MXGP 2026

Friday, February 13th 2026

Honda HRC PETRONAS ready to go for 2026

PETRONAS Lubricants International (PLI) has been announced as the sponsor of Honda HRC’s MXGP team, where Ruben Fernandez, Tom Vialle, Jeffrey Herlings (all MXGP) and Valerio Lata (MX2) will look to add to the incredible heritage of the team when they line-up for the 2026 Motocross World Championships.

It’s been a busy off-season for everyone involved with the team, integrating the new riders onto unfamiliar machinery, as well as working with new sponsors to make sure everything is ready for another gruelling 20-round series spanning to the globe. Starting off the season in Argentina, ending in Australia and visiting numerous European nations as well as a revisit to South Africa in between, all four riders know that speed and consistency will be key if they want to have a rewarding 2026 campaign.

For Jeffrey Herlings – the winningest rider in GP history – he will not only be looking to extend that record but also add to his five world championship titles. Joining Honda HRC PETRONAS in a statement signing on January 1^st, the Dutchman has been testing and riding extensively since then and will now look to use a couple of pre-season races to get himself up to race-pace before the first gatedrop in Bariloche, Argentina on March 7-8.

Joining him on the start-line will be another new signing and two-time MX2 champion Vialle, who returns to Europe after an extremely successful time stateside where he also picked up two Supercross titles. The Frenchman will be riding a 450cc machine for the first time in his career, and like Herlings, he’ll also be piloting Honda machinery for the first time.

Those two will be alongside the returning Fernandez, who finished the 2025 MXGP World Championship in fourth place. The #70 was consistent all-season long, with flashes of speed which boosted him onto the podium on a number of occasions. Now the goal for the Spaniard is to show those flashes more often and fight it out at the front of the field on a regular basis.

The sole representative in the MX2 class is Lata, who is now in his second year in the class and should feel much more confident heading into 2026. He finished off in Australia with his first podium with the team and now he know what it takes, he has been putting in the work over the off-season to try and make it happen throughout this campaign.

Now the riders have a few more weeks and preseason races to negotiate before heading down to South America, but all are raring to go and really excited to line-up for Honda HRC PETRONAS in the 2026 World Motocross Championships.

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Ruben Fernandez  ⁷⁰

I’ve had a really good preseason and I’m really excited to get down to Argentina and start this campaign. Obviously the first two rounds are in Spanish-speaking countries so that’s always a nice boost, so I’m confident that I can start off strongly and just keep that going. Last year I was consistent, but not on the podium as much as I would have liked, so now the goal is to just really aim for the top three and make another step forward.

Tom Vialle  ¹⁶

Coming back to Europe has been a change, but not a massive one, so I think I have got back into things over here quickly. The bike is of course completely different, but I’ve been riding it since November and we done a lot of work and got things to a level that I’m happy with. However, testing and training is a lot different than racing GPs, so that will be the real test, but I’m confident in my ability and I feel ready to get back in the series and really show everyone what I’m capable of on the bigger bikes.

Jeffrey Herlings  ⁸⁴

It’s definitely been a hectic preseason so far, just learning the new bike, learning the team and just trying to get myself ready for the season ahead. I’ve done a lot of training since January 1, and we’ve made a lot of steps to get the bike where I want it, but we will keep working and testing and just make sure that I’m as ready as possible for Argentina. It has been a lot of changes, but so far, I am enjoying the challenge and the motivation is high coming into round one.

Valerio Lata  ¹⁸

I’m feeling fit and healthy, and excited to start the season. Last year was a tough year, and a steep learning curve to be able to race all the rounds but I feel like I have made a lot of improvements and I think I am much better prepared to race 20 races around the world. I have been riding with the other guys a few times and I think it is really helpful to see how they do things as they are a lot more experienced than me. Overall, I am very happy with how things have gone and I am really looking forward to Argentina.

