MX2

While South Africa does have three former world motocross champions, in Greg Albertyn, Grant Langston and Tyla Rattray, it is the current crop of South African riders, who will make this coming weekends Grand Prix in Johannesburg a very special one.

Camden Mc Lellan in MX2 and Calvin Vlaanderen in MXGP will be the stars of the show when the Terra Topia MX Track opens for the countries first Grand Prix in nearly 20 years. Both riders are capable of putting on a show for their countrymen, with Mc Lellan more than capable of sending his home crowd into a frenzy.

For Mc Lellan, who is still in contention for the MX2 championship and placed fourth in the MX2 points race and just two points off third place, he is more than excited to head home and race in front of family and friends. The sport needs some help in South Africa and a home Grand Prix, with a possible GP victory from Mc Lellan, would sure do that.

“It’s a pretty surreal feeling,” Mc Lellan said. “I think my family as well as myself are super excited to have a GP back home. For all my friends and family to be able to come and watch me. I think they’re just as excited as I am and I can’t wait to hopefully have a great home GP, race in front of all my friends, give the South African fans something that they haven’t experienced in a long time. I think we’re a country that likes and supports motorsports, but we haven’t had the privilege of a major championship coming home for a very long time, so I think it’s going to be pretty spectacular for all the South Africans and my friends and family especially.”

For Vlaanderen, who will take his factory Ducati back to South Africa for the Grand Prix, it is more about being involved, as his chances of taking victory, in the always tough MXGP class are slim at best. Ranked 11^th in the world at the moment, the South African born Dutchman will be showing national pride for his country of birth, you can be sure of that.

“I’m very excited,” Vlaanderen said. “It’s obviously quite far from the rest of the GP’s so it limits the South African fans to come and watch. Occasionally there are some South African fans which is awesome to see but being in South Africa will definitely be good for the home fans. It’s about a 16 hours’ drive (laughs), South Africa is huge. I’m from Cape Town which is completely south of the country. They will have to catch a flight which is 2.5 hours.”

No doubt, a bunch of wild-card riders will be racing, as South Africa does have a solid national championship and motocross clubs sprinkled around the country. There is no doubt, the new circuit, which was improved for the South African Grand Prix will see many fans arrive, to watch their first home GP since 2008.

Following a well-documented crash while leading the MX2 qualifying race at the MXGP of Portugal in late June, Mathis Valin has undergone further medical examinations.

After securing another holeshot in the qualifying race, Mathis was leading his rivals in Portugal when he landed in a hole after a jump and left his machine. In accordance with Kawasaki Racing Team protocol, he withdrew from the remainder of the event and was seen wearing a neck brace on Sunday while watching and supporting his teammates in the MXGP class.
 
Complying with medical advice, Mathis will not be present at FIM Motocross World Championship events until he is deemed fit to ride once more due to a wrist injury and vertebrae compression. The French rider will now rest and recover. He will have further examinations in the near future before considering, in accordance with the Kawasaki Racing Team, his gradual return to training and, ultimately, racing.
 
Mathis Valin: “It’s not really what you expect when leading a race, but that’s how it is. I don’t feel any pain in my body, but of course I will follow the medical advice and I want to thank the team for their unwavering support.”
 
Antti Pyrhonen (KRT Team Manager): “Mathis and the team are competing at the highest level and pushing as hard as the conditions allow. Occasionally something like this occurs and we accept that as part of the sport. The trackside and medical staff in Portugal did a great job and now it’s the turn of our medical professionals to guide Mathis back to 100% full fitness. It will take time, but Mathis has a super positive mindset. The main focus now is a structured path back to racing once more”.

Photo credit: Kawaski

JOHANNESBURG (South Africa) – 1st July 2026 – For the first time in 18 years, the Republic of South Africa welcomes back the FIM Motocross World Championships for its eleventh round of the 19 scheduled, and it’s the Terra Topia MX Track that plays host, on the north-western edge of Johannesburg, the largest city in the South African nation!

This will be only the sixth Motocross Grand Prix to be held in this country, and the fourth host venue.  The nearby circuit of Corobrik held the first GP here back in 1985, a 250cc event won by French Yamaha rider Jacky Vimond.  Then in 2004, Sun City held the first of three annual GPs in the MX1/MX2 era, before the most recent South African event was hosted by Nelspruit, 350 km east of Johannesburg, in 2008.  The winners that day were Jonathan Barragan for Spain, and Britain’s Tommy Searle, both racing for KTM.

