The Frenchman, second-fastest during practice, showed clever line-choice through the first two turns to quickly advance to fourth. The early laps saw him wisely hold back from a slightly over-enthusiastic tussle for second directly ahead of him but once the combatants had calmed down he moved in with the fastest laps of the race to take over third with a commanding move on lap four.
 
 Romain Febvre: "It was a good day for me, I have a good feeling with the track, even if the ground is very slippery. The design of the track is nice; it’s technical and there’s several possibilities to pass, even if you need to be close to your rival to make a move. My start was good, but in the first corner I cut the gas a little too early and couldn’t get a holeshot. I was fourth and then made my way to third; I came close to second but I didn’t want to take unnecessary risks or spend too much energy as the weekend is not finished; today was cloudy so the temperature was not too high, but with the showers we had this morning there’s a lot of humidity and you feel it! My speed was good all day long and third gate-pick is OK for the start; I’m confident for tomorrow."
 
KRT teammate Mitch Evans gated well in Qualifying but was pushed wide at turn two and spent the remainder of the race recovering to twelfth.
 
A fall in the first turn of Qualifying for the FIM World MX2 Motocross Championship round proved costly for F&H Kawasaki Racing Team's Kevin Horgmo; the Norwegian kept pushing for the entire twenty-minute-plus-two-lap race to advance to fourteenth at the chequered flag.