Marcus Pereira de Freitas

HRC General Manager – MXGP

I think the signings that Honda HRC PETRONAS have made this year, have showed the level that we are operating on. To have a line-up of riders of such a high calibre with multiple world championships like Jeffrey and Tom, really raise the profile of the team, not just amongst motocross, but in motorsports in general. Of course now we must match that standard on the race track, but we’ve had a productive month or so and I believe all four riders are ready to compete at the highest level in Argentina.

Giacomo Gariboldi

Team HRC Team Manager

I am very excited for this year, both the rider line-up we have. I think all four riders are capable of winning races, and while that might not happen immediately, I really believe we will get stronger and stronger as the season progresses and I can’t wait to watch it all unfold, both as a fan and as the Team Manager.

Honda HRC PETRONAS Launch – Full Transcript

Introduction

• Host: Welcome to the launch of the 2026 Honda HRC team. We have some exciting new sponsors on board and we’ll be unveiling the livery for the bikes that we’ll be running in the 2026 Motocross World Championship.

Rider Interviews

Ruben Fernandez

• Host: First we have Ruben Fernandez, who’s been with the team the longest. So Ruben, you’ve been with the team a long time, but what changes have you made to try and be more successful this year, to try and be more consistently up on the podium?
• Ruben Fernandez: Well yeah, I think that it might be the fourth season on the—the team HRC. So yeah, it’s been a long journey but very enjoyable as well. Obviously last season was okay but I still wasn’t really satisfied with it, you know I think I’m capable of more and I definitely want more, so this season I’ve been changing some stuff on my preparation, I’ve been training at home, I have a new training mechanic and a lot of things have changed, new bike as well. We just came out of the first test with the team and a lot of improvements have been made there, so yeah feeling confident, feeling motivated, feeling happy which I think is an important part of the job, so, definitely looking forward to this season and to see how it develops.

Tom Vialle

• Host: Next we have Tom Vialle, who’s come back from America to join the Honda HRC team this year for the first time in the MXGP class. How’s that transition been? Obviously you were in Europe before, but what’s it been like being back in Europe and how have you adapted so far?
• Tom Vialle: Yeah, it’s been nice actually. I’ve been three years in the US and then I was four years before that here in Europe. It’s my first 450 season, so the winter so far has been pretty good. So the goal is to be obviously in the next year try to be as successful as I did in the 250 class, so yeah I’m trying to work as hard as I can to get there and the 450 still a lot of things to learn. But yeah, the goal is to work hard and get there as soon as possible.

Jeffrey Herlings

• Host: Then we have five-time world champion Jeffrey Herlings, who’s just started riding with the team this year. And Jeffrey, obviously you’ve only been with the team since January 1st, how—sort of difficult has it been to have this short timeline and is the aim to be ready for Argentina or is it sort of more to be aiming to be winning a little later?
• Jeffrey Herlings: I mean, the team might have time, I don’t because I don’t have ten years more of racing in me, so I need to deliver and I need to deliver quick. Obviously like you said, because I was just starting on January 1st and we’re only like beginning of February, had a very short time notice to get my clothing set up, to get my helmet, boots set up, to get my bike set up, to get everything set up. I just had like five, six weeks max till now, and so we’re still learning, discovering, but I think we’re already on a good base also on the bike. I think there’s a lot of potential, a lot of possibilities on the new bike. It’s—it’s kind of a prototype, it’s a new bike, it just came out, so for sure like I said there’s a lot of potential, but I need to deliver, I need to deliver quick, I’m aware of that, so yeah I don’t have time to keep waiting for through the season, I need a few races to get myself warmed up. I could see last weekend once again I didn’t have the intensity, but hopefully by GP1 I’ll be good to go and then hopefully we can start fighting for victories quick.

