MXGP

The enduring union between Red Bull KTM Factory Racing and multi FIM Motocross World Champion Jeffrey Herlings will continue beyond the 2023 MXGP campaign and stretch on another two years.

The 28-year-old inked another contract extension with the decorated factory crew after visiting the Motorsport headquarters in Munderfing, Austria last week.

Herlings initially signed for Red Bull KTM early in 2009 to make his FIM MX2 Motocross World Championship debut as a fifteen-year-old for the 2010 season. During a thirteen-year competitive period to-date the KTM stalwart has won 99 Grands Prix with both 250 and 450 SX-F machinery and gathered three MX2 titles (2012, 2013 and 2016) and two MXGP crowns (2018 and 2021), including one of the most dominant displays in MXGP history in ’18 and with a last-round-last-race success in ‘21 where three riders still had a chance of the #1 plate during the final laps of the event in Mantova, Italy.

Herlings, the most successful Dutch rider in the history of the sport, missed the entire 2022 MXGP schedule due to a pre-season injury but is now in the throes of training and testing preparation for the 2023 calendar that will begin on March 12th at Neuquen in Argentina. #84 will face his seventh term in the MXGP class and with the 450 SX-F.

The fresh renewal for 2024 and 2025 will take Herlings from the age of 14 to 30 in Red Bull KTM Factory Racing colors and elongate a memorable partnership to a total of seventeen years at the highest level.

Jeffrey Herlings: “We’ve been together for a long time and I believe I am now the longest-serving Red Bull KTM athlete as this will be my fifteenth year and from when I first signed in 2009. We now have another two years together and maybe more to come. It’s great. Me, Pit and Robert have been very close during this time and have a great connection and together with Valentina [Ragni, Team Coordinator] these have been the people around me since the beginning and for all those fifteen years. We’ve been working really good together and we all want the same goals. I’m happy and thankful to extend the contract again and it’s great after a dark period  in 2022 that the team and the company still have trust in me. I didn’t want to move, I’m happy where I am, and I love the group.”

Tony Cairoli, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing Team Manager: “Of course I’m really happy that Jeffrey has re-signed with the brand and the team. He’s a big star for us and for the sport so it’s really nice that such a big talent stays in KTM. He will come into the season after a difficult year so we will have to build into 2023 but Jeffrey is such a big champion and will win again, like he did in the past. I don’t think any team could wish for a better rider and we’re pumped to continue.”

Robert Jonas, Head of Motorsports Offroad: “2022 was a hard season for Jeffrey and our team but we set our sights on this year and the future and it is fantastic to keep that #84 in Red Bull KTM colors for two more years. Jeffrey is one of the fastest riders and racers on the planet. He hasn’t always had the best luck but his desire to win and to set new landmarks seems the same as when he made such a strong impact in the team as a teenager. He will lead a young crew of guys for the next couple of seasons and his work ethic will be the ultimate example for them to learn. Jeffrey also has his own goals of course and with 99 GP wins, a strong KTM 450 SX-F and the thirst to be back at the top of MXGP, we hope 2023 and the next couple of years are going to be pretty special.”

Pit Beirer, KTM Motorsports Director: “Our journey with Jeffrey is epic. There have been many highs and some big lows and we have watched a passionate and determined young kid become one of the best riders we have ever seen in the sport.
Jeffrey is Dutch but I’m sure there is another part of him that is ‘orange’ because he has been a KTM guy passing through two decades and from that very first GP in Bulgaria in 2010. There are still some chapters to write in our story together, and 2023 will be a ‘comeback’ season for him and for us in the MXGP class. I’m really happy we will push again all the way up to 2025.”

Photo Credit: KTM Factory Racing

Recently Infront Moto Racing CEO David Luongo was invited at the KNMV Motorsport Gala which took place at Studio 21 in Hilversum. During the prestigious event WMX World Champion Nancy van de Ven and EMX250 Champion Rick Elzinga were invited to receive exclusive awards for their achievements. van de Ven received the Hans de Beaufort Cup, the most prestigious Dutch prize in motorsport while Rick Elzinga was given the award for talent of the year.

