The Frenchman, third in a tight Timed Practice session where tenths-of-a-second separated the leading contenders, soon established himself in a secure third position and moved impressively forward to second on lap three with a clever line-choice through successive turns. He immediately closed down the slender gap to the leader and there ensued a thrilling duel all the way through to the chequered flag. The Kawasaki ace, the perfect handling of his KX450-SR evident to see, regrouped time-and-again - indeed his fastest laps were two-thirds of a second faster than his rival - to pull alongside a couple of times, only to be denied at the following turn as his rival defended stoutly. He maintained the relentless pressure to the final lap but his rival stayed calm to deny him the victory.
 
Romain Febvre: "It was a good opening day of the world championship; the track is nice to ride and I felt pretty good straight away from the first laps of Free Practice. I made a good start in Qualifying but I could not close down the inside as Maxime (Renaux) was alongside. I could soon make the pass for second and close down Maxime but I'm a little mad with myself because I was so close to the red plate; I was clearly faster but I stalled one time and we had two-times yellow flags for fallen lappers. This is one of best tracks we have had to ride and it is possible to pass here but you need to be close; I need to figure things out for tomorrow with a better race plan. The fans are incredible; it was almost a full-house already early in the morning and they were so enthusiastic, particularly when I pulled a clicker on the big triple."
 
KRT teammate Pauls Jonass was seventh in Timed Practice, just over a second off pole, but had to close the throttle when he wheelied out of the gate in Qualifying to emerge thirteenth at the first split. Within a lap he had advanced to ninth and progressed further to eighth on lap four before surrendering one position five laps later to finish ninth.
 
Pauls Jonass: "I got a wheelie straight out of the gate so I was right at the back, but I found a good rhythm to move through to eighth. But then I got stuck trying to pass Bogers and lost my flow. But generally I was happy; I just need to put all of the pieces together. The track is fun but it's really demanding; it's quite fast and now it's getting bumpy so it's a lot of work."
 
Kawasaki Racing Team MX2's Mathis Valin made an impressive start to his FIM World MX2 Motocross Championship career with fifth in the Qualifying race. Eighth in Timed Practice the French teenager quickly made fifth his own in the twenty-minute-plus-two-lap race to form a five-rider breakaway which soon took them well clear of the chasers. Such was the pace of the leading quintet - each setting lap times on the same second - on the rapid raceway that passing opportunities were scarce but the KRT GP debutant remained cool to secure his first six world championship points and earn fifth choice of gate for each of tomorrow's GP motos.
 
Mathis Valin: "It was a good first day in the World Championship for me with a third in the Free Practice session, then in the Timed Practice I made a mistake on my fastest lap but a top-ten was OK. I got a good start in the Qualifying race and had good speed in the top-five. There is so much intensity at the front in GP racing; it was really different from the EMX. It's hot here so it's demanding physically but I can't complain as I signed to race the world championship. Now I will focus again for tomorrow; for sure it was nice to see that my rhythm was OK and I'm happy for the team too as they worked a lot to prepare for this season."