MXGP

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

Águeda (Portugal), 27th June 2026 – After two years of wet weather affecting this meeting, the Crossdromo Internacional de Águeda was bathed in hot sunshine today as the MXGP of Portugal burst into life in front of an eager crowd, who lapped up the return to good weather GP racing for round ten of the 2026 FIM Motocross World Championships!

Once again in MXGP, Championship leader Lucas Coenen engaged in a pitched battle with main challenger Jeffrey Herlings, and it was the Red Bull KTM Factory Racing teenager who prevailed to win the Qualifying Race by just a few seconds over the Dutch veteran! Herlings had back-up from his Honda HRC Petronas teammate Ruben Fernandez, who claimed a season-best Qualifying Race finish of third in front of his near-home fans!

Another Spanish rider, Guillem Farres, was enjoying the conditions of the Iberian Peninsula that he calls home, and took his first career Qualifying Race win for the Triumph Racing Factory Team, while Championship leader Sacha Coenen only lost a single point with second place, and his fellow Red Bull KTM Factory Racing pilot Simon Längenfelder took a solid third place to jump back into that spot in the Championship.

The hot weather affected the circuit and the riders directly, and it looks likely to be a similar story tomorrow, but no-one’s complaining about the lack of rain this year around the orange dirt of Águeda!

Head Photo: Lucas Coenen; Top Photo: MXGP Start Agueda 2026

It was Jeffrey Herlings who showed his pace in Free Practice with a late lap that was an impressive eight tenths of a second faster than Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP team leader Tim Gajser, while Lucas Coenen was only one thousandth of a second further back!  As lines developed in Time Practice, the Belgian red plate holder astonished spectators with a big triple jump at the end of the old waves section, but reverted back to a regular line for his final fast lap that put him just six hundredths of a second ahead of Herlings to take the first gate pick. Ruben Fernandez got the crowd excited with the third fastest time, ahead of Gajser and Romain Febvre, who had also popped the big triple on his Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP machine.

Despite a challenge from fellow Red Bull KTM Factory Racing rider Andrea Adamo, Lucas was able to make the best of that gate pick to take the early lead, while Fernandez ducked inside the Italian in turn two to claim second.  Herlings was initially fourth, but roared gloriously around the outside of the pair in front of him to start the first full lap in second, giving chase to his title rival!           

Adamo had a nightmare first lap, also passed by Gajser, Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP’s Pauls Jonass and Febvre, as well as the third Honda HRC Petronas of Tom Vialle.  Oriol Oliver was behind the Italian, in ninth for Gabriel SS24 KTM, with the sole Red Bull Ducati Factory MXGP Team representative Calvin Vlaanderen in tenth.

Febvre and Jonass had an entertaining battle before the Champ finally asserted his authority at the end of the waves on lap two, with Vialle also able to pass the Latvian for sixth.  Febvre was as effective as ever on the hard surface, and caught Gajser to move up to fourth on lap eight, as Herlings relentlessly snapped at the heels of Coenen at the front.  The Belgian was not pulling away, but nor was he going to roll over for the Dutchman!

Vialle slipped back to eighth behind Jonass and a regrouping Adamo, and the Italian pulled an aggressive block pass on a banked right-hand corner to wrestle sixth place away with two laps to go! Behind Jonass came the Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP of Maxime Renaux, who passed Vialle for eighth on the final lap! Vlaanderen had passed Oliver and took the final point in tenth.

Try as he might, Herlings couldn’t make the move for the lead, and he rushed to the inside of the Belgian with three laps to go, but was way short of a pass!  His speed was so compromised that he couldn’t attempt the next double jump, and that was the deal done for Coenen, who cruised to his fourth Qualifying Race win of the year, and 21st of his career, by over four seconds.  Fernandez took his first top three position on a Saturday this year ahead of Febvre and Gajser.  His fans will hope for more of the same tomorrow!