Obviously, everybody competing this weekend will be racing their first GP in this country, and the biggest issue many will have is the elevation, running nearly 1,800m (approx. 5,900 ft), meaning that the air will be thin for both men and machinery, limiting engine power and making the athletic effort all the more stressful. The surface itself is a shade softer than recent circuits at Montevarchi and Águeda, and with the lack of support classes to chew up the ground, it should be a fast and spectacular track for the MXGP elite!

The two World Championships are still being led by the twins Lucas and Sacha Coenen, and the Red Bull KTM Factory Racing pair might have a slight advantage after racing in the USA in June, at similar altitude to that of Johannesburg.

Lucas holds a 57-point lead over five-time World Champion Jeffrey Herlings, but the Honda HRC Petronas firebrand has won the last two GPs and will be keen to make it three in a row. Defending Champion Romain Febvre lies in third place for Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP, and is still searching for his first GP win with the #1 plate.

Red Bull Ducati Factory MX Team rider Calvin Vlaanderen, just over a week after his 30th birthday, was born in the much more southerly Port Elizabeth, but is supremely excited for his first GP in the country of his birth, having been in the crowd as a pre-teen in 2008!

Sacha Coenen lost 14 points from his Championship lead last weekend, as Guillem Farres enjoyed his first ever perfect 1-1-1 weekend for the Triumph Factory Racing Team, cutting the current gap to 32 points.  Reigning World Champion Simon Längenfelder took third place back last weekend for Red Bull KTM Factory Racing, but he is only two points ahead of Camden McLellan, who is champing at the bit to compete in his first home GP, just a stone’s throw from where he was born! The Johannesburg native is having a storming season and would dearly love to send his home fans into raptures with victory here for Triumph Factory Racing Team!

As we are in the winter season here in the southern hemisphere, and there are no support classes, the schedule will be run a little earlier, but the time zone is the same as Central European Time, so it will be a straightforward affair to tune in and enjoy MXGP’s first visit to this region for a racing generation!

Calvin Vlaanderen

Lucas Coenen does seem to be managing his Championship lead well, actually making ground on Jeffrey Herlings over the MXGP of Portugal weekend, but he will of course be looking to stop the run of “The Bullet” and prevent any building of momentum. The Belgian has won in the Southern Hemisphere three times before, in Australia last year, as well as twice in Indonesia in MX2, so we know that he can travel well!

Herlings has a total of eight GP wins south of the equator, from Argentina to Indonesia and even back to Brazil in 2011, and knowing his love of building statistics, he is for sure keen to add another country to his win list.  Romain Febvre took his first GP win in Brazil in 2014, and has won twice in Indonesia. The big thing for the Champion will be to try and secure his first GP win of the season. 

The same applies to Tim Gajser, fourth in the standings for Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP, with his teammate Maxime Renaux in fifth. Renaux won in this hemisphere back at the start of 2025, while Gajser has a total of six GP wins from Indonesia and Argentina.  How their machines will cope with the altitude is another question mark for them, as it is for everybody!

Andrea Adamo for Red Bull KTM Factory Racing, and Ruben Fernandez for Honda HRC Petronas, are close together in sixth and seventh, just nine points apart. Of course, Fernandez enjoyed his sole GP victory in Argentina in 2023, so he can cope with travelling no problem.  Sadly, Kay de Wolf, eighth for Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing, is still out following his injuries from Italy. Tom Vialle should move past him for Honda HRC Petronas this weekend, as he has been trying to get stronger after missing two GPs from injury before this run of three.

Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP’s Pauls Jonass, twice an MX2 GP winner in Argentina, is the target for Calvin Vlaanderen as he tries to get back into the Championship top ten with home crowd support behind him! Calvin took his very first GP win south of the equator back in 2018, and would dearly love to be close again!

The 450cc machines won’t suffer at the elevation as much as their MX2 counterparts, but they will be able to crank the throttles more as they battle for supremacy in the Gauteng province!

MXGP - World Championship Top 10 Classification: 1. Lucas Coenen (BEL, KTM), 506 points; 2. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, HON), 449 p.; 3. Romain Febvre (FRA, KAW), 394 p.; 4. Tim Gajser (SLO, YAM), 371 p.; 5. Maxime Renaux (FRA, YAM), 334 p.; 6. Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), 313 p.; 7. Ruben Fernandez (ESP, HON), 304 p.; 8. Kay de Wolf (NED, HUS), 273 p.; 9. Tom Vialle (FRA, HON), 265 p.; 10. Pauls Jonass (LAT, KAW), 234 p.

