HISTORY BECKONS THIS WEEKEND AT THE MXGP OF TÜRKIYE!

AFYONKARAHISAR (Türkiye) – 3rd September 2026 - The final trio of GPs that will bring us to the end of the 2026 FIM Motocross World Championships begins this weekend with round 17, the MXGP of Türkiye, at the Afyon Motor Sports Center in the western half of the Asian section of this historical nation.

Located roughly 250km south-west of the capital, Ankara, the circuit at Afyonkarahisar is hosting its ninth MXGP event this weekend, and much of the attention will surround the first ever MXGP winner at this venue, and the most successful rider of all here with five victories, Jeffrey Herlings, as the legendary Dutchman brings a 143-point lead to Türkiye, with only 180 points left on the table. He cannot clinch the crown for Honda HRC Petronas on Saturday, but if he is 145 points or more ahead of Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP’s Romain Febvre after race one on Sunday, then he will be celebrating an incredible sixth World Championship title. Even if it goes to race two, he only needs to be ahead by 120 points after that one to be sure of this year’s Gold Medal.

Of course, Febvre knows the odds are against him, but the reigning World Champion will not give up until it is done, especially as he is still looking for his first win with the #1 plate, let alone his first win at Afyon. Slovenian Tim Gajser is third in the series for Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP, and the two-time Turkish victor will be looking to scoop his first GP win of the year also.

Things are much closer in the MX2 World Championship, as Spaniard Guillem Farres leads the way for the Triumph Racing Factory Team, and he has just one race’s worth of points - 25 - between himself and Red Bull KTM Factory Racing rider Sacha Coenen! The Belgian is in a Triumph Racing Factory Team sandwich, as Camden McLellan has taken two of the last three GP victories to move to within just 12 points of making it a 1-2 for the British manufacturer! This series looks to be going all the way!

The EMX250 European Championship holds its final round this weekend, with the Championship already won by Francisco Garcia for BUD Racing Kawasaki at the previous round, but Team SixtySeven Husqvarna Racing’s Nikolaj Skovbjerg is on form after sealing the Silver Medal from Garcia’s teammate Jake Cannon. He is virtually assured the Bronze Medal as well, so this weekend will be a hectic race for the places amongst many riders who will graduate to MX2 next year!

The EMX125 European Championship Presented by FMF Racing has also been decided in advance of its final round this weekend, with Champion Ricardo Bauer clinching the title at Arnhem for Norman KTM Factory Rookies. His teammate Moritz Ernecker will be keen to make it a 1-2 for the team, and he has an 11-point gap to defend over Yamaha Europe Monster Energy MJC’s French flyer Sleny Goyer. Again, with many riders looking to graduate to EMX250 next year, they will all be looking to go full tilt for a nice end to their 125cc career around Afyon!

The heat and the hard-baked Turkish circuit will certainly present a physical challenge for all concerned, and the MXGP of Türkiye should provide a fascinating weekend of Motocross action!

Jeffrey Herlings

Jeffrey Herlings comes to Afyonkarahisar with wind in his sails, having not lost a single race since the Qualifying Race at Foxhills in July. That puts him on a 14-race streak that matches his best from his dominant 2018 season, when the Saturday races didn’t count for points! His ten GP wins for Honda this season already put him eighth on the all-time win list for his new manufacturer! His ridiculous statistics go on and on, but the most relevant one may be his five GP wins at Afyon from his six starts here, going 1-1 in 2018 and ’19, only losing out in a curious incident in 2024, when picked up burns from his own exhaust pipe in an unfortunate crash after Pit Lane. He will be hoping for no such issues this weekend, and if he makes two points over Romain Febvre by the end of race one, the celebrations can commence!

In contrast, Febvre has won two races here, in 2022 and 2023, but never climbed to the top step in any of his three podium finishes from his six GPs in Türkiye. Tim Gajser has raced in all eight of the GPs held at Afyon, a distinction shared only with his fellow Slovenian Jan Pancar and Swiss veteran Jeremy Seewer, and Tim won in both 2022 and 2023, climbing the podium another four times on top of those victories. His gap to Febvre is at 41 points, which is achievable if the Frenchman has issues.

Fourth in the Championship is the injured Lucas Coenen, and it’s unsure if we’ll see the 2024 MX2 Afyon winner line up at all in the last three races. He has a 44-point advantage over fellow Red Bull KTM Factory Racing pilot Andrea Adamo, but the Italian has surprisingly not placed inside the top five in any of his six MX2 GPs here, so he’ll be hoping to get more out of Afyon than ever before. For sure Ruben Fernandez, who was level on points with Adamo before Arnhem, will be looking to gain back the 20 he lost to the Italian in the sand, at a track where he went 5-5 last year.

The Spaniard will be looking over his shoulder, however, for his Honda HRC Petronas teammate Tom Vialle, who has climbed the last two GP podiums on his way to closing within 6 points of Fernandez for sixth in the series. The Frenchman will feel confident at the circuit where he clinched the MX2 world title in 2022, which was the last of three straight GP wins at this venue!

All of the above riders have pulled away from Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP’s Maxime Renaux, as he has struggled with illness this season. Both the Qualifying Race and the first Sunday race win went the Frenchman’s way in 2022, and he also won two MX2 races here without taking overall victory. He will be hoping to trouble that podium one more time as he looks to finish the year strongly.

