FARRES CLINCHES MX2 WORLD TITLE AS HERLINGS AND MC LELLAN WIN AT THE MXGP OF AUSTRALIA PRESENTED BY SITZLER!

DARWIN (Australia), 20th September 2026 – With memories of last year’s downpour still fresh, there were no weather issues this time for the MXGP of Australia Presented by Sitzler, as the Hidden Valley Motorsports Complex near Darwin was bathed in bright sunshine for the whole of the day, giving us a hot, full, and frantic race programme that saw the MX2 World Champion crowned and the FIM Motocross World Championship season sign off in style!

There was little left to do for Guillem Farres to seal the deal today, and the Triumph Factory Racing Team rider completed just his second GP season by becoming World Champion with a spirited first race performance, delivering the title for the British manufacturer in just their third year since returning to World Championship Motocross!  The nation of Spain celebrated their second World Champion of the day, and their first male Champ since Jorge Prado in 2024.

Despite having to deal with challenges from both of his major French competitors, Jeffrey Herlings completed his sixth World Championship-winning season with a perfect final Sunday for Honda HRC Petronas, going 1-1 for the eighth straight GP to bring his career total to a massive 125 GP victories and 237 GP race wins.  It’s been a stellar year for “The Bullet”!

Second on the day was the outgoing World Champion Romain Febvre, taking second in both races after having to move forward on each occasion in his final GP for Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP.  Tom Vialle sealed the Fox Holeshot Award for the season on his way to third overall, his fifth straight podium for Honda HRC Petronas which sealed fourth in the Championship, the top MXGP class rookie for the year.

Seeing his good friend and teammate become World Champion was only part of the story for Camden Mc Lellan, as he took back-to-back GP wins for the first time in his career, and his fifth in total for the Triumph Racing Factory Team.  He also secured second in the World Championship, making it an historic 1-2 for the British manufacturer! 

Liam Everts took second overall with a fine second race win for Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing, his fifth podium in a row lifting him to fourth in the final Championship standings.  The season’s top rookie Janis Reisulis finished the season with third overall for Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MX2, his third podium of what has been a solid first year in Grand Prix racing. Farres took fourth overall after clinching the title at the end of race one.

The Grand Prix season ended with a great day of racing here in Australia, and the Paddock will party at the MXGP Awards in Darwin this evening to celebrate the achievements of what has been a brilliant season of World Championship Motocross.

Jeffrey Herlings

After his run of 40 consecutive sessions or races at the top was brought to a halt in yesterday’s Qualifying Race, Jeffrey Herlings re-asserted his authority with the top time in morning Warm-Up, by nearly half a second from Romain Febvre. Andrea Adamo was a further second back in third for Red Bull KTM Factory Racing, with Tom Vialle in fourth.

Vialle made sure of the Fox Holeshot Award for the season by bolting into the early lead of race one, but Herlings was right with him and made a rapid move up the inside of his teammate to grab the lead through the fifth corner of the opening lap!  Febvre saw it happen in third after skating around Ivo Monticelli, who had a great start for JK Racing Yamaha ahead of Adamo and the second Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP machine of Pauls Jonass!

Febvre took second with a decisive shift in line to pass Vialle through the tight section before Pit Lane, giving the outgoing World Champion every chance to chase down his successor for the lead.  Meanwhile, Adamo and Jonass quickly got past Monticelli, as did Calvin Vlaanderen to grab sixth for the Red Bull Ducati Factory MXGP Team.  By lap six, the Italian had dropped to tenth behind Jeremy Seewer on the Venrooy KTM, Jan Pancar on his TEM JP253 KTM, and the MRT Racing Team Beta of Jago Geerts.

On lap seven, as Febvre did all he could to stay with Herlings, Vialle appeared to have an issue with his machine, gesturing towards his crew in Pit Lane and allowing Adamo through to third with ease.  He was not to drop any further positions, however, as Jonass and Vlaanderen stayed close to each other, but held station to finish fifth and sixth.  Pancar put together a good charge from a poor start to pass Seewer for seventh with four laps to go. Geerts dropped the bike briefly but retook Monticelli quickly to finish ninth, with the JK man in tenth.

Febvre got fans into it by closing to within a second of Herlings, but “The Bullet” hates losing, and put the hammer down with five minutes on the clock and pulled out a fifteen second lead, surviving a tricky moment on the final lap to come home 18 seconds clear. Febvre himself was 43 seconds ahead of Adamo, who got inside the top three in a GP race for the second time this year, closing the gap between him and Vialle to two points for the honour of top rookie, as well as fourth in the Championship.

