Jeffrey Herlings believes an MXGP World Championship podium is now in his reach as the 2017 series moves on to Argentina for its third round of racing action.

Entering his rookie premier class season under an injury cloud due to a broken hand, the former three-time MX2 champion now finds himself battling back through the standings due to tough rounds in both Qatar’s opener and the most recent rain-soaked Indonesian event.

“It was a gamble and some riders won and some lost; it is pretty devastating to be in sixth-seventh position and to then get stuck,” said Herlings. “I’m already 50 points down in the championship but I still believe we can make it happen. It has been a tough start and we expected that because of my injury but the weather here meant it was out of my hands!”

Lodging just a 17th-place finish in the shortened Pangkal Pinang event, the Dutch rider is taking the positives from the round and focusing on a podium performance on the preferred Neuquen circuit for round three.

“We’ll have to take this and work from here, at least my hand was much better than last week,” he added. “I hope I can finally be up front in Argentina and it is a track that suits me well – a podium there is realistic.”

The Red Bull KTM Factory Racing rider now sits 17th overall in the MXGP World Championship standings with 17 rounds remaining on the 2017 calendar.