Youthful Australian Hunter Lawrence says his return to the podium at Frauenfeld’s 16th round of the 2018 MX2 World Championship in Switzerland was the first race he’s felt as close to 100 percent after injuries have riddled his season.

The 114 Honda Motorsport rider showed promising pace during qualifying, where he led a number of laps before finishing in P2. He later converted that speed into a 5-2 scorecard in the two motos, granting him third overall – his first podium since the season-opener.

“It was a good weekend right from the start when I set the fastest lap in free practice,” Lawrence explained. “I also led the qualification race for a few laps which was cool and nice to be out front again. Then in the first moto, I didn’t get a great start, coming around the second turn in about 12th position, but I worked my way through to fifth, however by that time the front guys were gone and I couldn’t catch them.

“The second moto had a bit of a better start and like the first race I went to work right away and made as many passes as I could. I found myself behind [Calvin] Vlaanderen for a good amount of the moto, but eventually made a pass on him to get third.

“This was good enough to land myself on the podium which I’m really happy about. A 5-3 isn’t too bad, especially as this is probably the first race that I’m feeling close to 100 percent. It’s good to be back!”

After sitting out seven of the 16 rounds so far, Lawrence sits 10th in the MX2 World Championship standings.