Whatever issue was plaguing him was clearly rectified by the start of race two, as he claimed a twelfth Fox Holeshot Award of the season by a distance from Jonass and Adamo, while Herlings was initially fifth behind Vlaanderen! “The Bullet” got around the Ducati in the second corner, while Febvre was dealing with Monticelli back in eighth!

Adamo powered up the inside of Jonass to take second through turn five, then Herlings split them at the bottom of the Sitzler downhill section to move into third!  The Dutchman’s fight-back was completed with an inside move on Adamo for second through the left-right corners before Pit Lane, as Febvre followed in his wake, getting up to fourth at the end of the first full lap.

After a few laps of trying to get around Adamo, Febvre hustled up the inside at the bottom of an uphill section to take third on lap four, and Herlings was again on the defensive as Febvre closed in!

Pancar again had a less than ideal start, and worked his way forward throughout the race, passing Seewer again for seventh on lap 16, giving him that position overall ahead of the Swiss veteran, with Geerts ninth, while a second race tenth spot for KTM Australia’s wildcard Dylan Walsh gave him that spot overall as Monticelli suffered an unfortunate DNF on lap six.

Vlaanderen had a lonely ride to take sixth again for sixth overall, and Jonass was again ahead of him to take fifth overall, and the Latvian scored enough points to move past the absent Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing rider Kay de Wolf for ninth in the World Championship.

At the front, Vialle, Herlings, and Febvre traded fastest lap times and even segment times as the battle swung back and forth between them. As Febvre got close, Herlings turned up the pressure on his teammate, who did not yield easily, even taking a little bit of contact before the Champ powered around the outside of the corner after Pit Lane, bouncing through the waves and forcing the Frenchman wide!

Five laps later, and after withstanding a passing attempt from Febvre in the same corner as Herlings’ initial attack, Vialle made his own mistake through the following turn to give his countryman a far easier overtaking chance. Third for Vialle still kept him ahead of Adamo in their battle for fourth in the series, as they finished third and fourth overall in Australia.

Herlings went on to a 3.6 second victory over Febvre, as the pair take first and second in the 2026 World Championship, ahead of the absent Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP pilot Tim Gajser.  The 125th GP win of Jeffrey’s career is his first in Australia, meaning that he has now won in every country he has ever competed in! It’s also the 250th win by all Dutch riders in Motocross history, and yes that means that Herlings has won exactly half of those!

It’s been a stellar season for “The Bullet”, and he looks forward to the challenge of defending the title next year!  Recent GPs have shown that Vialle, De Wolf, Gajser, and Febvre will still be threats next year, as will the new MX2 World Champion as he moves up to the premiere class!

2026 was a fantastic season in MXGP, and we look forward to see what 2027 will bring!

MXGP Championship Podium

Jeffrey Herlings: “Since Foxhills I think we are seven or eight races back, with the Belgian, French and Dutch races in there too, and I have only been beaten once, so that is no big shame. I have had a really good year and the whole team did a good job. It was a big gamble for me to make that switch after 17 years on KTM, and so far it has paid out to be quite a successful story. Thirteen GP wins, 16 podiums and the Dutch Championship as well, so it is a great achievement. I was faster in 2018, but I am smarter in 2026. I do not have that pure speed and aggressiveness any more, and I am not willing to take the risks I took back then. Sometimes you have to lose to win eventually.”

Romain Febvre: “Since we came here yesterday I felt really comfortable on the track, feeling that I could push and not make too many mistakes. I got a better start in the first race and I was quickly up to second with Jeffrey, and we did almost the whole race together before I lost him with three or four laps to go. In the second race we had an okay start, but in the first turn Jeffrey was in front of me, he slid and almost took my front wheel away, so I had to work my way through the pack again. We were catching Tom, but he was riding a good pace, so I tried to finish second. Jeffrey was not far, but it was not possible to beat him today. To be vice World Champion again, I think for the third time, is not bad, and coming after a championship it is never easy to defend the title.”

