Image: Supplied.

Attempting to return to the MXGP podium, Mitch Evans has stated he is putting ‘too much pressure’ on himself and has identified the need to take the races as they come.

At the latest round of the 2022 world championship season in France, the Team HRC rider started strong in the opening moto and held P4 for a majority of the bout.

A late-race mistake meant his podium chances were gone before a tough moto two saw the Australian finish just outside of the top 10. Without his MXGP future officially confirmed, the urgency of Evans to deliver rostrum results is understandable.

“Another weekend where I’m disappointed with how the motos went,” recalled Evans. “I was in a strong position in race one, staying in fourth place for the majority of the race and just a mistake near the end dropped me to seventh.

“I feel like I’m putting a bit too much pressure on myself to get on the podium, so I just need to focus a bit more on just taking each lap as it comes. Race two wasn’t as easy and another small mistake meant I dropped for seventh to 10th, and in the end, I finished 11th. Of course, I want more, and that’ll be the aim when we head to final round in Turkey in two weeks’ time.”

Evans’ best race result to date in the 2022 MXGP World Championship came in moto two in Sweeden where he was fourth, however, the number 43 did win the qualifying heat at Uddevalla.

Despite battling illness, he was able to score a podium during his premier class debut back in 2020 at Matterley Basin, before his campaign that season was brought to a premature end with a troublesome wrist injury, complications from that sidelining him from last year’s championship altogether.

The CRF450R rider will have the opportunity to end the current season on a high at the final round of the series, the MXGP of Turkey, on 4 September at Afyonkarahisar, before shifting his focus to the 2022 Motocross of Nations (MXoN) at RedBud later next month as he represents Team Australia alongside the Lawrence brothers.