Team Honda 114 Motorsports newcomer Mitch Evans starred on Saturday in the opening round of the MX2 World Championship, finishing sixth in the first qualifying race of the year.

At the Neuquen circuit in Patagonia-Argentina, Evans was 16th in timed practice but made gains as he stormed to sixth in the gate-deciding qualifier.

The MX2 qualifying heat was topped by Rockstar Energy Husqvarna’s Thomas Kjer Olsen ahead of world champion Jorge Prado (Red Bull KTM) and Henry Jacobi (F&H Racing Team Kawasaki).

In MXGP it was Monster Energy Yamaha’s Romain Febvre who won, leading Julien Lieber (Monster Energy Kawasaki Racing Team) and Jeremy Van Horebeek (Honda SR Motoblouz), while Antonio Cairoli (Red Bull KTM) exited with a technical issue.