The Frenchman was in no mood for hanging around after posting second-fastest time in practice and powered ahead out of the gate at the start of the twenty-minute-plus-two lap Qualifying race to pull a clear holeshot and immediately move relentlessly ever further ahead of his chasers. He already led by seven seconds on lap four, increasing his advantage to thirteen seconds at half-distance with a series of record laps to coast home an overwhelming victor.
 
Romain Febvre: "The times in practice this morning were really close so we knew we needed the holeshot. We worked a lot on my starts this week and it paid off as we took a double-holeshot with me in front and Jeremy right behind me. I could quickly make a gap and control the race. We took some good points back in the championship and now we have to do it again in both GP motos tomorrow."
 
Jeremy Seewer made it a KX450-SR twin-holeshot but the two Green machines almost came together in the first turn, the Swiss briefly losing momentum to drop out of the first dozen on the run down to turn two. Decisive riding saw him move forward to sixth by lap three and a relentless charge saw him take fifth with a pulsating outside pass on the very last lap.
 
Jeremy Seewer: "I had a very good start - me and Romain almost side-by-side - but the guy coming from the outside can brake later and Romain squeezed me. It was just unfortunate; that's racing but I was really lucky not to crash and got stuck with some others. In a split-second I went from nearly taking the holeshot to fifteenth. After that it was a very positive race. I think it was the first time this year that we saw the real Jeremy Seewer again; I could play with the bike, pass people at will and do things others couldn't do. The track also helped; the preparation made it really technical so you can pass when you are faster. And the icing on the cake are the Swiss fans; they are really noisy and cool here."
 
Bike It Kawasaki MX2 Racing Team's Jack Chambers and Bobby Bruce had another frustrating FIM World MX2 Motocross Championship Qualifying race as first lap incidents left each of them way back in the pack. It was particularly unfortunate for the American who had made a tremendous start from mid-gate to dive into turn two third until he touched with another rider and fell. The Bike It duo persevered from outside the top-thirty to earn seventeenth and eighteenth choice-of-gate for each of tomorrow's GP motos.
 
Bud Racing Kawasaki's Mathis Valin, second on points at the start of the day in the FIM European EMX250 Championship, moved quickly from sixth to fourth in the first points-scoring moto of the weekend before spinning out at the final turn of lap two. Rejoined the race in seventh he made decisive moves to regain fifth by lap seven and advanced another position on lap ten to take the chequered flag fourth to retain his second place in the series standings.
 
Mathis Valin: "It was another good race for me; I felt comfortable on the track but I made a stupid crash at the end of the second lap and hit my leg. I had some pain and it was not easy to finish the race but I was able to come back to fourth so that’s positive. The track is not really my favorite with many scattered stones and quite a lot of ruts but I can see that all the work we did this winter is paying off."
 
Mathis' teammate Benjamin Garib got caught up in the inevitable first turn crash to pass the first timekeeping split thirty-fourth; the Chilean charged impressively through the pack to reach twelfth by lap eight before a further incident forced him out of the race. Bike It Kawasaki's Billy Askew had a big crash during Timed Practice; the teenager has no broken bones but was suffering pain in his neck and it was felt wiser for him not to race today.