The Uddevalla circuit in Sweden is one of the favourite stops for the Latvian Pauls Jonass for a good reason. With the return of the Swedish GP many PJ41 Team supporters and fans quietly were hoping for a turn of the events and, quite possibly, a weekend full of positive emotions. Pauls did not disappoint.

It could be sensed on Friday that the young athlete is in good spirits with his surroundings and, in fact, himself. After being asked about his thoughts on Saturday’s qualification race, Pauls, as per usual, responded that he will just try to do his best and look for a better starting position. After a great time practice, in which Pauls placed 1st, the quali race also started off nicely, the Latvian being one of the first few athletes who crossed the FOX Holeshot line. He spent most of the 20 minute race in the 4th position, losing only 5 seconds to the race leader.

On Sunday, the first race kicked just as well as the one on Saturday, Jonass closely following the leaders. He spent most of the moto being 4th and finishing that way. 2nd race was also off on a good note, and after a while Pauls was able to move up to the 3rd, and later – 2nd place for a brief moment. After being passed by a rival, the Latvina still winded up in the No.3 spot both at the end of the race and in the round overall classification.

“I’m really happy with my performance the past weekend – it feels great to be back on the podium again. It makes all the hard work by myself and the whole team worth it, and it shows we are definitely making progress, which was the goal this season. My starts were better this weekend, which helps a lot at this track, and I was then able to keep a good pace and stay with the top guys. The bike was great all weekend – we were able to make some changes to the suspension settings, which helped a lot here in Sweden. There was a lot of Latvian fans here this weekend and they made it feel like a home race for me, so thanks to them and I’m glad I was able to give them a good result,” revealed Jonass.

The next and second-to-last round of the 2019 season will be happening in Turkey in 2 weeks time. Despite the champions being already crowned, the fight for the rest of the positions are still on.

Written by Nikola Serge

Image by Juan Pablo Acevedo