Since 1947 the Hans de Beaufort Cup is given to Dutch riders who deliver a world-class performance and are ambassador of the sport off track, van de Ven not only got eventually a very much deserved WMX title, but also the Hans de Beaufort cup, as the first solo lady.

Nancy van de Ven: “I didn’t see this coming. But, when the band started playing Natural Woman I thought ‘no, it couldn’t be for me’. But it was!”

The EMX250 Champion Rick Elzinga, who will make his debut in MX2 in Monster Energy Yamaha Factory team,  received the Ben Major Trophy for talent of the year during the gala by Infront Moto Racing CEO David Luongo: “Champions are the core of our sport. They give young riders a dream and a purpose. That’s why successes need to be celebrated with evenings like this. Rick you really deserve this award.” David Luongo said.

Rick Elzinga: “It was great to become European Champion, I have always worked for this. The team, my family, the bike, the feeling… Everything has to be right to put down such a season. The next step is of course to become World Champion. Hopefully I can do that in the future.”

Photo credits: Carla Gorter/KNMV

As we all know, all the MXGP and MX2 competitors are working hard in January, leading into the pre-season races that start early February, and finally it all leads to the opening MXGP round in Argentina on March 12.

Vice-World champion Jeremy Seewer is amongst those putting in the hours on the track and in the gym to make sure he is ready for the new season when it rolls around. The Monster Energy Yamaha rider will race the opening pre-season race in Italy in a little over two weeks’ time and has in fact based himself in Sardinia to prepare on the tough sand tracks.

“That’s what this January is for,” Seewer said. “It’s not like I have days to waste. You know what we do is more than a normal job because I cannot stop at 5 PM or start at 8 AM in the morning every day. Monday is no different from Saturday or Sunday for me, you know? I mean it’s a dream that we are living, but a lot comes with it that the people don’t see. Like I said before, there is a lot of hard work. And it is very hard work. You have to go to the absolute limit with your body. And the other thing we deal with is the pressure. Like you said, we got out there and at the end, okay, we have a whole team and an entire crew behind us and to support us, but when we are behind the start gate it’s me and the bike.” 

A multiple MXGP winner and five time runner-up in the MX2 and MXGP championship prove what a performer he is, but it can also be a bit frustrating to not get the gold medal at the end of the season. 

“Seeing the whole picture last year, I lost a lot at the beginning of the season. Without that, I think I would have been fighting for the world title. The approach for this season is that I want to win, you know? I want to go out and be the best. I don’t want to out myself in a spot where I have to win because too much pressure is going in the wrong way. I want to enjoy what I do. I want to win without feeling like I have to. Those are two different things. I’m ready for it. I’m looking forward to it. MXGP is the toughest of the toughest. There are many, many good guys out there. You don’t get any place on the track for free. Yes, this is my goal to win. Okay, I know I can’t win every race, but I want to be up there consistently and getting podiums and fighting for wins. I will see race by race. I don’t look too far ahead. I want to be in the mix and have the goal to win the World Championship.”

So, I think many would agree, while Tim Gajser and Jeffrey Herlings are the early season favourites to become six time Motocross World Champions, you just know that Jeremy Seewer is here, waiting for his moment to come and maybe that moment will be in 2023?

Photo Credit: Yamaha Racing 

Dear MXGP Friends,

In less than two months the 2023 MXGP World Championship season will start! We cannot wait to start the engine on the exceptional track of Villa la Angostura in Patagonia, Argentina. I have no doubt that the upcoming season will be very exciting and unpredictable. All the stars of the championship are now preparing themselves to be ready for the 12th March and the first GP!

