TOM VIALLE BECOMES TWO-TIME MX2 WORLD CHAMP

With just 2 points separating KTM’s Tom Vialle and Yamaha’s Jago Geerts heading into last weekend’s season finale of the 2022 MX2 World Championship in Turkey, it was always going to be a doozie of a showdown. But right from the first practice laps, the 21-year-old Frenchman looked to have the wood on his Belgian counterpart (a psychological advantage from the fact he’d triumphed at both back-to-back Turkish rounds in 2021, perhaps?). And on Sunday, with Vialle’s trademark composure under pressure, the 2020 MX2 champ posted a 1-1 moto scorecard to clinch his second world title – the perfect way to sign-off on his European career (in which he claimed 24 Overall victories) before moving to America to race with KTM next year.

After the flawless 1-1 result in Turkey, check Vialle’s season stats:

17 moto wins (from 36);
10 Overall GP wins (from 18);
15podium appearances;
Plus, it allowed his Red Bull KTM Factory Racing to celebrate their first world title with the 2023 generation of the legendary KTM 250SX-F; and
Vialle became the fourth Red Bull KTM Factory Racing rider in the MX2 era to have taken more than one FIM title on the KTM 250SX-F and the second Frenchman to do so.

Tom Vialle: “I’m so happy. To finish the season like this is so nice. I felt good today even if the track was a bit sketchy. When I had the tip-over in the second moto I thought ‘Oh, it’s over’ but then I saw Jago had gone down as well so I got up as quickly as I could. We were riding so fast. I won some time. It was really crazy and I was lucky but that’s part of the game. This is my final race in MX2, so it was special. I wanted to enjoy the last few races with the team, who have given me such a strong home for four seasons. To have the title for the second time is amazing. The first one was crazy but also this one because it was so tight. I had to come here and go 1-1 but that wasn’t so easy.”

Joel Smets, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing Team Manager: “What a day, what a year, what a championship. I don’t think I have ever felt stress like that in any season, even in my own racing career. We’ve been in close situations before, but we knew it would all go down to some very tight action today and Tom was able to deliver. I’m so grateful to everybody behind us and I like to think that somewhere and somehow Rene was looking down and enjoying that one.”

Dirk Gruebel, Red Bull KTM Team Technical Coordinator: “Unbelievable today and it is unreal what Tom managed. The mindset was there in qualification, but what a difficult situation. He won the first moto but of course it would go down to the second and both riders rode so fast. It was such a strong pace and they went over the limit. Then we had a gap and that was a turning point. Even though Jago did not give up, it seemed like Tom just wanted it a bit more. A real drama today but we walked away as the winners and I’m happy for Tom and the whole team after a difficult season. We were always chasing so to take the title is something special.”