Benoit Paturel of the De Baets MX team has scored a top ten moto finish at round seventeen of the world championship MXGP in Afyonkarahisar in Turkiye. Paturel scored this position in the opening moto by finishing in tenth place. In the second moto he came home in twelfth place and this gave him eleventh position overall.
The track was dry and flat during the practice sessions on Saturday. The pace was high and Paturel was struggling to find his rhythm in time practice. After several attempts he finally posted the fifteenth fastest time. Soon after time practice it started to rain and finally the organization decided to cancel the qualifying heat due to the bad track circumstances. This was bad news for Paturel because this meant that he had the fifteenth gate pick in both motos on Sunday.
On Sunday the track conditions were perfect during the races. Paturel gave everything he had in both motos and finished eleventh overall with a 10-12 in the motos. With still two rounds to go he sits in eleventh position in the world championship standings. The next round will be held in Maggiora in Italy in two weeks from now.