January has been a busy month for us, as we were able to publish an updated calendar of the upcoming 2023 season. The comeback of the MXGP of Switzerland is the great news of the month! After several years missing in the calendar, thanks to the tremendous work of the organizing committee of the Swiss Grand Prix leaded by Willy Laederach and all the support of Infront, we have been able to bring back the FIM Motocross World Championship to Switzerland. The patriotic Swiss fans of Jeremy Seewer and Valentin Guillod will be able to cheer for them! This Grand Prix will have the particularity to be organized on 3 days. The Saturday program will take place as usual, then the Easter Sunday will be a day off and finally the racing on Monday. We will put in place some activities in the paddock on Sunday for the fans who are present onsite the 3 days. Then Riola Sardo in Sardinia has also been confirmed as the first Grand Prix of the season in Europe, on a track that the whole paddock knows very well as most of them are training right now in Sardinia.

December and January are the months we receive the surveys and the reports about the MXGP audience on TV and the different economic impact analysis of the events on the countries, regions, and the cities where a GP takes place. It is always very rewarding to understand how much interest a Grand Prix brings to a region and a country. In Europe, most of the time, we talk about more than 20.000 people traveling for the GP weekend and using the facilities, hotels, restaurants of the region, visiting some touristic places and having a great time during the Grand Prix. Concerning the TV audience, we reached an impressive 44 million of unique TV viewers on the different broadcasters which are showing MXGP Worldwide (the data are presented by Nielsen, the world sports data analyst’s leading company). This represents more than 15% increase compared to 2021 season.

The fans of MXGP are also young and very dynamic people, our social networks continue to grow with more than 3 million fans on Facebook, 1.2 million followers on Instagram and more than 15 million views on YouTube during the last season with 50% of MXGP audience between 18 and 34 years old! The new MXGP-TV pass for the upcoming season is already available with an Early Bird promotion. MXGP-TV will also receive some extra program in the upcoming season, giving more focus on our legends and riders to enlarge our offer other than LIVE sport.

On the novelties side for the next year, the freight allowance for the private teams that come to the overseas will increase. We clearly witnessed during the last years, especially during the Covid time, a big increase of the costs for the transportation. This situation is clearly affecting all of us. On another way it is also very clear that the MXGP World Championship has to go worldwide and to continue to develop our favorite sport in new markets where fans are growing, too. It was important to adapt our support to the situation. Therefore, we are sensibly increasing the support for the private teams and riders, this will allow a better and more comfortable participation to the overseas Grand Prix for the teams. The beauty of motocross has always been the fact that the man counts more than the bike and we always had great stories of riders coming from the pack and winning races or having great results from a private structure. In the upcoming days, more novelties will come and I will be able to present them in my next editorial.

The wintertime has also been the occasion to renew some very important historical partnerships. On TV, we already renewed some important markets like Motorvision, TVG and USA with CBS SN. More will come in the upcoming days.

I would like to thank all the MXGP partners, the FIM, FIM Europe, the manufacturers, the media and last but not least all the MXGP fans.

I wish you a great 2023 year.

David Luongo, CEO of Infront Moto Racing

The Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing team is full of excitement, because the 2023 FIM Motocross World Championship is a little over a month away and thus another opportunity to pursue gold awaits. The three-rider team will consist of Kay de Wolf, Roan van de Moosdijk and Lucas Coenen when the new term begins.

Kay de Wolf is about to embark on his third season as an MX2 rider and has his sights set on making a step forward aboard his FC 250. De Wolf has already finished on the Grand Prix podium eight times in his young career and, in addition, he has won two motos in the MX2 division. There have been many highlights since he first joined the Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing team and '74' is keen to add to that list in the not-so-distant future.

Motivated to achieve similar success is Roan van de Moosdijk. Moosdijk, who is from The Netherlands, has spent a year aboard the FC 250 now. Although he missed a lot of the previous season with an injury, he still climbed onto the box at the season finale and established momentum that is set to serve him so well when the new season begins with the Grand Prix of Patagonia-Argentina on March 12.