Valerio Lata

• Host: And lastly in the MX2 class, we have Valerio Lata who is in his second year with the team but had a very successful first year and is hoping to improve this year. What did you learn in year one that you hope to bring into year two to hopefully make it more successful than before?
• Valerio Lata: Yeah, last year was my first year in the world championship and I change everything, bike, team, championship, so was a little bit difficult, but last year also my physical was not ready for the world championship, but this year I’m really ready for—for this season and I’m really really happy for race with this team. So yeah, I’m training hard because the goal is—is win. So it’s really important to starting at the front, to take the holeshot and have the consistency for win the race. So I’ve been working for this and I working for this with the team.

Sponsorship Announcements

• Host: Thanks for the updates guys. Now it’s time to introduce our new exciting sponsor for 2026. So it’s my honour to announce that the team for this year will be the Honda HRC PETRONAS.

PETRONAS Lubricants International Partnership

• Host: Joining me on stage now is Alessandro Orsini from PETRONAS Lubricants International and he’s the Head of Group Marketing and Customer Excellence. Mr. Orsini, please tell us about how it came about that PETRONAS Lubricants International and Honda HRC got into this partnership and what it means for your company to be part of the Motocross World Championships now?
• Alessandro Orsini: Thank you for the question. As PETRONAS Lubricants International, we are extremely proud to have this collaboration with Honda HRC because we like to excel in motorsport to show our technology capability and we think that Honda is the best partner in order to do that. And moreover, as a company, we see in this collaboration the opportunity to co-develop fluid solution, not only for excelling in the performance during the race but also to migrate such experience from the track to the road. And this is really something exciting that we want to do together with Honda.
• Host: And what are your hopes for the partnership? What do you hope to get out of this partnership as a company?
• Alessandro Orsini: Yeah, working together and to stay hand in hand in doing things like lubricants and testing them together, it’s a great opportunity also to promote our power brand PETRONAS Sprinta. PETRONAS Sprinta is the point of reference for the bikers about our lubricants and so we think that with this partnership we can promote further our brand and to become more successful in the open market. So this is one of the ambitions we have, and I think this collaboration with Honda will help us in this mission.
• Host: Thank you very much. We also have Taichi Honda who’s a General Manager of Race Operations Management Office, Mitsuharu Funase, General Manager of Race Planning and Operation Office, Giacomo Gariboldi, Team Manager, and Marcus Pereira de Freitas, General Manager. Mr. Funase, what does this mean for Honda HRC to be able to get a company of such stature like PETRONAS Lubricants International?
• Mitsuharu Funase: I’d like to thank PETRONAS Lubricant International for joining us on this historic day. And we look forward in successful and exciting partnership ahead. Thank you very much.
• Host: Marcus, how did this partnership come about? What first got you guys together to bring about this joint effort?
• Marcus Pereira de Freitas: Yeah, first of all I want to thank you so much PETRONAS Lubricants International for joining us this year. And I think we should share the same goal and I think the same vision, and hope to have a successful winning season.
• Host: Honda HRC hasn’t had an official sponsor since it returned to the GPs. Why now? And why—what was the significance of this?
• Marcus Pereira de Freitas: PETRONAS Lubricants International has been a very successful brand around the world, I think joined with HRC, I think this is the great time to show the world that also in motocross have a field for us to grow together, and I think that that is the success and I think this is the main goal for that collaboration.
• Host: Giacomo, how proud does it make you to—to know that the work that you’ve put in has helped get Honda HRC to this position where you can attract sponsors like PETRONAS Lubricants International?
• Giacomo Gariboldi: Yeah, you know it’s absolutely fantastic to be associated to a brand like PETRONAS Lubricants International. Thank you very much. Because as we know it’s associated with the best motorsport team in the world like in F1, has been associated with top teams in MotoGP, so to be now together in motocross it’s a big achievement for the team and we hope to deliver the results you need.