    
1. Jefffrey Herlings; 2. Romain Febvre

Camden Mc Lellan

Sacha Coenen leads into the second half of the Championship in MX2, and the young Belgian won his only GP outside of Europe in China last year, so he has no issues with travelling, and won’t have the heat to deal with either this weekend.

What he will have to deal with is the Triumph pairing of Guillem Farres and Camden McLellan, who will both be determined to score a fourth GP win for the team this season, especially the South African on home ground!  Simon Längenfelder won for the first time outside of Europe in Argentina this season, and for sure the lack of heat will be welcome for the German as he tries to turn his season back around, having not seen the podium since Sardegna in April!

Liam Everts will be the sole representative in either class for Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing, and he is still fifth in the points chase and hunting for his first win of any kind this season.  Mathis Valin’s participation might be in question for Kawasaki Racing Team MX2 after his big crash last weekend, and he was passed in the series by Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MX2 teenager Janis Reisulis, but there are only three points between them!

Eighth in the Championship is Karlis Reisulis for Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MX2, who will be looking for a better second half of the season that the first one, as will Valerio Lata, ninth in the standings for Honda HRC Petronas.

Kay Karssemakers will be the top non-factory rider in the class to make the journey, for Dixon Racing Kawasaki, and he scored his best individual race finish yet with a sixth in Indonesia back in 2022, so can he find some magic again south of the equator?

The MX2 riders will be working hard to get significant power from their machines at the altitude this weekend, but then means they will all be pushing as hard as possible to compensate for the lack of power! It certainly won’t give us any lack of entertainment as the MXGP of South Africa gets underway near Johannesburg!

MX2 - World Championship Top 10 Classification: 1. Guillem Farres (ESP, Triumph), 35:00.046; 2. Sacha Coenen (BEL, KTM), +0:11.717; 3. Liam Everts (BEL, Husqvarna), +0:30.984; 4. Janis Martins Reisulis (LAT, Yamaha), +0:34.502; 5. Camden Mc Lellan (RSA, Triumph), +0:45.394; 6. Simon Längenfelder (GER, KTM), +0:50.426; 7. Karlis Alberts Reisulis (LAT, Yamaha), +0:52.293; 8. Kay Karssemakers (NED, Kawasaki), +1:20.236; 9. Julius Mikula (CZE, KTM), +1:25.086; 10. Jens Walvoort (NED, KTM), +1:56.275;

     
1.Janis Reisulis; 2. Sacha Coenen

All the photos from the MXGP of South Africa will be available HERE.

You can find the complete results HERE.

TIMETABLE (updated on 3rd July)

SATURDAY: 08:00 Blåkläder Start Practice MX2, 08:35 Blåkläder Start Practice MXGP, 09:15 MX2 Free Practice, 09:45 MXGP Free Practice, 11:50 MX2 Time Practice, 12:30 MXGP Time Practice, 14:25 MX2 Qualifying Race, 15:10 MXGP Qualifying Race.
 

SUNDAY: 09:25 MX2 Warm-up, 09:45 MXGP Warm-up, 11:15 MX2 Race 1, 12:15 MXGP Race 1, 14:10 MX2 Race 2, 15:10 MXGP Race 2.

LINKS

Infront Moto Racing

FIM

MXGP South Africa

The Kawasaki Racing Team MX2 is proud to announce that Francisco Garcia will join Mathis Valin next season in their line-up for the FIM MX2 Motocross World Championship. The Spaniard, a dominant force in this year's European EMX250 series, follows in the footsteps of Valin and each will race Kawasaki KX250F-SR factory machines next year.

The MX2 factory project, launched nearly two years ago by Kawasaki Motors, Ltd., has already enjoyed significant success through the partnership of the Kawasaki Racing Team and Valin. The French teenager - the EMX250 champion in 2024 in his first year with Kawasaki – has proven the competitiveness of the KX250 when they won the recent German round of the world championship in just their second season of competition at this level.
 
Next season, the Kawasaki Racing Team MX2 will expand and line up two riders in the MX2 World Championship. It was clear to all parties that Garcia was the perfect choice as teammate to Valin. Francisco, who joined the Team Green family last year, has shown his potential admirably in the European series with Team Bud Racing, who celebrated a twenty year partnership with Kawasaki recently.
 
Francisco has already won five of the first eight races to date this season and holds a commanding lead in the championship standings. At just eighteen years of age, he also made a strong MX2 GP debut as wild card at the French GP with a top-ten result overall.
 
Francisco Garcia: “ For sure it’s a dream to move to the World Championship with the Kawasaki Racing Team; I am so happy to have this opportunity. Of course I am very motivated for next season, as I have been already this year.  I know the factory bike has a huge potential as Mathis has shown already.
I’m happy to join him as we often practice together with our trainer Thierry Van Den Bosch. Of course the main goal at the moment is to secure the European title to end this chapter of my career with Bud Racing on a high before joining KRT.”
 