New to the squad and the MX2 class is Lucas Coenen, a generational talent from Belgium. Coenen captured the attention of motocross fans across the globe whilst competing in the EMX250 class last term – he won seven of the last eight motos and confirmed that he will be an immediate force with support from the elite Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing squad. There is a wealth of experience under the team tent and Coenen will be able to rely on that to advance his progress.

The 2023 FIM Motocross World Championship will start in Patagonia-Argentina on March 12. Before then, the team will compete in various pre-season races that have been selected to give the riders optimum prep for the new season.

Download high-res images from the Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing team shoot.

Watch the Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing team video from the pre-season shoot.

Kay de Wolf: "I am really happy at the moment. The off-season has been great – I have had a lot of time on my FC 250 and I feel good. I cannot wait to start racing and have another solid season with the Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing team. It will be good to implement everything that I have learned through the winter."

Roan van de Moosdijk: "It feels great to work with the Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing crew for the second season in a row! I am really happy with the improvements that we have made during the off-season and I cannot wait for the gate to drop again. Seeing as this is my final year in MX2, the team and I will do everything to get the maximum out of it."

Lucas Coenen: "I am looking forward to the new season. I was in EMX250 last season, so this is a massive change and I am very excited. I will get to do a lot more races and learn as much as possible. My FC 250 is really, really good. I am counting down to the first race in Patagonia-Argentina and cannot wait to start my MX2 career with Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing."

Photo credit: Husqvarna Racing

MONACO (Principality of Monaco) 23 January 2023 – Infront Moto Racing is glad to share the January issue of the MXGP Magazine!

The 113^th issue of our magazine is now online! The cover presents the Spanish Federation supported Teams with the RFME Junior and WMX teams as the main feature of the magazine

The January issue also includes two special features including an article on the OAT list which overviews the main changes in the teams for 2023, as well as a detailed feature of the updated 2023 calendar. 

This issue’s Hall of Fame will focus on Antti Pyrhönen while the Vintage Bike section presents the 2004 Kawasaki KX250F.

You can find all of this and more in the 113^th issue of MXGP Mag, which you can download for FREE on the Apple Store or Google Play. Read it HERE

Users who have already downloaded other issues on their iOS device can automatically download the new issue by opening the News Stand and clicking on the cover of the MXGP Mag. Whereas those readers using an Android device will be able to download the magazine for free thanks to this app: http://bit.ly/IssuuOnAndroid.

LINKS

Infront Moto Racing

FIM

MXGP Mag 113

25-year-old Thomas Olsen was slowly but surely getting the hang of racing the MXGP class, having spent the majority of his career in the MX2 class. In his debut season, he was often around the 15^th position mark, made some top ten results and was learning fast.

When the 2022 season started the Danish rider had clearly made progress, starting the season with an 8^th overall in Matterley Basin, then a 6^th overall in Mantova, before claiming a 15^th overall in Villa La Angostura. However, after a rather consistent start to the season, his World came crumbling down when he crashed during the free practice for the MXGP of Latvia. Rushed to hospital, Olsen had suffered serious injury.

Fortunately, despite the set-back, the tall rider from Denmark has made a good recovery and could even be seen riding again in Spain recently. At this moment, Olsen thanked his good friend Rasmus Jorgensen, and the people who had helped him to be back on the bike.

“I am lucky to have Rasmus Jorgensen by my side,” Olsen said. “Being there for me in thick and thin. I am also thankful for Husqvarna Factory Racing having my back and making sure I have a bike to ride here in Redsand MXpark, also a big thank to Nestaan MX for getting me and the bike to the tracks and helping me with all the technical stuff. Without these guys I would still be sitting at home. What the future brings, I’m still not sure, but I’m just very happy to have this opportunity to get back on the practice track.”