1. Romain Febvre; 2. Tom Vialle

MXGP - Grand Prix Race 1 - Top 10 Classification: 1. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, Honda), 34:24.505; 2. Romain Febvre (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:18.362; 3. Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), +1:02.170; 4. Tom Vialle (FRA, Honda), +1:07.125; 5. Pauls Jonass (LAT, Kawasaki), +1:11.155; 6. Calvin Vlaanderen (NED, Ducati), +1:13.043; 7. Jan Pancar (SLO, KTM), +1:42.497; 8. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, KTM), +1 Lap; 9. Jago Geerts (BEL, Beta), +1 Lap; 10. Ivo Monticelli (ITA, Yamaha), +1 Lap

MXGP - Grand Prix Race 2 - Top 10 Classification: 1. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, Honda), 34:45.558; 2. Romain Febvre (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:03.600; 3. Tom Vialle (FRA, Honda), +0:07.742; 4. Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), +0:49.372; 5. Pauls Jonass (LAT, Kawasaki), +0:53.702; 6. Calvin Vlaanderen (NED, Ducati), +1:07.131; 7. Jan Pancar (SLO, KTM), +1:12.735; 8. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, KTM), +1:14.516; 9. Jago Geerts (BEL, Beta), +1:18.525; 10. Dylan Walsh (NZL, KTM), +1 Lap

MXGP Overall - Top 10 Classification: 1. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, HON), 50 points; 2. Romain Febvre (FRA, KAW), 44 points; 3. Tom Vialle (FRA, HON), 38 points; 4. Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), 38 points; 5. Pauls Jonass (LAT, KAW), 32 points; 6. Calvin Vlaanderen (NED, DUC), 30 points; 7. Jan Pancar (SLO, KTM), 28 points; 8. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, KTM), 26 points; 9. Jago Geerts (BEL, BET), 24 points; 10. Dylan Walsh (NZL, KTM), 21 points

MXGP - World Championship - Top 10 Classification: 1. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, HON), 973 points; 2. Romain Febvre (FRA, KAW), 805 points; 3. Tim Gajser (SLO, YAM), 659 points; 4. Tom Vialle (FRA, HON), 641 points; 5. Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), 637 points; 6. Lucas Coenen (BEL, KTM), 566 points; 7. Ruben Fernandez (ESP, HON), 523 points; 8. Maxime Renaux (FRA, YAM), 449 points; 9. Pauls Jonass (LAT, KAW), 438 points; 10. Kay de Wolf (NED, HUS), 428 points

MXGP - Manufacturers Classification: 1. Honda, 1063 points; 2. KTM, 893 points; 3. Kawasaki, 834 points; 4. Yamaha, 794 points; 5. Husqvarna, 461 points; 6. Ducati, 411 points; 7. Fantic, 317 points; 8. Beta, 248 points; 9. Triumph, 155 points; 10. JHL, 19 points; 11. GASGAS, 14 points

MXGP Championship Podium

With the heat already starting to build in the morning Warm-Up, the MX2 riders weren’t all pushing to their maximum, but all credit to Maxime Grau for taking a surprise top spot for Maddii Racing Honda ABF Italia! Liam Everts continued to show good pace in second place, while Sacha Coenen took third for Red Bull KTM Factory Racing. 

Guillem Farres just had to finish to wrap up the title, but he pushed Coenen wide in the first corner, while his teammate Camden Mc Lellan darted to the inside to take just the second Fox Holeshot Award of his career, and first all year!  The two Triumph Factory teammates nodded to each other as they enjoyed the moment of opening this banner day for the manufacturer with a clean 1-2 at the head of the field!

Everts was snapping at their heels, however, while Janis Reisulis and Coenen also held top five positions. Sadly, the pack was missing the outgoing World Champion, Simon Längenfelder, who sat out the GP due to health issues, and as a result would finish fifth in the series for Red Bull KTM Factory Racing.

Kay Karssemakers started well in sixth for Dixon Racing Team Kawasaki, ahead of KTM Australia’s local hero Byron Dennis! Grau was eighth ahead of the second Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MX2 machine of Karlis Reisulis and local KMP Honda Racing Team ace Deacon Paice.

By the end of the race, Beddini Racing Ducati Factory MX2 Team’s sole MX2 rider Ferruccio Zanchi lifted himself into tenth place behind Karlis, while Karssemakers slowed momentarily, thinking he heard a strange sound from his machine. The Dutchman lost positions to Dennis and Grau, but would get back past the Frenchman after a fiery little battle! The teenage Aussie Dennis took the best GP race result of his career with sixth, while Coenen survived a near-crash over a jump that led to him running into a trackside barrier, momentarily causing him to drop the bike. He recovered to finish a lonely fifth behind Janis Reisulis.

