Monster Energy Triumph Racing’s Mikkel Haarup has continued his impressive run of strong and consistent results in the 2024 FIM MX2 Motocross World Championship with a hard-fought sixth at round eight of the series in Teutschenthal, Germany.
Haarup began the weekend in good stead with fourth in the MX2 Qualifying Race on Saturday. However, heavy rain then fell overnight, which added an extra layer of difficulty to the already technical race track.
In race one, the Danish star didn’t enjoy the best of starts and then fell just a few corners into the moto. With a considerable amount of work to do, Haarup began a race-long charge in difficult conditions and moved into 10th on lap 10. From there, he was able to slowly reel in Oriol Oliver in ninth but couldn’t find a way by and ultimately placed 10th.
Eager to rebound in race two, Mikkel did exactly that and after a strong start, he engaged in an intense fight for position just outside of the podium places. After battling with Rick Elzinga for a handful of laps, the TF 250-X racer moved into fourth on lap six and began to reel in the leaders. A late race charge brought him onto the back wheel of Simon Laengenfelder in third on the final lap and he chased his rival over the finish line. Claiming fourth, Haarup ended his weekend with sixth overall.
With Thibault Benistant absent through injury and Mikkel collecting more vital championship points in Germany, Haarup now moves up to sixth in the MX2 World Championship standings ahead of round nine in Latvia next weekend.
Mikkel Haarup: “We’re wrapped up here in Germany and it’s been a good weekend. I had a solid qualifying race on Saturday with fourth and picked up some good points. Then in race one today I crashed early on, and then the track was really difficult after the rain we had. For the second moto I had a much better start as I started a litter further out on the gate and I had good speed all race. I felt great on the bike and all in all, I’m happy with my performance.”
Vincent Bereni – Monster Energy Triumph Racing Team Manager:
“This weekend was quite challenging with the conditions. Because of the rain the track was always changing. On Saturday, Mikkel rode really well and he had a great qualifying race. A crash in race one wasn’t ideal, but he fought hard for 10th and then in race two he was fourth, so that was a good end to the weekend.”
Results – MXGP of Germany
MX2 Race 1
1. Lucas Coenen (Husqvarna) 35:07.874
2. Kay de Wolf (Husqvarna) 35:11.538
3. Simon Langenfelder (GASGAS) 35:32.949
4. Andrea Adamo (KTM) 36:02.634
5. Rick Elzinga (Yamaha) 36:07.012
6. Quentin Marc Prugnieres (Kawasaki) 36:17.937
10. Mikkel Haarup (Triumph) 36:45.061
MX2 Race 2
1. Lucas Coenen (Husqvarna) 35:45.714
2. Kay de Wolf (Husqvarna) 35:55.219
3. Simon Langenfelder (GASGAS) 35:56.893
4. Mikkel Haarup (Triumph) 35:58.580
5. Rick Elzinga (Yamaha) 36:12.081
6. Andrea Adamo (KTM) 36:28.616
MX2 Overall
1. Lucas Coenen (Husqvarna) 50pts
2. Kay de Wolf (Husqvarna) 44pts
3. Simon Langenfelder (GASGAS) 40pts
4. Andrea Adamo (KTM) 33pts
5. Rick Elzinga (Yamaha) 32pts
6. Mikkel Haarup (Triumph) 29pts
MX2 World Championship Standings
1. Kay de Wolf (Husqvarna) 396pts
2. Lucas Coenen (Husqvarna) 337pts
3. Simon Langenfelder (GASGAS) 333pts
4. Liam Everts (KTM) 304pts
5. Andrea Adamo (KTM) 299pts
6. Mikkel Haarup (Triumph) 252pts
11. Camden McLellan (Triumph) 126pts