Despite the 57-point gap between them in the points, Coenen and Herlings are ultra-close in terms of sheer pace, and tomorrow’s main GP races should be enthralling and dramatic affairs around the ascents and descents of Águeda!

Lucas Coenen: "I felt quite good and controlled out there. I mean, the tracks are a bit tricky, but it's more fun to ride. You can get quite some flow, if you can find it that's amazing. But it was a good race, good start, and I’ll try to repeat it tomorrow."

Jeffrey Herlings: "I was struggling with the lapped riders. I mean, with three laps you always really had a lapped rider, and yeah, twice I couldn't get past them, and both times I lost a bit of time. But anyway, it was a good ride. Gate position for tomorrow is good. Definitely would have preferred to stay on the inside, but I'm next to my main competitor. So, no, hopefully we can have a good battle tomorrow, 10 more minutes of racing. So, hope to give him another challenge tomorrow. He's fast. So it would be good to chase him again."

Ruben Fernandez: "I mean, when it comes to a nice track with a nice layout where you can keep the flow, I feel much more comfortable. And so I think it showed up since practice. Having a good start, it also helps a lot. The way things are right now, I think we are all pretty tight speed-wise, and especially the guys in the front, the level is high, so the start is making it a lot easier for everyone. Fortunately we could have it and got passed by Jeffrey, and then I tried to follow his wheel as much as possible during the race. It was a good feeling on this track with some kickers on the ramps and stuff, but I enjoyed it really much. And yeah, I felt like I had strong wings this weekend. I'm bringing Paulo on my helmet and the Portuguese flag. So thanks everyone for the support. I really appreciate it. And then hopefully tomorrow we can bring it into the two races."

    
1. Jeffrey Herlings; 2. Ruben Fernandez

MXGP - Qualifying Race Classification: 1. Lucas Coenen (BEL, KTM), 24:00.391; 2. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, Honda), +0:04.342; 3. Ruben Fernandez (ESP, Honda), +0:17.010; 4. Romain Febvre (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:25.032; 5. Tim Gajser (SLO, Yamaha), +0:31.158; 6. Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), +0:42.528; 7. Pauls Jonass (LAT, Kawasaki), +0:44.649; 8. Maxime Renaux (FRA, Yamaha), +0:51.685; 9. Tom Vialle (FRA, Honda), +0:56.011; 10. Calvin Vlaanderen (NED, Ducati), +0:56.932;

MXGP - World Championship Classification: 1. Lucas Coenen (BEL, KTM), 459 points; 2. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, HON), 402 p.; 3. Romain Febvre (FRA, KAW), 354 p.; 4. Tim Gajser (SLO, YAM), 335 p.; 5. Maxime Renaux (FRA, YAM), 308 p.; 6. Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), 286 p.; 7. Kay de Wolf (NED, HUS), 273 p.; 8. Ruben Fernandez (ESP, HON), 272 p.; 9. Tom Vialle (FRA, HON), 251 p.; 10. Pauls Jonass (LAT, KAW), 204 p.

Guillem Farres

Guillem Farres immediately excited fans with his speed in Free Practice, as he even out-paced the throttle-happy Sacha Coenen by nearly nine tenths of a second! Janis Reisulis was third for Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MX2.

The roles were reversed at the top for Time Practice, however, as Coenen secured the first gate pick by two thirds of a second over Farres, whose Triumph Racing Factory Team teammate Camden McLellan was close behind in third. Simon Längenfelder was fourth fastest ahead of Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing’s Liam Everts.

From the seventh gate pick, however, came a stunning Holeshot from Kawasaki Racing Team MX2’s in-form Frenchman Mathis Valin, sweeping into turn one ahead of Janis Reisulis and Coenen.  Reisulis pressured the Kawasaki man as they started the second lap, and Mathis overjumped into a corner, landing in some braking bumps and suffering a massive crash!  There were worried looks everywhere as he stayed on the ground and the red flag was waved to call the race to a halt.  Fortunately, he was able to walk back to the Paddock under his own steam, a massive relief for all who witnessed the incident.

