DARWIN IS READY FOR THE FINAL ROUND OF 2026, THE MXGP OF AUSTRALIA PRESENTED BY SITZLER!

DARWIN (Australia) – 16th September 2026 – For the second year in a row, the Hidden Valley Motorsports Complex is preparing to host the final round of the 2026 FIM Motocross World Championship on the outskirts of the Northern Territory capital of Darwin.  Two world titles still wait to be decided this weekend at the MXGP of Australia Presented by Sitzler!

Last year’s inaugural event was extremely well received by both fans and riders alike, and the local organisers are hoping that word has spread further to bring even more fans to the multiple-motorsport facility for the second running this year.

Jeffrey Herlings might already have tied up the MXGP World Championship for Honda HRC Petronas, but he will be fired up to continue his incredible streak of finishing first in every race and practice session since round 12, that’s 38 sessions in a row!  He also has not won in this country before, finishing second last year to Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Lucas Coenen, who is still absent with injury.  Outgoing World Champion Romain Febvre looked motivated to end Jeffrey’s talk of consecutive wins in China, and the Frenchman will be keen to give the #1 plate a happy farewell in his final GP for Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP!

The MX2 World Championship is likely to go right to the wire this weekend, although Spaniard Guillem Farres holds the aces with a 48-point lead over his Triumph Racing Factory teammate Camden McLellan.  The title could be clinched on Saturday if Farres gains three points on the South African in the Qualifying Race, so for sure that one will be a must-watch for fans! The bronze medal is also under dispute, as Sacha Coenen holds only a seven-point advantage over his fellow Red Bull KTM Factory Racing rider Simon Längenfelder.  Liam Everts is also in the mix for that, being just 26 further back for Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing, and coming in with a four-GP podium streak!  Australian fans will be cheering on Byron Dennis after the KTM Australia wildcard took a solid seventh overall in China last weekend.

The second world title up for grabs is also the most difficult to predict, as the final round of the FIM Women’s Motocross World Championship also takes place, with one race on each day to decide the fate of the 2026 title, and it’s a generational battle between the aggressive 20-year-old Spaniard Daniela Guillen, who holds a six-point lead for RFME National Team Spain GASGAS, and the legendary Kiara Fontanesi, who looks to take her MXFonta Racing GASGAS to her seventh world title, and her first since becoming a mother six years ago!

Reigning WMX World Champion Lotte van Drunen gave herself an outside chance of retaining her title with a double victory for De Baets AIT Yamaha at her home GP in the Netherlands, but being 48 points behind makes it highly unlikely!  Antipodean fans will be happy to see New Zealander Courtney Duncan race her closest ever GP to home for Dixon Racing Kawasaki, and the exciting wildcard appearance of three-time American Pro Motocross Women’s Champion Lachlan Turner will certainly add spice to the event this weekend as the Altus Blu Cru Yamaha rider looks to get amongst the World Championship regulars!

On a track that received universal approval from all who rode it last year, this weekend’s races promise a fantastic end to the MXGP season in all three classes!

Jeffrey Herlings

Jeffrey Herlings brings the factory Honda to Australia for the first time, and looks to continue his run of seven straight GP wins, 14 straight Sunday race wins, and 20 gate-drops in total including Qualifying Races! Another GP win would see him up to a century and a quarter, sealing what has turned into one of the best seasons of his remarkable career.  He is also in contention for the highest Fox Holeshot Award tally of the year, sitting just one behind his teammate Tom Vialle.

Romain Febvre pushed Herlings very hard in China last weekend, and the Frenchman has one last chance to win a GP with the #1 plate, as well as for the factory Kawasaki team, who he parts company with after the Monster Energy Motocross of Nations, ending a seven-year tenure with the team in green.  He is assured of collecting the silver medal for the season at the end of this weekend. Tim Gajser is also guaranteed of the bronze medal for the season, but the Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP man is out for the year with injuries from his Dutch GP crash.

The closest Championship battle in the premier class is for fourth, and it’s also the battle for top MXGP rookie, between Honda HRC Petronas’ Tom Vialle and the lone Red Bull KTM Factory Racing representative in the class, Andrea Adamo.  The Frenchman passed the Italian last weekend in China, but there is only one point between them so Adamo will certainly be pushing to get back up there.

The next four riders in the Championship are sadly absent due to injury, namely Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Lucas Coenen, Honda HRC Petronas’ Ruben Fernandez, Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP’s Maxime Renaux and Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing’s Kay de Wolf. Pauls Jonass is within 28 points of De Wolf, so the Latvian has a shot at moving up to ninth for Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP.