Antti Pyrhonen (KRT Team Manager): “We have enjoyed a strong two years in the MX2 category with Kawasaki, and we want to push even more in the future. We are happy to welcome another young talent into the team with EMX250 leader Francisco Garcia. It makes a clear statement regarding what we want to achieve in the future, and we need to thank Bud Racing for the great cooperation we enjoy together.
Mathis learnt a lot with Bud, and the same goes for Francisco, who is thus already prepared for his move to the next level with the factory team. I am confident that both Mathis and Francisco will help us to reach our goals in this category!”
 
Steve Guttridge (KME Race Planning Manager):
“Francisco has consistently been an inspiration within our Bud racing team, as the Spanish teenager continues to go from strength-to-strength on the KX250. 
Already claiming his first French MX2 National Championship title this season - and showing dogged determination every weekend in the EMX250 class – he is justifiably leading the category.
It’s a massive milestone for Kawasaki to be able to expand the factory MX2 team with the addition of a second seat. Both our young riders have graduated from our unique Team Green program which is the perfect scenario. From lap one in the coming season, we expect Garcia to continue his powerful progression inside KRT.”

Photo credit: Kawasaki

MONACO (Principality of Monaco) 30 June 2026 – The FIM Motocross World Championship is back in South Africa after a 18-year wait! The MXGP and MX2 classes will rip the South African dirt on 4-5 July on the reshaped Terra Topia MX Track near Johannesburg!

Checkout the Timetable and Entry Lists for the MXGP of Republic of South Africa below:

TIMETABLE

MXGP ENTRY LIST

MX2 ENTRY LIST

ÁGUEDA (Portugal) 28th June 2026 – The halfway stage of the season has been reached at the Crossdromo Internaçional de Águeda, as the MXGP of Portugal hosted a stunning tenth round of the 2026 FIM World Motocross Championships, under slightly cooler conditions than yesterday, which allowed the packed grandstands and hillsides of fans to put out even more energy as the atmosphere built around the famous orange dirt of the Portuguese venue!

In an instantly classic duel of the titans, Honda HRC Petronas’ Jeffrey Herlings took a record sixth overall GP victory at Águeda, turning the tables on his young rival Lucas Coenen, who took second for Red Bull KTM Factory Racing, finishing on the same points for the day after the pair shared the top two positions in each race.  Romain Febvre took his fourth straight podium finish at this venue, clinching third overall with two third places for Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP.

In MX2, Guillem Farres gained redemption from the series’ previous visit to the Iberian Peninsula, and completed a perfect weekend of three race victories for himself and the Triumph Racing Factory Team. He was followed by Janis Reisulis, who climbed his first career Grand Prix podium with second overall for Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MX2.  Championship leader Sacha Coenen bounced back from a big first race crash to take third overall for Red Bull KTM Factory Racing, although his Championship lead took a major cut thanks to Farres’ 1-1-1 scoreline.

Head Photo: Jeffrey Herlings; Top Photo: MXGP Start Portugal 2026

Lucas Coenen & Jeffrey Herlings battling for the lead

Jeffrey Herlings once more took the fastest time in the morning Warm-Up session, with Pauls Jonass second fastest for Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP. Tom Vialle was third fastest for Honda HRC Petronas.

From his ninth gate pick, Vialle fired across the bows of the whole field to take the Fox Holeshot Award through the first corner, but Lucas Coenen was directly in his wheel-tracks, and made a decisive move in the corner after the finish line jump to gain the immediate advantage!  Behind him, local favourite Ruben Fernandez moved into third for Honda HRC Petronas past Romain Febvre, but Herlings had lost traction in the second corner and had to fight from around eighth position!

“The Bullet” fought tenaciously past Febvre through the newly-profiled wave section to get into fourth place, but his progress was stunted for a few laps. On lap three, Fernandez put a typically aggressive move to wrestle second from Vialle. While Coenen had sprinted away to lead by around four seconds, he undid that work with a mistake on a downhill corner, dropping the bike momentarily and clambering back on again just as Fernandez came past!  In just the very next corner though, the Belgian reset the order with a direct inside move to retake the lead!

Herlings had got past Vialle to move into third, but was unable to shift his other teammate Fernandez until as late as lap eight, by which time the Belgian teenager had stretched out a ten second lead over his pursuers.  Febvre also got past the Spaniard a lap later on the same corner, and Tim Gajser had moved into fifth for Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP.

