Chief among the achievers was 114 Motorsports Hunter Lawrence. The Australian earned just the third rostrum appearance of his career and a maiden prize for his new Honda team with the third step of the box. “If I look back to last year then it is a helluva lot better start!” he said. “I wasn’t on fire with the track and it isn’t one of my favourites; it wasn’t a great weekend and I’m still on the box so we’ll take it.”

Next-up Kemea Yamaha’s Ben Watson, who realised a personal best of fourth position overall in the MX2 class – two years after the 20 year old Brit smashed his left foot to pieces at the same venue and missed most of the 2016 campaign. This was a dramatic and deserved reverse of fortune. “I didn’t have any pressure on my shoulders and the team have given me absolutely everything to get this job done,” #919 said. “This feels pretty emotional to be honest. It is an unbelievable feeling. In every single session I was ‘up there’ and it is a massive boost in many ways and I think this is a big step for my career.”

The latches clicked shut on the freight cases Sunday evening as the trucks slowly pulled into the near-deserted circuit. The long journey east and back to (colder) European climes begins immediately for the paddock who can now begin to think about a sustained campaign on soil closer to home and with Grands Prix in Holland, Spain, Portugal and Italy to come in the following weeks.