Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Pauls Jonass surprised himself at the season opening round of the 2017 MX2 World Championship as he put together the perfect round aboard his KTM 250 SX-F.

With a goal of minimal mistakes and consistent motos in mind, Jonass, working alongside Australian mechanic Ryan Deckert, walked away from the event with a career-first grand prix victory after topping the qualifying charts and sweeping both motos on the day.

“I didn’t expect that I would get two moto wins this weekend as well as qualifying,” said Jonass. “I had a good gate pick, two good starts, two consistent motos without any big mistakes – which was also a goal coming to this race – and to go home with two wins and my first overall makes me so happy.”

Although holding the red plate and leading the series ahead of Benoit Paturel and Julien Lieber, the Latvian racer is aware of the long, challenging and unpredictable series ahead.

“We still have eighteen GPs to go, it is such a long season,” Jonass added. “It will be difficult to continue like we were today but I will do my best! Today I really enjoyed my riding, I think I still have a lot of room for improvement but I am so happy with the bike and the team have done so much.”

Jonass will carry a six-point lead over France’s Paturel into this weekend’s second round of the 2017 series in Pangkal Pinang, Indonesia on 5 March.