Vialle was sixth ahead of Jonass, then came Gajser’s teammate Maxime Renaux, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Andrea Adamo, and the Gabriel SS24 KTM of Oriol Oliver.  Vialle, still racing himself back into fitness from his French GP injuries, dropped steadily to 11th, before a small crash put him back to 15th at the flag.

Herlings did all he could to haul in Coenen, but could only get to within four seconds of his title rival.  Gajser put a nice outside-to-inside move on Fernandez to pull a block pass just before a downhill triple jump, which put him into fourth behind Febvre. Jonass took sixth ahead of Renaux, Adamo, Oliver, and Calvin Vlaanderen rounded out the top ten for the Red Bull Ducati Factory MXGP Team.

In a carbon copy of the first race start, Vialle pulled yet another Fox Holeshot, the 65th of his career, with Coenen again giving chase ahead of Jonass and Fernandez.  Herlings was around eighth through the second turn but determined to not let Coenen get away, and carved up to fourth past Gajser by the time they roared past Pit Lane!  In the next couple of corners, the entire top five got shaken up by several overtakes that happened almost exactly at the same time!  Coenen was able to fire around the outside of Vialle to lead the way again, just as Herlings pulled a similar move to relieve Jonass of third, and Gajser took advantage of a stumbling Fernandez to claim fifth!  Then through the old wave section Herlings closed in on Vialle to put in a decisive block pass on the Frenchman, giving us a showdown between the two title combatants right from the first full lap!

The second lap saw moves further back, as Gajser, Fernandez, and Febvre all worked past Jonass to put the Latvian into seventh ahead of Adamo.  Then Oliver passed Vlaanderen to put them into their positions from race one.  Unfortunately for the Spaniard, his good day as top privateer was cut short by a breakdown on lap seven, lifting Renaux into the top ten.

Up front, Gajser and Febvre had got past Vialle into third and fourth by lap six, with Fernandez also passing his teammate a lap later.  All eyes were on the leaders, however, as Herlings closed up on Coenen, and the pair engaged in a thrilling side-by-side combat for half of an amazing lap eight! After being closed off a couple of times, “The Bullet” shot to the inside of the Belgian in a sharp right-hander and almost came to a stop in a move that gave his rival a single option, to close the throttle!

Jeffrey sprinted away from here, and Lucas had no answer to his pace.  Febvre stalked Gajser, and the Slovenian got crossed up on a rough uphill, crashing without harm and handing the reigning Champion third place to secure his podium result.  Gajser and Fernandez were again fourth and fifth to finish in those positions in the overall GP.  Jonass took sixth on the day, his second-best result of the 2026 campaign.

Adamo claimed seventh in race two to put himself there overall, while Vlaanderen took eighth in race two ahead of Renaux, although the Frenchman came out on top between them by a single point. Kevin Horgmo, who never stopped charging all day for Team Honda Motoblouz SR Motul, took tenth to finish there overall as the best privateer for the GP.

After a stunning show of raw pace, the top two in the series now lie 57 points apart, as Herlings refuses to let Coenen rack up the wins when he can do something about it.  The Dutchman extends his GP win record to 117 in total, and yet again continues to be able to out-do his rival on hard-pack circuits.  How will the pair of them deal with the complete unknown of the next round in South Africa?  It’s an intriguing question that demands the attention of Motocross fans worldwide!

Jeffrey Herlings: “I felt like me and Lucas were roughly the same speed all weekend. In race one I lost a lot of time with my teammate Ruben,  I spent a longtime trying to pass him and Lucas went ahead. In race two I was straight into second after one lap, and I felt I was a bit faster at some points, but it was very difficult to find a line to pass. I found one spot where I could do it, and I made sure to stop him from going around me. I pushed a few laps, made a nice little gap and managed to win. GP number 117, race win 221,  the stats keep getting impressive, but it's been a nice weekend and I look forward to South Africa.”

Lucas Coenen: “The key is to be smart. I think I did the best weekend I could to win the overall. In race one I was running pretty good and felt ready. In race two I was just trying to control it, I knew Jeffrey wanted to win and he needed to, so I felt like I was being smart and not really pushing. At one moment I made a mistake and didn't jump the triple; I slowed down but Jeffrey went really close and I had to stop otherwise I was going down. Second overall, I gotta keep pushing and be consistent. I'm young, so I can learn from the best, and that's the main thing.”