In the restart, it was Farres who made the biggest improvement from his first attempt, and he led from Coenen, the Honda HRC Petronas of Valerio Lata, and surprise Swede Nike Korsbeck of the Triumph Nordic Racing Team!

Everts was swiftly ahead of the privateer, and just as suddenly got around Lata for third, with Längenfelder following the Belgian past the Italian. McLellan was also able to relegate Lata to sixth at the end of the first full lap.  Dixon Racing Team Kawasaki man Kay Karssemakers was seventh, ahead of Karlis Reisulis and his brother Janis, then the ASA United GASGAS of Ben Mustoe held onto tenth in the initial stages.

The top five mostly held station, but Janis, no doubt furious at not replicating his good position from the first start, passed a rider a lap to reach sixth by the end of lap four!  Karlis was able to follow him eventually, putting the Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MX2 pairing in sixth and seventh at the finish. Karssemakers took eighth after holding off the Ošicka KTM MX Team rider Julius Mikula, who finished ninth ahead of Lata.

Everts and Längenfelder went back and forth in a great battle for third, and the German completed the job on lap seven, a welcome return to form after a difficult few GPs for the reigning Champ. Everts was caught by McLellan but the South African was unable to make a move, finishing in fifth, now a point behind Längenfelder in their battle for third in the series.

Coenen was unable to make an impression on Farres, although he stayed close as the Spaniard finally ticked off the first Qualifying Race win of his career, and celebrated in front of the crowd over the newly-positioned finish line jump in front of the grandstands!  It makes the gap at the top of the Championship a nice, round 40-point margin heading into tomorrow’s Grand Prix races!

There are a large number of challengers who are capable of, and extremely hungry for, a tasty GP victory tomorrow, and it should help make the MXGP of Portugal an extremely entertaining one around the orange clay of Á

Guillem Farres: "It was a good race. In the red flag, I got a bit of a worse start. Second start, was much better and then I could hold it and I was just managing. I mean, the team did an amazing job. Bike's awesome. I felt really comfortable, and really looking forward to tomorrow."

    
1. Sacha Coenen; 2. Simon Längenfelder

MX2 - Qualifying Race Classification: 1. Guillem Farres (ESP, Triumph), 24:40.965; 2. Sacha Coenen (BEL, KTM), +0:01.508; 3. Simon Längenfelder (GER, KTM), +0:04.822; 4. Liam Everts (BEL, Husqvarna), +0:05.734; 5. Camden Mc Lellan (RSA, Triumph), +0:12.024; 6. Janis Martins Reisulis (LAT, Yamaha), +0:13.188; 7. Karlis Alberts Reisulis (LAT, Yamaha), +0:39.849; 8. Kay Karssemakers (NED, Kawasaki), +0:41.555; 9. Julius Mikula (CZE, KTM), +0:42.900; 10. Valerio Lata (ITA, Honda), +0:43.955

MX2 - World Championship Classification: 1. Sacha Coenen (BEL, KTM), 440 points; 2. Guillem Farres (ESP, TRI), 400 p.; 3. Simon Längenfelder (GER, KTM), 380 p.; 4. Camden Mc Lellan (RSA, TRI), 379 p.; 5. Liam Everts (BEL, HUS), 361 p.; 6. Mathis Valin (FRA, KAW), 352 p.; 7. Janis Martins Reisulis (LAT, YAM), 315 p.; 8. Karlis Alberts Reisulis (LAT, YAM), 248 p.; 9. Valerio Lata (ITA, HON), 242 p.; 10. Kay Karssemakers (NED, KAW), 184 p.

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

You can find the complete results HERE.

SUNDAY:
09:40 EMX125 Race 2, 10:25 MX2 Warm-up, 10:45 MXGP Warm-up, 11:30 EMX250 Race 2, 13:15 MX2 Race 1, 14:15 MXGP Race 1, 16:10 MX2 Race 2, 17:10 MXGP Race 2.