After his solid sand results, Kay de Wolf is just 21 points further back in ninth position for Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing, and he was second overall here in each of the last two events in MX2, so he will have eyes on the podium too. Virtually assured of tenth in the series is Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP’s Pauls Jonass, who last saw the Turkish podium in his first MXGP appearance here back in 2019. Sixth in last year’s Qualifying Race should show that he could be strong here this weekend.

One of those riders to have competed at every event here, Jeremy Seewer, will come back for Venrooy KTM Racing after missing the Dutch GP, and he took his most recent race here in 2024, so he’ll hope for more of those good Turkish vibes at this GP.

It is highly likely that we will see the Champion crowned in MXGP, but as always that is never a foregone conclusion, and Motocross has a habit of providing the unexpected! Will a new winner emerge from the pack as Herlings deals with the title business at hand? It would not be unlike Afyon to throw up some surprises!

1. Romain Febvre; 2. Kay. de Wolf

MXGP - World Championship Top 10 Classification: 1. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, HON), 795 points; 2. Romain Febvre (FRA, KAW), 652 p.; 3. Tim Gajser (SLO, YAM), 611 p.; 4. Lucas Coenen (BEL, KTM), 566 p.; 5. Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), 522 p.; 6. Ruben Fernandez (ESP, HON), 502 p.; 7. Tom Vialle (FRA, HON), 496 p.; 8. Maxime Renaux (FRA, YAM), 449 p.; 9. Kay de Wolf (NED, HUS), 428 p.; 10. Pauls Jonass (LAT, KAW), 333 p.

MX2 Start Turkiye 2025

After a four-GP winning streak to get to the top of the standings, Guillem Farres has had to deal with a big crash in Sweden and a resurgence from his main challengers, Sacha Coenen and the Spaniard’s own teammate Camden McLellan.

Neither of the Triumph Racing Factory Team riders have a great history in Türkiye, with the pair finishing fourth and fifth in last year’s GP, while Sacha won the Qualifying Race and the opener on Sunday last year on his way to third overall. The Belgian still has a chance to claw back the 25-point deficit to Farres, and will be going all-out in the final three GPs! McLellan is ready to pounce as well, just 12 points further back, and all three are eyeing up their first world title.

Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s defending World Champion Simon Längenfelder has had a tough few rounds, but last year’s Afyon winner was also on the podium here in 2024, and won a race back in 2023, so he will at least feel confident of a good weekend. 75 points back from Farres, the #1 plate holder probably holds little hope of retaining his MX2 title.

The recent good form of Liam Everts, winner of the 2023 MXGP of Türkiye in MX2, could put him in the picture to move forward from fifth, as the Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing ace is just 26 points behind the Champ. For sure he will want to score at least one GP win from the Championship battlers in the last three rounds!

The Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MX2 teammates and brothers Janis and Karlis Reisulis are virtually assured of finishing sixth and seventh in the Championship, so the mission is all about those elusive first wins, of any description! Janis clinched his EMX250 title here last year after finishing second overall, while Karlis will want to improve from last year’s 15th position in the MX2 class.

Neither Honda HRC Petronas rider Valerio Lata, or Kawasaki Racing Team MX2’s Mathis Valin, will take any further part in the 2026 Championship, so lead privateer Julius Mikula, level on points with Valin for ninth in the table for Osička Racing KTM, will be looking to push on higher. These will be the first GPs at the final three venues for the young Czech rider, and as a bit of a hard-pack lover, he could be a real contender for a top five spot!

The battle for the Championship in MX2 could take another few twists or turns in the final run-in, so these will be fascinating contests to watch!

The MXGP of Türkiye kicks off the flyaway end to the season in style, so make sure you catch all the action this weekend!

1. Guillem Farres ; 2. Simon Längenfelder

MX2 - World Championship Top 10 Classification: 1. Guillem Farres (ESP, TRI), 749 points; 2. Sacha Coenen (BEL, KTM), 724 p.; 3. Camden Mc Lellan (RSA, TRI), 712 p.; 4. Simon Längenfelder (GER, KTM), 674 p.; 5. Liam Everts (BEL, HUS), 648 p.; 6. Janis Martins Reisulis (LAT, YAM), 587 p.; 7. Karlis Alberts Reisulis (LAT, YAM), 473 p.; 8. Valerio Lata (ITA, HON), 414 p.; 9. Mathis Valin (FRA, KAW), 352 p.; 10. Julius Mikula (CZE, KTM), 352 p.

All the photos from the MXGP of Türkiye will be available HERE.

You can find the complete results HERE.

TIMETABLE

SATURDAY:
09:10 EMX125 Free Practice, 09:45 EMX250 Free Practice, 10:20 MX2 Free Practice, 11:00 MXGP Free Practice, 12:20 EMX125 Qualifying Practice, 13:00 EMX250 Qualifying Practice, 13:40 MX2 Time Practice, 14:15 MXGP Time Practice, 15:00 EMX125 Race 1, 15:45 EMX250 Race 1, 16:35 MX2 Qualifying Race, 17:25 MXGP Qualifying Race.

SUNDAY:
09:40 EMX125 Race 2, 10:25 MX2 Warm-up, 10:45 MXGP Warm-up, 11:30 EMX250 Race 2, 13:15 MX2 Race 1, 14:15 MXGP Race 1, 16:10 MX2 Race 2, 17:10 MXGP Race 2.

LINKS

Author:

Infront Moto Racing