never easier to lose, especially when you lose by just a couple of points. It was nine or 10 points between Jorge and me. It was a difficult one and I felt I was riding really good this year, a bit more control, I was not riding over my limits. I was always in the comfort zone, let’s say, not always pushing, so I always settles for second or third, if I saw I had to push too much and I never risked too much to go for the win. I felt I rode more mature, more with experience, but in the end, it was not enough. Sometimes, you have to risk maybe a little bit more and go over your limit. I learnt again something, this year.”
So far in 2025, the feeling in the Gajser camp is one of happiness and an eye on winning. The always friendly Gajser has a good group of people around him and has been with HRC since 2015. It is always important to have a secure situation in your life and in your career and for Gajser, that is more important than for many others.
“You know, I always say, happy rider is fast rider, and you have to be happy to go fast and I feel, I am in a really good place with the team, the people around me. The people I built around me, my girlfriend, my truck driver, my cooker, my trainers, my practice mechanic. Those that I have in Slovenian, its different to my team, the HRC team, so I have like two teams around me. I have like five or six people who are just with me in Sardinia now, and that doesn’t even count the HRC guys. We have a house here and we do everything together, not just the work, we also have nice evenings, eating and its super nice and for me, that is important. It helps me relax also.”
So, as we get closer and closer to the opening round of the 2025 MXGP championship, Gajser is working hard in making his pre-season as good as possible and when he touches down in Argentina, he knows that his chances of beginning the year will be a positive and happy one.
Photo Credit : Bavo Swijgers