But with the new season well underway, Kehr is already showing that he’s back on top form. After round three of the series he’s currently sixth overall and based on his recent result at the GP of Euskadi, he’s got his eye’s set on returning to that elusive top five.
“I felt much more comfortable with my riding this weekend,” revealed Marcus after his fourth place result in E3 on day two in Munitibar, Spain. “The conditions were much more to my liking. I really enjoy the muddy races.”
Growing up in the Saxony region of Germany, Marcus has seen his fair share of wet weather over the years and when the weather forecasters revealing that the GP of Euskadi would be a wet one, Marcus rubbed his hands with glee.
“As I said I’m fond of racing in the mud and in Spain the conditions were very similar to what I race and train on at home.”
On day one, Marcus was fast out of the starting blocks, running as high as second place early on before a costly mistake dropped him down to a disappointing seventh.
“Normally I’m a bit slow to find my speed in the EWC, but with the slippery, wet morning conditions to my advantage I knew I needed to push hard early on to capitalise on that. Straight away I was up to second but in the extreme test I chose the wrong line on one of the long rutted up hills and got stuck. I lost a lot of time with that mistake and could only finish seventh in Enduro 3.”
With heavy overnight rain ensuring that it would be another wet start to day two, Marcus was focused on achieving a strong result to end the weekend.
“Again I just tried to push as hard as I could early on to be in a good position come the end of the day. Christophe (Nambotin) was setting a pace no one could match but I was fighting hard for second and a definite top three result. My times were good in the enduro test and I found some better lines as the day passed but it was in the extreme test that I lost out.
“On the final lap David (Knight) set an incredible time that I couldn’t match and I ended up fourth. It was disappointing to miss out on a podium result but after such a tight battle it was promising to finish just seven seconds behind him.
“My goal this year is to return to the top five overall and hopefully finish on the podium in some races. At the moment Christophe is so fast - on day two he beat everybody in Enduro 3 by two minutes and topped the overall scratch results. But I must focus on myself and continue to improve with each round – if I can do that, then hopefully the results will come.”