Romain Febvre: “I felt pretty good straight away from Saturday. It was good to have a nice track with a lot of grip and nice jumps, for two years in a row it was a muddy one, so I was glad to have a good weekend like this. The two guys at the front were faster in almost every session, so it's hard, but I'm there and I try to close the gap every time. In race two my start was not good and I was quite far back, but I saw Gajser ahead and thought I need to make passes quick or I won't catch him. Two times third, finally two good races. My riding was better and I'm really happy.”

   
1.Lucas Coenen; 2. Romain Febvre

MXGP - Grand Prix Race 1 - Top 10 Classification: 1. Lucas Coenen (BEL, KTM), 35:12.425; 2. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, Honda), +0:03.672; 3. Romain Febvre (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:28.435; 4. Tim Gajser (SLO, Yamaha), +0:30.512; 5. Ruben Fernandez (ESP, Honda), +0:37.194; 6. Pauls Jonass (LAT, Kawasaki), +0:52.973; 7. Maxime Renaux (FRA, Yamaha), +1:02.418; 8. Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), +1:10.489; 9. Oriol Oliver (ESP, KTM), +1:13.153; 10. Calvin Vlaanderen (NED, Ducati), +1:17.288; 

MXGP - Grand Prix Race 2 – Top 10 Classification: 1. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, Honda), 35:36.420; 2. Lucas Coenen (BEL, KTM), +0:06.203; 3. Romain Febvre (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:16.060; 4. Tim Gajser (SLO, Yamaha), +0:20.583; 5. Ruben Fernandez (ESP, Honda), +0:38.907; 6. Pauls Jonass (LAT, Kawasaki), +0:53.326; 7. Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), +1:08.555; 8. Calvin Vlaanderen (NED, Ducati), +1:10.501; 9. Maxime Renaux (FRA, Yamaha), +1:16.188; 10. Kevin Horgmo (NOR, Honda), +1:16.552;

MXGP Overall – Top 10 Classification: . Jeffrey Herlings (NED, HON), 47 points; 2. Lucas Coenen (BEL, KTM), 47 p.; 3. Romain Febvre (FRA, KAW), 40 p.; 4. Tim Gajser (SLO, YAM), 36 p.; 5. Ruben Fernandez (ESP, HON), 32 p.; 6. Pauls Jonass (LAT, KAW), 30 p.; 7. Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), 27 p.; 8. Maxime Renaux (FRA, YAM), 26 p.; 9. Calvin Vlaanderen (NED, DUC), 24 p.; 10. Kevin Horgmo (NOR, HON), 20 p.

MXGP - World Championship Classification: 1. Lucas Coenen (BEL, KTM), 506 points; 2. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, HON), 449 p.; 3. Romain Febvre (FRA, KAW), 394 p.; 4. Tim Gajser (SLO, YAM), 371 p.; 5. Maxime Renaux (FRA, YAM), 334 p.; 6. Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), 313 p.; 7. Ruben Fernandez (ESP, HON), 304 p.; 8. Kay de Wolf (NED, HUS), 273 p.; 9. Tom Vialle (FRA, HON), 265 p.; 10. Pauls Jonass (LAT, KAW), 234 p.

MXGP - Manufacturers Classification: 1. Honda, 532 points; 2. KTM, 526 p.; 3. Yamaha, 452 p.; 4. Kawasaki, 419 p.; 5. Husqvarna, 284 p.; 6. Ducati, 214 p.; 7. Fantic, 210 p.; 8. Beta, 90 p.; 9. Triumph, 70 p.; 10. GASGAS, 4 p.

MXGP Podium Portugal 2026

Guillem Farres

In complete contrast to his brother, Sacha Coenen pressed on in the morning Warm-Up session to set the fastest time, with yesterday’s Qualifying Race winner Guillem Farres in second. The only rider in the class to have previously won a GP here, Liam Everts, took third for Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing.

Taking a surprise Fox Holeshot Award, for the first time in his career, was Julius Mikula of the Osička KTM MX Team!  The Czech celebrated over the finish line, but he had already been overtaken by Farres through the second corner, although he continued to harass the Spaniard throughout the first lap!

Behind them came Coenen, but the Belgian got the wave section badly wrong, resulting in a big crash that he was lucky to escape from uninjured, although it put him off the track and having to restart from outside the top twenty! Janis Reisulis inherited third ahead of defending Champion Simon Längenfelder, and the Maddi Racing Honda ABF Italia of Maxime Grau.

Camden McLellan suffered a poor start, and had to recover to seventh at the end of the first full lap behind Everts, and ahead of the Honda HRC Petronas machine of Valerio Lata, the ASA United GASGAS of Briton Ben Mustoe, and the Dixon Racing Kawasaki of Kay Karssemakers.