The leaders stayed close, but Mc Lellan would not roll over and give his teammate a winning run to the world title, while Everts would also not let the Triumph boys relax! The leading three crossed the line within 2.2 seconds of each other, in the order Mc Lellan, Farres, and Everts, enough to crown the Spaniard as the new MX2 World Champion! An incredible achievement for Triumph, the first British manufacturer to win a world title since BSA, with British legend Jeff Smith, in the 500cc class of 1965!  To take the title, as well as the manufacturer’s crown, in just the third year of competition is a monumental achievement for everybody involved. 

Everts’ third put him ahead of Längenfelder, but it wasn’t enough to give him a chance of catching Sacha Coenen, who was confirmed as the bronze medal winner, while Mc Lellan had sealed the silver medal, making it a 1-2 in the Championship to add to the joy for the Triumph Racing Factory Team!

There was still a race to run, however, and Janis Reisulis was certainly still in a racing mood, firing to a clear Fox Holeshot Award, his third of the year, by some distance from Grau, Everts, and Coenen, while Mc Lellan and Farres were back in fifth and sixth! 

By the end of the first half-lap, Everts jumped alongside Grau to advance into second, while Farres, sporting a red and gold #1 plate and #1 race jersey in celebration, put on a great charge to pass Coenen as Everts was passing Grau, then caught the Frenchman at the start of the first full lap to move into third! Behind Coenen were Mc Lellan, Karssemakers, Dennis, Karlis Reisulis, and Zanchi, already up into tenth by that point.

Grau slipped behind Coenen and Mc Lellan by lap three, as the South African seemed to be patient in the opening laps.  Janis Reisulis seemed to start believing that he could deliver the first 2026 win for a Yamaha in MX2, and he was holding the GP win in his hands at the same time.  However, Everts started to close, and at the top of the circuit the Latvian had a scary moment over a jump and ran briefly off track, giving Everts the chance he needed to take the lead on lap nine, in the overall GP as well as the race!

Mc Lellan had passed Coenen at the top of the first hill to take fourth, then Karssemakers passed Grau to take sixth in the race, which is where he would finish to take sixth overall. Grau would finish seventh ahead of Dennis, but the Australian’s better first race gave him seventh overall ahead of the Maddii Honda man.  Karlis Reisulis and Zanchi would again take ninth and tenth to finish in those positions overall.

Farres appeared to give little resistance around the first corner as his teammate was still on the hunt for the GP win, and a bit further on from his first mistake, Janis ran off-track again, but lost a lot more time to drop to third behind the South African!  Coenen also passed Farres to take fourth, leaving him fifth overall behind the new Champion.

Janis Reisulis’ 4-3 scorecard was good enough for his third podium of the season, and he picked up the Jan de Groot award for top MX2 rookie with sixth in the Championship!  Everts’ win was still only enough for second overall, and fourth in the series, while Mc Lellan sealed the fifth GP win of his season, and career, winning two consecutive GPs for the first time ever. 

It was a momentous day for Triumph with the GP win, the World Champion, and a 1-2 in the World Championship in just their third season of racing. Farres will lead their charge into the MXGP class next season alongside the returning Mikkel Haarup, while Mc Lellan will start the 2027 MX2 campaign as one of the leading contenders alongside second race winner Everts.

It’s not quite the end of the season, however, as most of the GP line-up will return in two weekends’ time for the Monster Energy Motocross of Nations at Ernée in France to round the season off with the biggest event in the sport! Join us then, but in the meantime, massive congratulations are due to Jeffrey Herlings, Guillem Farres, and Daniela Guillen, your 2026 FIM Motocross World Champions!

MX2 Championship Podium

Guillem Farres: “It feels pretty good, I am not going to lie. Yesterday I had a solid qualifying race and today I got off to a good start. Camden passed me in the second corner and from there I just followed him, he had a good pace and I could not pass him, so second was really good for me. The second race was a bit the same, a difficult start, but I was riding comfortable. Going into the season we had a great winter, we worked a lot on and off the bike and we got some improvements, and me and Camden always push each other to the limit. Next year I go up a class, the goal is always the same and that is to win, but I am going to have to learn a lot of things.”

Camden Mc Lellan: “The title was not really in my mind. I spent a lot of time with Guillem and I knew a mistake from him was going to be very rare, and that is all it was going to take for me to win. I was very motivated this weekend to make a statement going into the off season, and I think I did a good job all weekend, with good starts, good speed and feeling good on the bike. In my opinion Guillem was the best 250 rider throughout the year, and once he started rolling in Portugal there was not much that would stop him. It is not an easy pill to swallow, but I am very happy for him and I can learn a lot from him. From 2025 to 2026 we made a major step forward with the bike, and this 1-2 in the championship is very important for the guys who work night and day.”

