Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing leapt back into action at the eleventh round of the 2022 FIM Motocross World Championship earlier today. The Grand Prix of Germany, run at the historic circuit of Teutschenthal, hosted the event that marked the return of Kay de Wolf, as well as Maxime Grau in the EMX250 division.
It was an eventful return to racing for Kay de Wolf, who was keen to establish a solid base to build off of at the Grand Prix of Germany. A crash in qualifying left him with a terrible gate pick and then, to make matters worse, he fell in the first turn in moto one. What followed was rather impressive though; he charged all of the way into eleventh on a very one-lined track. De Wolf was ranked in the same position in moto two after another small crash; 11-11 scores gave him a solid haul of points in his return to Grand Prix competition. Tenth is the position that he occupies in the championship standings.
Grau was extremely impressive in his return on the FC 250 – he made a mistake on lap one of the first EMX250 moto and still charged into third place at the finish line. It was a sign of things to come for the youngster from France; the second moto was even stronger. Grau battled inside of the top three throughout and eventually clinched second in the moto and overall classification. The momentum that comes with a trophy will prove to be so valuable in the coming weeks, especially after missing a lot of bike time over the last six months.
Kay de Wolf will take advantage of a weekend off now and continue to build on his race pace ahead of the twelfth round of the 2022 FIM Motocross World Championship, the Grand Prix of Indonesia, on June 25/26.
Kay de Wolf: “I crashed in the first turn in moto one; I was dead last and came back to eleventh. You do a lot of physical training when you are injured, but there is nothing that compares to riding a bike. I had an okay start in the second moto and passed some people. I hit a stone in a turn, tucked the front wheel and went back to eleventh. I just did my own thing in the last ten minutes.”
Maxime Grau: “It was good! It was so nice to be back at the races with my team. The first moto was quite good, even though my start was not great. I went from P16 to P3 though, with some good really lines that I found. I had a better start in the second moto, so the moto was easier. I made a small mistake before the finish and took second. It was a really good way to come back.”
