Image: Octopi Media

Monster Energy Star Racing Yamaha’s Dylan Ferrandis found himself standing on the podium in just his second race in the 450SX class.

While he’s no stranger to the podium, the 450 rookie admits this one has come as a big surprise.

There was no doubt that at some point we’d see him on the podium in the 450SX class, but an off-season injury had many thinking it would be later in the season until it came to fruition.

Following the December crash, Ferrandis recovered just in time for the season to get under way and secured a seventh place finish at the opening round. Building on that momentum, he found himself in disbelief on the podium at round two, acknowledging he would have never guessed a podium this early in his 450 career.

“Big surprise,” he said, “I was standing on the podium like, ‘What am I doing here?’ I just never expected to be here on the podium that soon. It’s crazy.

“I was just cruising and trying to catch the guy in front of me, and at the end I finish P2. That was just unbelievable. I did nothing really crazy, I just tried to avoid any mistakes, do my laps and that’s all.”

After getting the first round out of the way, Ferrandis didn’t take any drastic measures in terms of bike set-up and came into today with a bit less pressure after getting round one out of the way.

“No big change [to the bike],” he continued. “Only small changes, just adjusting the bike for me and for race conditions. But no, nothing crazy. Maybe there was a little pressure for the first round and less pressure on round two and the track fit me really well. I just felt really good all day, gave my best and it worked.”

After two rounds of the season, Ferrandis sits in second place just one point back from Justin Barcia (TLD Red Bull GasGas) heading into the third round at NRG Stadium in Houston.