Video: FIM MX1 World Championship - Indaiatuba, Brazil
By TMX Archives on 29th May 11
The fourth round of the MX1 World Championship stopped off at Indaiatuba, Brazil and the hot conditions proved difficult for some of the riders.
Monster Energy Yamaha's David Philippaerts emerged victorious from two hugely entertaining motos at a scorching and packed Indaiatuba. David Philippaerts took his works YZ450FM to second and first positions to claim overall winner's for the first time since the 2010 French Grand Prix.
26,000 fans packed the grandstands at Indaiatuba, an hour north of Sao Paolo were the steamy conditions continued for the entire weekend. The course was unrelenting in a layout of jumps and corners and was short and compact.
On Saturday the factory Yamahas formation-flew as Frossard led the Qualification Heat from Philippaerts before the Italian took control at the mid-way point of the sprint and glided to his first pole position since the season-closing Italian Grand Prix last year.
Filling the first slot on the line for the tricky uphill start from a soft gate, Philippaerts and Frossard both launched well and embarked on a spat with Antonio Cairoli for the lead that lasted practically all of the 35 minutes and 2 laps. Clement Desalle also jointed the dispute prior to his error three laps from the flag. Frossard eventually dropped back in third and Philippaerts followed Cairoli to the line.
Another good battle later in the afternoon involved the same cast but Steve Ramon also joined the fray. Desalle again made a mistake and fell and Philippaerts was able to control the moto from the front. Cairoli applied pressure on the penultimate lap but Philippaerts responded by setting the fastest time of the race on the very last lap. The former world champion now has two podium results in 2011. Frossard felt the effects of the thumb strain he sustained in the USA and was fifth at the finish, tying on points with Desalle for third place but losing the podium due to the second race classification.
David Philippaerts was clearly delighted with the result - "I am so happy with this win and Brazil is becoming a special place for me after some good motos last year also. The track was nice and every corner was different with the lines, so the riders were going at different speeds. Like last year I have the same points as Antonio but we have the win this time and I pleased about this. I changed my lines during the middle of the second moto and made a big push. Antonio was fast and I knew he would come but I just focussed on the track ahead and set the fastest time on the last lap. We go to France next and I won my first GP there in 2005 and also last season so I am motivated for this race. I'm glad to be heading home now.”
In the world championship standings Philippaerts and Frossard are fourth and fifth respectively. The GP of France, home events for Frossard and Boissiere takes place June 6 at St Jean d'Angely and will start a run of three consecutive events with visits to Spain and Portugal following immediately after.
Thanks to Yamaha Racing for the report and FIM for the video
