Second-fastest time in practice augured well for Qualifying but the Frenchman spun at the gate to temporarily lose momentum and round turn one eighth at the start of the twenty-minute-plus-two-lap race to decide gate positions for tomorrow's GP motos. Clearly the fastest rider on the leaderboard throughout the first half of the race he surged to fifth and even had his sights set on top-three until lapped traffic temporarily cost him a position and his rhythm but could not deter him from regaining fifth at the finish, thus earning six world championship points under the newly-introduced system which rewards the top ten in Qualifying.

Romain Febvre: « My speed was good today, and it was good to post the second-fastest lap in the timed practice session. My start was not that good as I spun on the metal, but I rode a strong opening half to pass several riders and come fifth behind Seewer. My speed was good but I couldn’t maintain a good rhythm during the entire race and Iost too much time behind Seewer. I started to make a few mistakes later so Renaux passed me back; I was not far from him and Fernandez but couldn’t close them down again. I’m a little bit disappointed as my speed was good, but fifth is decent result for the gate-pick tomorrow."

New KRT teammate Mitch Evans made an explosive start from mid-gate to round turn one in the top six but his lack of race practice prior to the opening GP soon became evident as he fell back through the pack to take the chequered flag seventeenth.
 
F&H Kawasaki Racing Team's Kevin Horgmo posted an impressive fourth-fastest time in Timed Practice for the opening round of the FIM World MX2 Motocross Championship but found himself in no-man's-land at turn one of the Qualifying race after gating well to emerge twelfth from the initial sort-out. He needed just two laps to advance to ninth in a fast-moving breakaway but was not able to make further moves and had to settle for two world championship points under the newly-introduced system of awarding series points during Qualifying. The Norwegian's new F&H teammate David Braceras faced a difficult start to his GP career; the twenty-year-old from Spain fell in traffic at turn two but responded admirably to slice through the pack to thirteenth place at the finish.