Image: Supplied.

Mitch Evans banked another two important races at Mantova, with improvements clear for the Team HRC rider continuing to make ground in his MXGP return.

An issue in qualifying left Evans with an outside gate pick for Sunday’s two races, finishing 13th in the opening bout before recovering from 22nd to finish 15th in moto two, ultimately 12th overall.

“Much improved weekend for me in Lombardia and I’m leaving here feeling a lot more positive about the rest of the year,” Evans reflected. “The results still aren’t where I want them to be, but I felt like my riding was a lot better and it was good to battle with these guys again.

“The first race especially was really intense and I was always fighting for my position, so that was fun and it was something I’ve missed when away from the series. Now, I have a weekend off to keep building before heading down to Argentina, which is a track I have fond memories of.”

Evans can draw positives that his overall position improved at Mantova, seven places higher than round one and he finished each race at round two much closer to teammate Tim Gajser than at Matterley Basin. To put this in perspective, race one at the MXGP of Great Britain saw Evans 17th, 1m39s from the lead, where he was 13th and 57.6s from the victory during the first outing at the MXGP of Lombardia.

The next opportunity for Evans to return inside the top 10 comes at the MXGP of Patagonia-Argentina, which is round three of the 2022 MXGP World Championship on 20 March.