Monster Energy Partnership

• Host: Thank you very much for your time. And as you may have seen on the jerseys we have another announcement to make regarding another new sponsor for Honda HRC. So it’s with great pleasure that we can announce that Monster Energy are joining Honda HRC PETRONAS for the 2026 Motocross World Championships.
• Host: Marcus, this is the first time Honda HRC have had a energy drink sponsor. What was the reasoning behind it, why now?
• Marcus Pereira de Freitas: Well, I think the opportunity just come as Monster is already with Dakar, I think we have a good relationship together. But coming to MXGP was a good opportunity for them, for us having already an official sponsor this year as PETRONAS Lubricants International, I think was good opportunity to grow together and show our potential.
• Host: Once you knew of Monster’s interest, was it a difficult decision to join with them or?
• Marcus Pereira de Freitas: No actually, no because we already have a like I mentioned before a great relationship with all the members of Monster Energy drink. So just like a very smooth process let’s say and we are very happy that we achieved that.
• Host: Giacomo, what does it say again about the stature that you’ve managed to achieve with Honda HRC that you can attract another brand, a billion-dollar industry like Monster Energy?
• Giacomo Gariboldi: Ah, you know it’s another big brand who’s joining the team this year, which is great for us, another brand who’s involved with motorsport like PETRONAS Lubricants International, and I think it’s another great achievement for the team.
• Host: Having Monster Energy joining with PETRONAS Lubricants International, what does that do on a global scale for Honda HRC?
• Giacomo Gariboldi: Well, it’s as Marcus said it’s great because we are already associated with them in rally, with the rally team. So now to expand it to motocross team it’s good for the team, it’s good for the brand as we know they sponsored the championship in motocross, so I believe they’d like to win a championship with a team sponsored by the same brand they have they have for the global championship. So I think that’s the goal for them and for us of course.