Australian riders Rhys Budd and Cooper Holroyd will enjoy their day lining up with the MXGP regulars, as will Brit/Kiwi Dylan Walsh in his second weekend of wildcard action for KTM Australia.

Even though the title has been decided, Herlings’ obsession with his statistics is also motivating his opposition to spoil his fun, making every session highly competitive between the top men!  For sure, the MXGP class is going to be highly entertaining in Darwin!

     
1. Romain Febvre; 2. Tom Vialle

MXGP - World Championship Top 10 Classification: 1. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, HON), 915 points; 2. Romain Febvre (FRA, KAW), 752 p.; 3. Tim Gajser (SLO, YAM), 659 p.; 4. Tom Vialle (FRA, HON), 593 p.; 5. Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), 592 p.; 6. Lucas Coenen (BEL, KTM), 566 p.; 7. Ruben Fernandez (ESP, HON), 523 p.; 8. Maxime Renaux (FRA, YAM), 449 p.; 9. Kay de Wolf (NED, HUS), 428 p.; 10. Pauls Jonass (LAT, KAW), 400 p.

MX2 Start, Darwin, Australia 2025
 

Although Camden McLellan won his fourth GP in China, Guillem Farres took the second race win to build his advantage to 48 points, so the title could be decided on Saturday if the Spaniard gains three points or more on the South African! Either way, the Triumph Racing Factory Team will be celebrating a world title for one of their riders, quite the achievement at the end of their third year of racing!  They should be able to wrap up the Manufacturers’ Championship as well, currently leading KTM by 36 points.

The title is now out of reach for Sacha Coenen, but he can take his first ever World Championship medal if he manages to keep it together this weekend, although the unpredictability of Simon Längenfelder this year makes it difficult to guess how that battle will turn out, as the German is only seven behind the teenage Belgian, and could be inspired at the site of his title win last year.

Liam Everts is still staring down the barrel of his first season without a GP win since 2022, so he will be very keen to grab not only his fifth straight podium result but the first overall victory of the season for both himself and the Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing squad.

The Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MX2 teammates and brothers Janis and Karlis Reisulis are assured of finishing sixth and seventh in the Championship, and Janis has never visited Australia before. Karlis took a fine fourth in the mud-fest of last year’s second race, and both kids will be keen to put in a good result in the team’s last GP in its current form.

Osička Racing KTM privateer Julius Mikula is now up to ninth in the Championship, and needs another 14 points to overhaul the absent Honda HRC Petronas rider Valerio Lata for eighth. Kay Karssemakers is also now in the top ten for Dixon Racing Team Kawasaki, and in a rich vein of form at the end of the year!

The local fans will definitely be getting behind Byron Dennis after his fine performance last week, and the teenager could well be inspired to push for a top five overall if he can progress slightly over his ride in China!

Make sure you tune in for the deciding weekend in the WMX and MX2 series, the MXGP of Australia Presented by Sitzler is set to be an absolute firecracker! Let’s see the season out in style!

     
1. Guillem Farres; 2. Camden Mc Lellan

MX2 - World Championship Top 10 Classification: 1. Guillem Farres (ESP, TRI), 859 points; 2. Camden Mc Lellan (RSA, TRI), 811 p.; 3. Sacha Coenen (BEL, KTM), 775 p.; 4. Simon Längenfelder (GER, KTM), 768 p.; 5. Liam Everts (BEL, HUS), 742 p.; 6. Janis Martins Reisulis (LAT, YAM), 644 p.; 7. Karlis Alberts Reisulis (LAT, YAM), 528 p.; 8. Valerio Lata (ITA, HON), 414 p.; 9. Julius Mikula (CZE, KTM), 401 p.; 10. Kay Karssemakers (NED, KAW), 353 p.

All the photos from the MXGP of Australia presented by Sitzler will be available HERE.

You can find the complete results HERE.

TIMETABLE

SATURDAY:
10:40 WMX Free Practice, 11:05 MX2 Free Practice, 11:35 MXGP Free Practice, 13:00 WMX Qualifying Practice, 13:40 MX2 Time Practice, 14:20 MXGP Time Practice, 15:30 WMX Race 1, 16:15 MX2 Qualifying Race, 17:00 MXGP Qualifying Race.

SUNDAY:
09:45 WMX Race 2, 10:25 MX2 Warm-up, 10:45 MXGP Warm-up, 12:15 MX2 Race 1, 13:15 MXGP Race 1, 15:10 MX2 Race 2, 16:10 MXGP Race 2.

LINKS

Infront Moto Racing

FIM

MXGP Australia