As for the long road back to MXGP, or even some form of competitive racing, Olsen is careful in what he hopes for. Recovery has been good but racing at the highest level of the MXGP class is something you only do if you are in 100% shape

“Physically I recovered quickly I would say, of course, my neck took five months to fully heal, but I was back on my feet really fast, and from what I’ve heard they had trouble keeping me calm in the hospital. Mentally it has been a big rollercoaster, I was dealing with many symptoms from the head injury, I had trouble being positive and I was feeling a bit down some days. It’s not something I experienced before so I had a hard time dealing with and accepting it. Recovery is going well, but the neck also affects the brain, so when I have a sore neck, I also get headaches and that’s is a problem, but I’m working hard to solve also that issue.”

Filling his time has been one of the toughest things to deal with and his friends, girlfriend, family and many other people have given him the comfort to slowly progress and hopefully return to the sport that he loves.

“I haven’t done a whole lot of things. It’s not like I was able to go on a holiday or go partying with my friends (laughed), no I’ve been busy with recovery, and the best thing you can do after a brain injury is training. I started slowly by just being a bit active outside, then moved into proper training later on. So that’s what I spend most of my time doing while being surrounded by my girlfriend and family. It’s been super important, it gets lonely in a hospital, and luckily my girlfriend came to see me almost every weekend, my family has also taken a lot of time off from work to come and help me get back on my feet. I’m really grateful for them being there for me.”

So, again, time will be his best friend and also his enemy, as he tried to decide what the future is once he gets to that point, hopefully in 2023. 

Photo copyrights: MXGP

As we know, all good things come to an end. 

The Early Bird Offer on the MXGP-TV 2023 season pass will end on the 31^st of January.

Don’t miss the chance to take advantage of the reduced price that includes access to LIVE and OnDemand races from every 2023 MXGP event​, the exclusive “behind the gate” video magazines and the 2023 Monster Energy FIM Motocross of Nations​.

This is the perfect moment to make sure you won’t miss all the actions of the 2023 MXGP season.

Click HERE to get your MXGP-TV season pass.

LINKS

Infront Moto Racing

FIM

Great News, you can now enjoy new races on the 24/7 Live streaming on YouTube! 

Motocross fans can watch 34 new epic races rotating on the MXGP-TV Channel and immerse themselves into the most exciting battles that took place in MXGP.

The Youtube channel gives you the opportunity to re-live the intense races that made our sport such as the MXoN 2013 in Germany, Teutschenthal, watch Behind The Gate of the full review of the 2017 MXGP season or the MXGP of Thailand in 2015.

Simply subscribe to MXGP-TV on YouTube and enjoy hours of the best of motocross!

MONACO (Principality of Monaco) 19 January 2023 – Infront Moto Racing is glad to announce that the tickets for the MXGP of Finland are now available!

The circuit of Hyvinkää will host for the second year in a row the FIM motocross World Championship on the 29^h and 30^th of July

The Finnish circuit has a long history with motocross as its first introduction to the World Championship was in 1965. The 2023 edition will mark Hyvinkää 25^th event.

In 2022, Glen Coldenhoff won the MXGP of Finland while Jeremy Seewer and Maxime Renaux finished 2^nd and 3^rd on the podium. In MX2, Tom Vialle took the win in front of Kay De Wolf and Jago Geerts.

Along with the MXGP and MX2 races, fans will be able to see the supporting classes from the EMX125 Presented by FMF Racing and EMX250 categories.

Get your tickets HERE to see an exciting weekend of racing and to support you favourite riders!

Great news, tickets for the MXGP of Finland also include a special discount to watch MXGP-TV. When buying any tickets for the event, you also get a 20% discount that you can use on MXGP-TV.com to purchase a season video pass which includes the all MXGP season plus the Monster Energy FIM MXoN!

Thinking of upgrading to VIP? Go with the VIP GOLD SKYBOX pass HERE!

LINKS

Infront Moto Racing

FIM