Media Q&A

General Questions

• Geoff Meyer (MX Large): Jeffrey, having seen you on the Honda in videos it looks like you’ve taken a liking to the bike. Is there any moment you wish maybe changed teams sooner to experience new machinery at a different point in your career?
• Jeffrey Herlings: Obviously it’s always hard to say. My time at KTM was good as well, you know I’ve accomplished a lot with them, so no negatives to them, for sure we had ups we had our downs but I look back at a good memory with them but it’s always been my dream to race for Honda HRC. Remember back in the days we were already negotiating, I was really close to signing with Honda in 2016 already, and then for me there was only one option if I would leave KTM it—it would be for Honda. It’s been my childhood dream and once now I’m on the bike I’m really surprised how good it is. I do get on a new prototype bike, so you know would have been easier if I would stand on the other bike the previous one because they had so much experience and years of development in it already. So now it’s like in their children’s steps the new bike which I’m riding, so also gives me a lot of hope that there’s so much potential in the bike. But yeah, you know coming to the team now I know it’s the latest stage in my career, but I have no regret of not coming earlier because like I said I had a great time at the other team as well but it’s a blessing and yeah, a thing I should I never wanted to miss is to go Honda HRC so I’m very happy I took this decision.
• Geoff Meyer (MX Large): Tom, another world championship would put you with three world titles, something that no Frenchman has been able to do in the major classes (outside of Yves Demaria in the MX3 class). Is this something that’s a goal of yours or how do you feel about becoming possibly the most successful French world champion?
• Tom Vialle: I actually didn’t know that, but now it will be obviously my dream and my goal for the next years. This is my first year on the 450 class so I have a lot to learn. It’s also a new bike, a new team for me, so a lot to learn but hopefully we can achieve it and like you said that would be awesome if we can do it.
• Adam Wheeler: Ruben, what do you need to do this year to be challenging for regular moto wins, GP wins, podiums? And secondly what with your experience on the Honda last year, do you think that will be advantage coming into this year?
• Ruben Fernandez: Well first of all I believe the starts, now we already know the starts are the biggest or the most important thing on MXGP these days. They can change the race completely, so getting good starts will help a lot. So yeah we’ll start on that, and yeah afterwards you know taking the experience that I’ve had on the previous years on MXGP, I believe I’m missing—I’ve been missing consistency at a time so I will try and focus on that, you know try to stay every moto every race on the—on the first positions and then obviously with a good start and when with consistency staying on the bike and you know I know I can be fast so I think that will bring the good results and fighting for moto wins, fighting for podiums and hopefully I can be doing that more regularly this year and yeah that’s pretty much it I think.
• Ben Rumbold (MXGP): Valerio, how much do you feel you’ve developed since the winter and have you got any advice from your new teammates and how different is the bike from 25 to 26?
• Valerio Lata: I change a lot of things and especially the suspension, a good step with the mechanic, with the team, with Showa and working a lot with some parts of the engine with the suspension so I change a lot the bike from last year and the feeling was really really better so I’m really happy for riding this bike and of course I can’t wait to start the season in Argentina.
• Paul Athis (Cultura Sportiva): Jeffrey, the last couple of seasons were marred by serious injuries before the season started. How did you approach this year to hopefully avoid that situation again?
• Jeffrey Herlings: Obviously the first race hasn’t started in MXGP series but I mean motocross is a risky sport, there’s a lot of risk involved so injuries are part of the sport and obviously last year I missed the start of the season the first two races and then I got back racing with just a couple of days on the bike and I really had to build myself into it because the first races was a big struggle as I was six months out with ACL injury. But for now, I’m feeling good, I’m feeling fit. I do feel a lack of not racing enough like I saw last weekend (in Mantova) just the intensity wasn’t there, but that’s why I do three races to warm up and get ready for the first GP. Like I said I don’t have many chances left, so every chance I have I need to take it with both hands and yeah just really feeling good and fit right now.
• Edward Heather (Cultmoto): Tom, you had tremendous success in your 250 career with championships in America and the World Championships of course. Now you’re making the step up to the 450 class, what do you set as your expectations for this year and what would be a successful year for you this year?
• Tom Vialle: It’s hard to say. I’ve just done my first race in Mantova my first 450 race so it’s hard to say. GP and the preseason race is always quite a big difference but try to build step by step during the season. Of course the first step is to be on the podium and try to fight for win if we can, that’s the goal and be as consistent as possible it’s a long season we have almost 20 GPs so a lot can happen and try to be there every weekend that’s my goal and try to be better and build through the season and see. I can’t really say my expectation because I haven’t raced a first GP in the 450 class so we will see after Argentina where we are and then we try to improve of course for the next races and be better during the season.
• Lorenzo Anelli (MX Report): Ruben, how important is it to stay on the same team for several years to be able to improve by knowing you’ve got consistency with that aspect of the riding?
• Ruben Fernandez: Well I believe staying on the same team for long years is always helpful, especially here I’ve been feeling like a family, it’s been always since the day one very welcome here, very warm and you know I have a good relationship with everyone on the team so that’s one thing less that you have to think about now. You’re already comfortable with everyone, you already know everyone so you just have to focus on riding and that’s it and to develop on bringing results and developing during the season so yeah like I said four years I think it’s going be the fourth one and feeling at home.
