The 250 European Championship was not at the program of the French Grand Prix, so team Bud Racing Kawasaki offered to Quentin Prugnières a wild card entry for his first ever MX2 Grand Prix.
The European Championship is a step leading young riders to the World championship, and history has often shown us that a rider racing the top ten in Europe can perform in his GP debut. At Villars sous Ecot, the track was very tricky on Saturday due to extensive and fresh work and wet ground; Quentin struggled to find his marks and got a twenty-third place behind the grid. Seventeenth in the qualifying heat, he discover a different track on Sunday, as the club did a tremendous job of track preparation overnight.
On Sunday his first race was pretty short due to a technical problem, but he bounced back with a vengeance in the second moto. A twelfth-placed start gave the French youngster confidence and he pushed forward into the top-ten before half-distance, even holding down ninth for a time to claim an impressive tenth place at the chequered flag on his GP debut.
Quentin Marc Prugnières: “It was my first GP and I rode too tense all weekend until the second moto. I had to retire in the first race, but in the second one I got decent start in twelfth position and could keep the pace during the entire moto. We go back home with a positive feeling and we’ll continue to work to prepare for the next rounds of the European championship.”
