SACHA COENEN MAKES IT THREE IN A ROW, WHILE THE MXGP FOX HOLESHOT AWARD GOES DOWN TO THE WIRE

With three rounds of the 2026 season still to run, one Fox Holeshot Award is already decided and the other could hardly be tighter. Both trophies will be handed over at the MXGP Awards in Darwin.

MXGP: three riders, six races, two holeshots between them

The premier class could not be more different. Honda HRC PETRONAS' Tom Vialle leads the MXGP Fox Holeshot classification on nine, but Red Bull KTM Factory Racing's Lucas Coenen is right behind him on seven, and Jeffrey Herlings is a further one back on six. Six races remain. Any of the three can still win it.

Lucas Coenen is the rider with the most to defend. He took the 2025 MXGP Fox Holeshot Award with 13 starts won in his rookie premier class season, and a second straight title would confirm the Coenen brothers as the fastest gate-droppers in the paddock. Vialle, for his part, has been the most consistent starter in the second half of the season, and Herlings has shown at Foxhills and Lommel that he can still take both holeshots in a single day when the gate suits him.

MXGP Fox Holeshot standings after 16 rounds

Red Bull KTM Factory Racing's Sacha Coenen has done it again. With 14 Fox Holeshots from the opening 16 Grands Prix of the 2026 season, the Belgian has mathematically secured his third consecutive MX2 Fox Holeshot Award, adding to the titles he claimed in 2024 and 2025. With only six races left on the calendar, nobody can catch him.

The margin tells the story. Coenen's closest rival, team-mate Simon Längenfelder, sits on six, with Monster Energy Triumph Racing Team's Guillem Farrés on five. Coenen has taken more holeshots this season than his three nearest rivals combined, and his run through the European summer was close to untouchable: doubles at Riola Sardo, Pietramurata, Teutschenthal, Kegums and Uddevalla, five Grands Prix in which he led the field out of the first corner in both races.

MX2 Fox Holeshot standings after 16 rounds

How it works, and where it ends

The rule is as simple as the moment it rewards. At every MXGP and MX2 Grand Prix, the first rider across the white line painted at the exit of the first corner takes the Fox Holeshot and one point in the classification. Two races per Grand Prix, 19 Grands Prix, 38 chances per class across the season.

Both awards will be presented at the MXGP Awards ceremony in Darwin, at the close of the MXGP of Australia on 20 September, the final round of the 2026 FIM Motocross World Championship. Last year the Coenen brothers collected both trophies together against the backdrop of Mindil Beach. Sacha has already booked his return to the stage. Whether his brother joins him will be settled in Türkiye, Shanghai and Darwin.