Paulin shows good speed in French GP

Following a USGP marred by
sickness, Gautier Paulin headed to St Jean D’Angely in France for his
‘home’ GP this past weekend. Having rested in the week Paulin
was feeling strong again and was looking to go head to head in front of the
thousands of French fans that turned out.

Paulin was flying on Saturday
during the qualification race, and following a good start the Monster
Energy Yamaha racer fought from 4^th place into the lead. A
little fall relegated Paulin to 2^nd, however within just a few
laps he was back in front to take his first ever MX2 GP pole
position.

Overnight rain left the hard-packed
circuit very rutted and one-lined for Sunday. A terrible start placed the
frustrated Frenchman in 12^th position on lap one, but fighting
hard Paulin was soon into 9^th position and chasing. A fall on
the final lap relegated the number 21 Yamaha back to 14^th
position where he ultimately crossed the finish line.

The second moto would see another
tough start for Paulin, but this time he would not be caught out by the
technical circuit. After a grueling 35 minutes and 2 laps of fighting for
every position the stylish Paulin eventually crossed the finish line in
4^th position, registering the fastest lap of the race along the
way.

“It was great to race in
front of a home crowd today and I could hear the fans cheering me on around
the track.  Winning the qualifying race from Marvin proved that I have
the speed to match him but I needed better starts in the races.  I
keep improving every time I race and in the second moto I had the fastest
lap time which I was really pleased with.  I am working hard to
improve in all areas and hope to be on the podium very soon.”
Explained a content Paulin.

Results

Moto 1

1 MUSQUIN, Marvin 
2 HERLINGS, Jeffrey 
3 OSBORNE, Zach 
4 FROSSARD, Steven 
5 ROELANTS, Joel 
6 CHARLIER, Christophe 
7 VONGSANA,
Khounsith 
8 TONUS, Arnaud 
9 VAN HOREBEEK,
Jeremy 
10 VERBRUGGEN, Dennis 
11 KULLAS,
Harri 
12 SIMPSON, Shaun 
13 LUPINO,
Alessandro 
14 PAULIN, Gautier 
15 NICHOLLS, Jake 

Moto 2
  
1 MUSQUIN, Marvin 
2 SIMPSON, Shaun 
3 ROELANTS, Joel 
4 PAULIN,
Gautier 
5 TONUS, Arnaud 
6 VERBRUGGEN, Dennis 
7 ROCZEN, Ken 
8 KULLAS, Harri 
9 OSBORNE, Zach 
10 LUPINO, Alessandro 
11 CHARLIER,
Christophe 
12 HERLINGS, Jeffrey 
13 NICHOLLS, Jake 
14 FROSSARD, Steven 
15 TEILLET, Valentin 

Overall

1 MUSQUIN,
Marvin 25 25 50
2 ROELANTS,
Joel 16 20 36
3 OSBORNE,
Zach 20 12 32
4 SIMPSON,
Shaun 9 22 31
5 HERLINGS,
Jeffrey 22 9 31
6 TONUS,
Arnaud 13 16 29
7 VERBRUGGEN,
Dennis 11 15 26
8 PAULIN,
Gautier 7 18 25
9 CHARLIER,
Christophe 15 10 25
10 FROSSARD,
Steven 18 7 25
11 KULLAS,
Harri 10 13 23
12 ROCZEN,
Ken 5 14 19
13 LUPINO,
Alessandro 8 11 19
14 VAN HOREBEEK,
Jeremy 12 4 16
15 NICHOLLS,
Jake 6 8 14

GP Standings

1 MUSQUIN, Marvin 318
2 ROCZEN, Ken 247
3 FROSSARD, Steven 230
4 HERLINGS, Jeffrey 228
5 SIMPSON, Shaun 201
6 OSBORNE, Zach 195
7 TONUS, Arnaud 183
8 VAN HOREBEEK, Jeremy 173
9 ROELANTS,
Joel 170
10 NICHOLLS, Jake 143
11 KULLAS,
Harri 143
12 VERBRUGGEN, Dennis 127
13 CHARLIER, Christophe 106
14 LUPINO,
Alessandro 100
15 PAULIN,
Gautier 76