This year he’ll be under the awning with a new team mate as his #243 bike will be lining up next to Mitch Evans’ #43 machine for his first season in the MXGP class, on what is a brand new Honda CRF450RW.
For Gajser, it’ll be a chance to win his fourth world title after successes in 2015, 2016 and 2019 and he’ll be hoping he can replicate the form that saw him win last year’s championship by over 200 points and included a record breaking seven wins in a row for Honda in the middle period of the season. Now though, the focus is on the first round at Matterley Basin which is a track that he enjoys in what will be the first MXGP gate drops for the newest edition of the Honda CRF450RW.
Joining him in what is once again an extremely competitive MXGP class is rookie Evans who moves up from the MX2 world championship which he rode in 2019. Despite being just 21 years old, many experts believe that Evans is much more suited to the more powerful 450cc machines, which is something he proved when he won his first outing on the larger capacity bike at Sugo for the Japanese national championship. Now though, the Australian youngster wants to show that as quickly as possible in the MXGP class as he hopes to settle into this 2020 campaign.
“It was a dream come true to sign with Team HRC at the end of last year, and even though I’ll be riding in a new class on a brand new bike, I feel ready to show everyone what I am capable of,” said Evans. “I know it won’t be easy because the MXGP class is filled with top riders, but with the help of everyone in the team I believe I am ready to go out there and get some good results. My off season has gone well and when I jumped on this brand new Honda CRF450RW, I felt good right away. Each time I get on the machine I feel like I am improving and when I’m riding with Tim, I have the perfect gauge to see just how well I am doing. He has been a great team mate so far but I know the results are down to me and that’s what I am concentrating on when the season begins at the MXGP of Great Britain on March 1st.”
Their machine for the season is a completely new Honda CRF450RW, which has been developed to cope with the multitude of conditions that an MXGP rider has to negotiate during these 20 gruelling rounds of the 2020 FIM world championship. First up though, is the three rounds of the Italian series, before the MXGP opener at Matterley Basin, Great Britain on March 1st.
