The following press release is from Infront Moto Racing:

Prado And Geerts Kickstart The MXGP of Patagonia-Argentina By Topping The Ram Qualifying Race 

VILLA LA ANGOSTURA (Patagonia-Argentina) – The first racing day of the season finished in Villa La Angostura for the MXGP of Patagonia-Argentina and it was Red Bull GasGas Factory Racing’s Jorge Prado who claimed the MXGP RAM Qualifying Race win, while Monster Energy Yamaha Factory Racing’s Jago Geerts came out victorious in MX2.

This first day was full of action with free and time practices in the morning  in MXGP, that saw Jorge Prado and Monster Energy Yamaha Factory Racing MXGP Team’s Maxime Renaux topped the free and time while in MX2 Nestaan Husqvarna Factory racing’s Kay De Wolf topped both free and time practices.

The day was also marked by the first Free/Qualifying practice session for the MXGP Wildcard riders. The MXGP of Patagonia-Argentina introduced the new Wildcard Qualifying process when more than 40 MXGP riders enter the event allowing the fastest Wildcard riders in their qualifying race to join the RAM MXGP Qualifying race.

On top of that, the amazing Argentinian crowd was very loud and cheerful

MXGP

The RAM Qualifying Race in MXGP saw Jorge Prado leads from start to finish with a flying start in front of his teammate at RedBull GasGas Factory Racing, Mattia Guadagnini who made the 14th best time in time practice earlier in the day but produced an outstanding start to end on Jorge Prado’s tail after the first turn and kept that position until the end. Monster Energy Yamaha Factory Racing MXGP Team’s Maxime Renaux who didn’t have the best start found himself in 8th position after a couple of laps, showed some classy move and overtakes to get himself to 3rd when he charged on Team HRC’s Ruben Fernandez with two laps to go. Fernandez ultimately finished 4th.

This RAM Qualifying race show Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Jeffrey Herlings struggling to start in the best way with finding himself 14th after the first lap although “the bullet” managed to climb regularly throughout the race to end up at a promising 10th place for tomorrow.

Monster Energy Yamaha Factory Racing MXGP Team’s Jeremy Seewer is one rider who continuously fought for the top spots during the whole race with overtaking Standing Construct Honda’s Pauls Jonass on lap 7 and get himself 4th having eyes on Ruben Fernandez for the top three finish but everything came to a halt as the Swiss rider got a scare when he lost the control of his bike in the air and fell. His bike would not restart despite his efforts and had to eventually stopped. After a solid start and great riding for 7 laps in 4th position, Jonass got passed a few times to end up at a honourable 8th place.

Kawasaki Racing Team’s Romain Febvre delivered a strong performance again after a great showing in the morning to finish 5th as he started in 8th position to climb his way up. Gebben Van Venrooy Yamaha’s Calvin Vlaanderen started in 6th to finish at the same place which shows his consistency while Monster Energy Yamaha Factory Racing’s Glenn Coldenhoff who started 11th, found himself behind his teammate Renaux between lap 5 and 6 but could not follow him and had to settle for a good 7th place.

Another steady performance was the one from Team Ship To Cycle Honda’s Valentin Guillod who was consistently in the top 10 to end up 9th just ahead of Jeffrey Herlings. And was only passed by Glenn Coldenhoff. In the end Prado showed a great control throughout the race which is an interesting indicator for the races of tomorrow.