A two-week shakedown in Southern California training at RD Field is all it took for defending MXGP World Champion Jorge Prado to make the decision to try his hand at AMA Supercross, set to make a fascinating cameo appearance across the opening three rounds of the 2024 season.
Words | Press release
That’s right, our Spanish sensation is in for Anaheim 1, San Francisco and San Diego this coming January, equipped with the GASGAS MC 450F in what will be his first-ever American Supercross start – straight into the premier 450SX ranks on debut. And we’re stoked to see it!
Fresh from clinching the 2023 FIM Motocross World Championship in the MXGP category, which was a milestone achievement for both himself and GASGAS with the Davide De Carli-managed squad, Jorge had expressed his lifelong dream of sampling the sport of Supercross – and potentially making a 450SX start! – in the United States.
From there, accompanied by a blitz of media attention throughout his brief off-season excursion, the capabilities of the the talented 22-year-old were evident from the outset while applying his craft within the tighter confines of training on a full-scale supercross track layout.
Together between Jorge, his regular Red Bull GASGAS Factory Racing Team and the Troy Lee Designs/Red Bull/GASGAS Factory Racing Team, it was decided that he will go on to contest the opening three rounds of the 2024 AMA Supercross Championship in a bid to gain experience via a series of gate-drops and race mileage in the U.S. during what will still be the Grand Prix off-season.
Jorge Prado: “Since I started riding my dream has always been to one day race in the U.S., specifically to race Supercross. I have watched it my whole life on television and always thought it must be great to race under lights with a huge crowd and atmosphere! And more specifically, it must be great to race at an iconic stadium like Angel Stadium. I was lucky enough in 2015, while visiting and training in the U.S., to go to Anaheim 1 – it was a great experience and made me want to try it even more. So given I won the MXGP title this year and am totally healthy and looking for a new challenge, I thought it was the perfect time in my career to come and train in USA properly to prepare for a few Supercross races. I don’t want to waste another whole year wondering if I could or should, so I am here and I am going to try it out. I’m really looking forward to it and am lucky enough to have the full support of my Red Bull GASGAS Factory Racing Team back home with Claudio and Davide de Carli, and the Troy Lee Designs/Red Bull/GASGAS Factory Racing Team here in the USA behind me.”
Roger De Coster (Director of Motorsports, North America): “The main goal for Jorge in 2024 is to defend the world title he earned this past season, but of course we are excited to see what he can do on a Supercross track. We all know that he is very talented, given he’s already a multiple times Motocross World Champion, having won in MX2 and being the current MXGP Champion. However, we also know that Supercross at the highest level is extremely competitive and to race with the top here requires a lot of toughness besides talent, so this will be a huge challenge for him. We wish him the very best and are glad that with the support of TLD GASGAS we are able to support his wishes to try Supercross!”
Davide De Carli (Red Bull GASGAS Factory Racing Team Manager): “Jorge fulfilled his dream in Europe to become MXGP World Champion this year and we are so proud of him. His desire now is to train in the U.S. and to try Supercross, because he hasn’t had the opportunity until now and from our side he completely deserves it. We, as a team, along with Pit Beirer and Robert Jonas have been completely open since day one with Jorge about giving him the opportunity to race Supercross and we will support him from Europe! We can’t wait to see him line up at A1 as it’s important for him to race those first three rounds to clarify in his mind where his racing future is, as he’s still really young and can try it out. It’s also good winter training for him before the start of the MXGP season, where his goal is to defend his number one plate in 2024. Good luck, Jorge!”
Following his scheduled three-round appearance in the 2024 AMA Supercross Championship, Jorge will return to Europe and prepare for his MXGP World Championship defense, which will open at the MXGP of Patagonia-Argentina on March 10, 2024.
