Red Bull KTM Factory rider Pauls Jonass has put on a masterclass in the opening round of the FIM Motocross World Championship, held at the Losail circuit in Qatar.
Showing a very matured performance, the Latvian put together 1-1-1 results over the two-day event, and stamped himself as the early favorite going into round two this weekend.
The always likable KTM rider gave us five minutes of his time to tell us the experience of his weekend.
Tell me how did it feel, your first Grand Prix win?
It actually feels really good. I came here, I didn’t expect, or I didn’t put pressure on myself that I need to win this Grand Prix. I wanted to do two consistent motos, and I got two moto wins. This KTM machine, I took the starts, took the holeshot in the second moto got the lead quick and just managed to stay calm and get the overall. It’s a great way to start the season like that.
You pretty much nailed the whole weekend with three moto wins from both Friday and Saturday.
The weekend went really well, two motos wins and a qualification win. I had good gate pick, two good starts, no big mistakes and that was the goal. I stayed on two wheels and my first overall win. I am happy about that. It would be difficult to continue the same as today, but I want to enjoy every weekend like this.
Is there room for improvement after a weekend like that?
I think I have a lot of place for improvement. I hadn’t been riding much in hard-pack, because I crashed in the French race and was training mainly in Belgium, which is mainly sand. On hard pack I have a lot of place for improvement.
I am not sure I have seen you ride that smooth before. Did you keep telling yourself to relax, have fun, or whatever?
This, many guys have told me that I looked so relaxed on the bike, and I need to say a big thanks to Marc (de Reuver), because all winter he tried to teach me that, to stay safe and remain composed and today I think I did it pretty good. We still have 18 GPs to go, and today I enjoyed the racing and I enjoyed just riding and we need to continue to do that.
But are you telling yourself to relax and not try too hard, because you had a lot of pressure today from Paturel [Benoit] and from [Julien] Lieber.
You know both motos Benoit was always putting the pressure on, it wasn’t easy, but you know I tried to ride my own lines, tried to ride my own race. I didn’t tell myself I needed to relax, but sometimes I would forget to breath, so on the big jumps I would take a big breath, it was a good race.
How did you find the track?
It was actually pretty good. In the morning practice I thought it would be bad, because it was so muddy, then after in the races it was pretty good. The wave section there were a lot of stones, and maybe it was too one lined, but overall, the dirt and everything was the best yet.
A lot of people got sick, how did you feel all weekend?
I felt really good. No problem with that. I fly back to Belgium and I hope I don’t get sick.
How excited was Marc for you?
He was so happy, which made me happy. He was so emotional, and we have worked so hard in the winter. Willy Linden my physical trainer was also here, really a strong team, and they all did a great job.
Ray Archer images