LINKS

Infront Moto Racing

FIM

FIM Europe

MXGP Portugal

It might be hard to believe, when looking at the last decade or so of domination from an Italian, a Dutchman, or even a Slovenian, but we are starting to get a feeling that was familiar to generations of fans across the lifespan of the FIM Motocross World Championships – the knowledge that a Belgian winner is extremely likely, every weekend.

The Coenen twins in particular have raised the black, yellow and red tricolour and got the Belgian anthem “La Brabançonne” played at a more frequent rotation, and the surprisingly measured, patient, brace of second places to give Sacha Coenen overall victory at Montevarchi, marked the 600^th Grand Prix win for a male Belgian Motocross racer.

This is, of course, far and away a record in the sport.  So much so, that second-placed France, with 291 victories, and The Netherlands with 241 in third, don’t even reach the Belgian total with their results combined!

Incredibly, it has also been done with only 40 riders adding to that total.  In that department, the USA is close with 39 winners for its 120 wins, and France itself has 36. 

Although the early years from the first World Championship in 1957 were dominated by Sweden, who claimed eight of the first nine world titles (the other was the 1958 crown of Belgian Rene Baeten), but have been stuck on 196 wins since the year 2000, it was the late-sixties and seventies run of legends like Joel Robert, Roger DeCoster, and Sylvain Geboers that put Belgium on top of the table, probably for all time, as they established the dominance of Japanese machinery within the sport at that time.

As the 125cc World Championship was established in 1975, it was immediately beset with new Belgian heroes. Gaston Rahier took three world titles on a bounce, and Harry Everts was soon to follow with three more as new innovations sparked the rapid evolution of Motocross machines into the 1980s.

Once more there was no shortage of Belgian heroes, as the previous generation aided the new one in maintaining the dominance. Andre Malherbe, Georges Jobe, and Sylvain Geboers’ youngest brother Eric burst into prominence, and would have dominated the 1980s 500cc class completely if it weren’t for the iron will of Swedish hero Hakan Carlqvist and British lion Dave Thorpe.  Marc Velkeneers never won a world title, but kept the Belgian presence in the smaller classes during that time.

Just as Jobe was collecting the last two of his five world titles, a new force from a new generation rose from the old.  Stefan Everts became a World Champion at the age of 18, and would go on to become the first ever to reach a century of Grand Prix victories. Three times second in the world to Stefan was Marnicq Bervoets, who took 19 GP wins of his own in the process.  The 1990s saw more Belgian strength in the big-bike class, as Jacky Martens and the force of nature that is Joel Smets took more titles and victories.  Joel would go on to match, and pass, the man he was named after, Joel Robert, by reaching the iconic 50-GP win total not long after Stefan.

After Everts had retired, Steve Ramon and Sven Breugelmans became the most recent World Champions from the small split-language territory.  Riders such as Ken de Dycker, Kevin Strijbos, and Jeremy van Horebeek would keep the wins coming, but no titles.  Clement Desalle, and later Jago Geerts, would pass Bervoets to become the riders who took the most GP wins without a world title to go with them.  It’s been a frustrating couple of decades for Belgian fans.

Building through the last few seasons, whilst also battling with the first third-generation GP winner, Liam Everts, the Coenen brothers have risen to become perhaps the most talked-about phenomenon in modern Motocross. Lucas has swiftly risen up the all-time table with 20 victories, while Sacha has eased back from his crash-happy early years to become quite possibly the fastest 250 rider on the planet.  Although the level of circuits available has declined, and the future of the sport in the country is still a work in progress, it’s amazing to see this tradition of Belgian success continue, and we could not let the milestone of 600 GP victories pass by without a small note here.

Stefan Everts - France 2006

Here’s the list of all 40 GP winners, up until the MXGP of Portugal, from that small but proud nation of Belgium, who have created an unrivalled legacy in Grand Prix Motocross.

Joel Smets - Spain 2003

All-Time GP Wins by Nation (After Round 9 of the 2026 Season)