Janis was able to make a sweet outside to inside pass on Mikula to take second on lap two, and his brother Karlis Reisulis got into the top ten for Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MX2, at the expense of Karssemakers, at around the same time.

Mikula had to give way to some of the factory riders, as Längenfelder made an inside move for third on lap five, then McLellan took fourth on lap seven. Sadly for Grau, fighting hard in fifth, he suffered a technical failure and came to a stop as he started lap six.

Coenen staged a fantastic recovery to put Mustoe out of the top ten on lap five, and his final pass on Mikula took him to sixth, behind Everts, with four laps to go.  Lata finished in eighth behind the Czech, and a solid race from Ferruccio Zanchi put him into ninth for the Beddini Racing Ducati Factory MX2 Team. Karlis Reisulis rounded out the top ten.

His brother Janis, at a circuit where he had previously won three out of the four EMX races he competed in, held on to his career best GP race finish of second, ahead of Champ Längenfelder and McLellan.  However, no-one was getting near Farres, who matched Sacha Coenen’s 2026 race win total with his sixth of the season!

The Spaniard, and clear crowd favourite, gave himself the best chance of sealing the perfect weekend with a clear Fox Holeshot in race two, and Janis Reisulis was right with him as the Latvian was striving for the podium! Coenen was initially second, but two mistakes on the first downhill put him down to fourth behind Mikula, although the Belgian rectified that to retake third after a few corners.

Mikula then had an entertaining back and forth battle with Everts that lasted a couple of laps before the Husqvarna man finished the job in front of Pit Lane.  Längenfelder was behind them in sixth, with Karssemakers, Karlis Reisulis, McLellan and Lata completing the top ten.

The Champ was able to get around the Czech for fifth soon after, and McLellan began another charge from a below-average start, getting to sixth on lap six as Mikula landed off track in the waves section and dropped to tenth behind Karlis, Kay, and Valerio!

Sadly for Lata, he pulled into Pit Lane to retire on lap nine, lifting the SB Racing KTM of Jens Walvoort into the top ten, where he would finish behind Mikula, Karssemakers in eighth, and Karlis Reisulis in seventh.

Coenen was on a charge to try and limit the points damage to the runaway Farres, and he chopped across the front of Janis Reisulis to take second on lap 11. Everts, after nearly being thrown from his Husqvarna through the wave section on lap 14, caught back up to the teenage Latvian to take third a lap later!  By that time, McLellan had pounced on Längenfelder to grab fifth from the German. 

Zanchi had got taken down in a collision with Venrooy KTM Racing’s Noel Zanocz, and was relegated to eleventh overall, although Brit Ollie Colmer took a career best GP finish of 12th for Chambers KTM, just ahead of Mustoe.  Walvoort had done enough to claim tenth overall behind Karssemakers, with Karlis Reisulis eighth behind Mikula.

McLellan’s rough starts limited him to sixth overall behind Längenfelder, and he remains two points behind the German in the battle for third in the Championship.  Everts claimed fourth on the day, as both him and Janis Reisulis jumped up in the Championship ahead of Mathis Valin, who missed today’s races due to the impact of his big crash while leading the Qualifying Race for Kawasaki Racing Team MX2, but looks possible to line up in South Africa.

Coenen’s charge had been enough to see him take his seventh podium of the year, but his points lead has been by 14 points to 32 over the course of the weekend.  Janis Reisulis did a suitably strange dance to celebrate his first career podium, and you get the feeling that it’s the first of many!

The second career GP victory for Farres, however, was an emphatic one, and he is emerging as the biggest threat to Sacha Coenen in this year’s Championship, although his teammate will be more fired up than ever next weekend as he races a GP on home soil for the very first time!

The enthralling MX2 World Championship has many twists and turns ahead as we head to the Southern Hemisphere to start the second half of the season.  There is so much racing ahead of us, and we wouldn’t have it any other way! Join us as we head to South Africa for round 11 next weekend!

Guillem Farres: “I feel great, it's really nice to get a perfect weekend, and this is my first ever perfect weekend. This GP is also special because it's close to Spain, so I had my family here and a bunch of friends showed up as a surprise. I haven't changed a thing the whole weekend, which gives me a lot of extra confidence when riding. We did a lot of work this winter and for some reason on hard pack tracks I haven't touched a single clicker all year. The most important thing is not winning every weekend, it's minimizing the bad days. On the good days everything is easier; on the bad days is when the real champion shows up.”