• Andy McKinstry (GateDrop): Valerio, I know your focus is on MX2 at the moment, but how much do you look to the future and imagine that you’ll hopefully be riding a 450 machine and will you possibly be riding the 450 in the Italian Championship this year?
• Valerio Lata: I like so much the 450 and I race last year one race in the Italian Championship and I won. So yeah, riding was a gift for the team from the podium in Australia and I race with the 450 factory on the last race so was incredible bike but the focus is stay on 250 so for me for me and the team is better to race 250 also the Italian Championship and it’s possible also try some things on the engine or different setting for the World Championship so I think this the good way.
• Jonathan McCready (Gate Drop): Jeffrey, this year it feels like the veterans versus the rookies in the class. Does this make it a sort of exciting for you? I mean obviously you’ve got big changes yourself, but looking at the championship as a whole, how excited are you just to be racing all these new guys as well?
• Jeffrey Herlings: I mean it feel for me like it’s just the same guys over and over again so I don’t see any big changes yet there’s a couple of guys coming up but I think this will be the same guys who’ve been fighting for the championship this year as it was the last couple of years just the party will be just a bit bigger because there’s two three more new riders getting involved. But yeah definitely looking forward to it, I feel like I can still do it if not I wouldn’t have even started you know. Like if I look at the last few races last year when I was healthy you know I won most of them and got like five podiums straight and won three out of last five races I think, so definitely super excited and this is a complete new adventure, a big new motivation, you know after 17 years working with one with one team then going into a new team for your last potential last two or three years of your career makes things quite exciting and just brings a hell a lot of new motivation so yeah definitely be nice to race with the rookies but end of the day this championship is so long with 60 motos so it’s just about consistency. You saw in the past, you saw last year with Febvre just being there every single weekend being consistent I think that’s the thing what will bring you a championship.
• Jonathan McCready (GateDrop): Ruben, the prototype bike that you made look really good at the end of the year, can you talk about the development it’s gone through this year already and the improvements you’re expecting coming into this season from what you rode last year?
• Ruben Fernandez: Yeah, so as you as some might know during last season I had I switched bike and then I started riding with proto bike. There was a lot of positives in there on from the 2025 bike to the proto bike. It was a completely new bike, a lot of things changed but I was feeling comfortable. We gained on many aspects, but it was still a little bit early for the bike to jump on GPs maybe. But at the end it was a lot of good information that we bring into this season. Some things were where the team could work on, so we found out a lot of improvements on the latest test. Right now, the bike is feeling strong I think the team has done an amazing job and I’m pretty excited and happy and motivated to see where we can even improve more. But to say I’m pretty happy and I’m feeling comfortable with the how the bike is feeling right now.
• Lorenzo Aneli (MXReport): Valerio, coming from the EMX class to MX2, you obviously had to do a lot more racing. Did you have to mentally prepare yourself for a 20-round series?
• Valerio Lata: Of course, is completely different from the European Championship and in the World Championship. I have a lot of races, I have the qualifying race and is eight or so races more from the World Championship from European Championship. But the biggest difference was the qualifying race because is 20 minutes but is really fast the rhythm. So, for me the most difficult was this but I worked on my physical for this year so I can’t wait to try my best in this season.
• Ben Rumbold (MXGP): Jeffrey, obviously in America Jorge Prado went from KTM to Kawasaki. Was that worrying for you seeing someone of his talents to struggle to cope with the change of bike or did it provide sort of motivation that you wanted to show that it is possible?
• Jeffrey Herlings: Obviously change from KTM to Kawasaki is a different thing than change from a KTM to a Honda. I think a Honda is a more proven bike, you saw even in US with Jett, you saw in Europe with Tim, so I think it’s different. Obviously, it did give me some nights to think about it, because I never tested before I signed up with Honda HRC. So, I never tested the bike, and it was kind of a gamble you know so I never knew maybe it was not going to fit, maybe it was going to fit much better than my KTM. I didn’t know, but right now as I’m on the Honda, I have no regret. Like I said it’s a brand-new bike and how good it is already I think there’s much more potential in the bike and yeah definitely looking forward to this year’s racing.
• Jonathan McCready (GateDrop): Tom Vialle, Chase Sexton says he’s very excited to watch the GPs this year because you’re in it, you obviously had a very good relationship, but he says he wants to race you in Ernée, France. Would you be excited for that and are you looking forward to Ernée, France potentially for being part of Team France?
• Tom Vialle: Yeah, I mean we all know the Nations is always a big race especially in France in Ernée. I was there in 2023 and we won the race. So that was one of the best weekends of my life. It was really a crazy weekend with so many fans so hopefully this year I can be able to race. Of course, it is Team France who decide the selection of the rider and it would be nice to ride against Chase finally. I was in the US in the 250 class he was always in the 450 class so we’ve been training a lot together for the last two years but yeah if I’m selected to do the Motocross of Nations it would be nice to race against him.