It was a disappointing premier class debut for Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Jeffrey Herlings as he failed to register a finish inside the top 10 at Qatar’s season opening MXGP World Championship event.

Initially hindered by a wrist injury before suffering a hand injury contesting the Italian Motocross Championship just two weeks prior to the 25 February event, the three-time MX2 champion was faced with a tough task on entry to the 450 category.

“What can I say? It was terrible but what can we expect? I broke my hand less than two weeks ago, we got it plated the day after the crash and then I was supposed to race 10 days later,” said Herlings. “Plus before that I had an injury with my wrist so I missed another four weeks.”

Riding through immense pain, the Dutch rider posted moto finishes of 18th and 11th for just 15th overall in his first MXGP appearance.

“I didn’t really have the feeling I needed on the bike and I had a lot of pain – it was pretty bad,” Herlings explained. “In motocross you need your entire body and I wasn’t 100 percent. We made some improvements on the bike anyway and I’m grateful to have such a strong team behind me and such a strong 450.”

Scoring just 13 championship points over the two opening motos of the season, Herlings now sits 37 points behind series leader and teammate Antonio Cairoli.