Janis Reisulis: “I was feeling very calm this weekend. The last two races were not how I really wanted, so I went in with nothing to lose and just went for it. Two quite good starts helped me and I was feeling really good on the track, nice flow and I was just keeping it in control. In EMX you can sometimes relax at the end of a race, but in MX2 the intensity at the end is sometimes even higher than at the beginning, and that's what I've been losing in the early part of the season. This weekend gave me a lot of experience keeping up at the front in the last laps. I'm slowly getting into this class.”

Sacha Coenen: “I started not too bad in race one, was in third, but then I made a mistake and went down, and came back from last to sixth which was quite difficult because the track was wet and slippery, you couldn't make a mistake because it was really fast for everyone. In race two I had a not too bad start, stayed in third for quite a long time, made a move into second place and tried to come back, but Guillem passed me so I couldn't catch him. Third overall was not really bad for a bad weekend, let's say. I just had some issues dealing with the front at times, but it is what it is.”

    
1. Janis Reisulis; 2. Sacha Coenen

MX2 - Grand Prix Race 1 - Top 10 Classification: 1. Guillem Farres (ESP, Triumph), 35:01.379; 2. Janis Martins Reisulis (LAT, Yamaha), +0:04.641; 3. Simon Längenfelder (GER, KTM), +0:07.761; 4. Camden Mc Lellan (RSA, Triumph), +0:08.652; 5. Liam Everts (BEL, Husqvarna), +0:09.423; 6. Sacha Coenen (BEL, KTM), +0:33.661; 7. Julius Mikula (CZE, KTM), +0:40.674; 8. Valerio Lata (ITA, Honda), +0:54.120; 9. Ferruccio Zanchi (ITA, Ducati), +0:57.102; 10. Karlis Alberts Reisulis (LAT, Yamaha), +1:05.493;

MX2 - Grand Prix Race 2 – Top 10 Classification: 1. Guillem Farres (ESP, Triumph), 35:00.046; 2. Sacha Coenen (BEL, KTM), +0:11.717; 3. Liam Everts (BEL, Husqvarna), +0:30.984; 4. Janis Martins Reisulis (LAT, Yamaha), +0:34.502; 5. Camden Mc Lellan (RSA, Triumph), +0:45.394; 6. Simon Längenfelder (GER, KTM), +0:50.426; 7. Karlis Alberts Reisulis (LAT, Yamaha), +0:52.293; 8. Kay Karssemakers (NED, Kawasaki), +1:20.236; 9. Julius Mikula (CZE, KTM), +1:25.086; 10. Jens Walvoort (NED, KTM), +1:56.275

MX2 Overall – Top 10 Classification: 1. Guillem Farres (ESP, TRI), 50 points; 2. Janis Martins Reisulis (LAT, YAM), 40 p.; 3. Sacha Coenen (BEL, KTM), 37 p.; 4. Liam Everts (BEL, HUS), 36 p.; 5. Simon Längenfelder (GER, KTM), 35 p.; 6. Camden Mc Lellan (RSA, TRI), 34 p.; 7. Julius Mikula (CZE, KTM), 26 p.; 8. Karlis Alberts Reisulis (LAT, YAM), 25 p.; 9. Kay Karssemakers (NED, KAW), 21 p.; 10. Jens Walvoort (NED, KTM), 21 p.

MX2 - World Championship Classification: . Sacha Coenen (BEL, KTM), 477 points; 2. Guillem Farres (ESP, TRI), 445 p.; 3. Simon Längenfelder (GER, KTM), 415 p.; 4. Camden Mc Lellan (RSA, TRI), 413 p.; 5. Liam Everts (BEL, HUS), 397 p.; 6. Janis Martins Reisulis (LAT, YAM), 355 p.; 7. Mathis Valin (FRA, KAW), 352 p.; 8. Karlis Alberts Reisulis (LAT, YAM), 273 p.; 9. Valerio Lata (ITA, HON), 256 p.; 10. Kay Karssemakers (NED, KAW), 205 p.

MX2 - Manufacturers Classification: 1. KTM, 539 points; 2. Triumph, 526 p.; 3. Kawasaki, 400 p.; 4. Husqvarna, 397 p.; 5. Yamaha, 384 p.; 6. Honda, 298 p.; 7. Ducati, 114 p.; 8. TM, 87 p.; 9. GASGAS, 42 p.; 10. Fantic, 8 p

MX2 Podium Portugal 2026

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

You can find the complete results HERE.

MXGP OF PORTUGAL QUICK FACTS:

Circuit length: 1575m

Type of ground: Sand

Temperature: 26°

Weather conditions: Sunny

Crowd attendance: 23,000

LINKS

Infront Moto Racing

FIM

FIM Europe

MXGP Portugal