Sacha Coenen: “I had an up and down season. I started not so good in Argentina, but I came back swinging after that and had the red plate for four rounds, which was kind of good. Then I crashed and broke my collarbone, and I made everything possible to get back. I got some decent results after that, but going to Turkey I was completely off because I was really sick. That is how it is, it is racing, so I need to accept it. I was not the best over the last three rounds and I came up a bit short, but I am quite happy with my season overall. I am always learning, I am still young, and we will work hard this winter because I have some goals for next year.”

Top photo: Guillem Farres MX2 World Champion

Bottom photo: Guillem Farres

1. Camden Mc Lellan; 2. Liam Everts

MX2 - Grand Prix Race 1 - Top 10 Classification: 1. Camden Mc Lellan (RSA, Triumph), 33:23.805; 2. Guillem Farres (ESP, Triumph), +0:01.367; 3. Liam Everts (BEL, Husqvarna), +0:02.168; 4. Janis Reisulis (LAT, Yamaha), +0:17.635; 5. Sacha Coenen (BEL, KTM), +0:26.107; 6. Byron Dennis (AUS, KTM), +0:31.044; 7. Kay Karssemakers (NED, Kawasaki), +0:39.062; 8. Maxime Grau (FRA, Honda), +0:45.270; 9. Karlis Reisulis (LAT, Yamaha), +0:47.661; 10. Ferruccio Zanchi (ITA, Ducati), +1:35.433

MX2 - Grand Prix Race 2 - Top 10 Classification: 1. Liam Everts (BEL, Husqvarna), 33:31.260; 2. Camden Mc Lellan (RSA, Triumph), +0:11.166; 3. Janis Reisulis (LAT, Yamaha), +0:14.418; 4. Sacha Coenen (BEL, KTM), +0:22.488; 5. Guillem Farres (ESP, Triumph), +0:32.261; 6. Kay Karssemakers (NED, Kawasaki), +0:35.387; 7. Maxime Grau (FRA, Honda), +0:38.666; 8. Byron Dennis (AUS, KTM), +0:39.986; 9. Karlis Reisulis (LAT, Yamaha), +0:41.190; 10. Ferruccio Zanchi (ITA, Ducati), +1 Lap

MX2 Overall - Top 10 Classification: 1. Camden Mc Lellan (RSA, TRI), 47 points; 2. Liam Everts (BEL, HUS), 45 points; 3. Janis Reisulis (LAT, YAM), 38 points; 4. Guillem Farres (ESP, TRI), 38 points; 5. Sacha Coenen (BEL, KTM), 34 points; 6. Kay Karssemakers (NED, KAW), 29 points; 7. Byron Dennis (AUS, KTM), 28 points; 8. Maxime Grau (FRA, HON), 27 points; 9. Karlis Reisulis (LAT, YAM), 24 points; 10. Ferruccio Zanchi (ITA, DUC), 22 points

MX2 - World Championship - Top 10 Classification: 1. Guillem Farres (ESP, TRI), 904 points; 2. Camden Mc Lellan (RSA, TRI), 868 points; 3. Sacha Coenen (BEL, KTM), 814 points; 4. Liam Everts (BEL, HUS), 795 points; 5. Simon Längenfelder (GER, KTM), 768 points; 6. Janis Reisulis (LAT, YAM), 691 points; 7. Karlis Reisulis (LAT, YAM), 555 points; 8. Valerio Lata (ITA, HON), 414 points; 9. Julius Mikula (CZE, KTM), 401 points; 10. Kay Karssemakers (NED, KAW), 388 points

MX2 - Manufacturers Classification: 1. Triumph, 1037 points; 2. KTM, 983 points; 3. Husqvarna, 808 points; 4. Yamaha, 747 points; 5. Kawasaki, 583 points; 6. Honda, 557 points; 7. Ducati, 199 points; 8. GASGAS, 95 points; 9. TM Moto, 87 points; 10. JHL, 13 points; 11. Fantic, 8 points

MX2 Championship Podium

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

You can find the complete results HERE.

MXGP OF AUSTRALIA PRESENTED BY SITZLER QUICK FACTS:

Circuit length: 1540m

Type of ground: Red clay

Temperature: 33°C

Weather conditions: Sunny

Crowd Attendance: 23,100

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