It was his second Qualifying success of 2023 as the Frenchman and his Kawasaki KX450-SR dominated the day's proceedings, topping both practice sessions by nearly a second and leading the twenty-minute-plus-two-lap Qualifying race from the drop of the start-gate to the chequered flag. Getting tremendous drive out of the start he had a bike-length over the field already going into turn one and quickly opened up a comfortable three-second cushion over the chasers. At one stage he had extended that advantage to thirteen seconds before coasting through the final few turns to take victory by four seconds. The resultant ten-point championship haul consolidated his third place in the series standings and gives him a very realistic chance of taking over second after tomorrow's two GP motos.
 
Romain Febvre: "It feels good to be here. It's a really long trip but it makes sense to come here for the enthusiastic supporters and such a nice track. I really enjoy the weather too; for sure it's hot but it's the same for everyone. My KX450-SR gave me an awesome start; I was a bike-length in front even before turn one. I found good lines, could make a comfortable gap and save some energy for tomorrow riding my own race up-front. So let's look for two more good starts tomorrow to do the same again."
 
KRT teammate Mitch Evans confirmed the performance of the KX450-SR as he joined his French colleague in the top-five through the first turn and looked comfortable in retaining that position until he was thrown sideways off an uphill jump during the first full lap and had to run off-track temporarily to salvage the situation. Rejoining the race ninth, he was quickly back to eighth on the following lap and maintained that placing to the finish.
 
Mitch Evans: "P8, my best Qualifying so far, so we continue to make steps in the right direction; I just made a little mistake on the first lap and almost took out some flagmen. The weather's nice, more like home in Australia; it actually felt warmer in Germany two weeks ago. I enjoyed today and I think they do a really good job with the track; just a few of the take-offs were a little sketchy by the end of the day but I'm sure they'll be working on that overnight."
 
F&H Kawasaki Racing Team's Kevin Horgmo had a brave ride to fifth in Qualifying for the FIM World MX2 Motocross Championship. On his return to racing after a heavy crash in Germany two weeks ago the Norwegian had an unfortunate fall during morning Free Practice, temporarily dislocating his shoulder as he landed awkwardly. Team coach Marc de Reuver was quickly on-hand to help him pop the shoulder back into place and he put in a sterling performance in the Qualifying race. His KX250 sweeping impressively around the outside of turn one the F&H teamster defied any slight discomfort in his shoulder to hold a secure third for six laps before slithering to the ground on landing as he bounced off the crest of a landing mound; he quickly remounted in fifth and held that position to the chequered flag, thus equaling his best Qualifying performance of the series.
 
Kevin Horgmo: "I've had two sore weeks since Germany but I'm recovering well and felt good this morning. I just tipped over in a really slow corner in Free Practice, lost the the front-end and somehow dislocated my shoulder when I landed on my hand. Marc (de Reuver) arrived quickly and we got it back leaning over the handlebars; it felt good straight away and I have no pain so I just tried to ice it and keep it moving. I wasn't too satisfied with eleventh gate-pick but the times were very close and I could get a great start to stay third for a long time until I had a small tip-over and finished fifth to equal my best Qualifying of the year. I got a great start and was riding good so I'm happy with that, even though I'm banged up a bit in the body."