LACAPELLE-MARIVAL (France) 23rd May 2026 – MXGP fired back into life today as the sixth round of the series saw hot sunshine bathe the passionate fans at the Circuit Georges Filhol, and the Qualifying Races delivered equally hot action as the MXGP of France once more brought out the best in both the riders and the crowds in attendance!

In the first MXGP event for five years at Lacapelle-Marival, in the south-west of the country, the French fans who came in for Saturday were rewarded with a home win in the MX2 class for Mathis Valin, taking the second Qualifying Race victory of his career, and his first this year for Kawasaki Racing Team MX2!

In MXGP, it was the 2021 GP winner at this venue, Jeffrey Herlings, who took the victory today with a commanding display for Honda HRC Petronas, ahead of a frantic battle between Kay de Wolf and Lucas Coenen for second place, and it was the Dutchman who took second place on the final corner for Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing! The Belgian maintained the Championship lead by just two points for Red Bull KTM Factory Racing.

Behind the ecstatic Valin in MX2 was Liam Everts, scoring his best Saturday result of the year for Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing, and Janis Reisulis, enjoying his career best Qualifying Race for Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MX2!

With more strong sunshine and hot conditions looking likely for tomorrow, the riders will face a serious test in a raucous atmosphere during Sunday’s GP races. It’s great to be back!

The top riders were keen to show that they were coming back to play with great speed in their pocket, and Jeffrey Herlings put in a late burst to take top spot in Free Practice, by half a tenth from series leader Lucas Coenen! Herlings’ Honda HRC Petronas teammate Tom Vialle was third quickest to give his home fans some hope.

However, it was all change in Time Practice as Kay de Wolf claimed the top spot, less than a tenth of a second ahead of a last-lap effort from Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP’s Tim Gajser!  Coenen was still right there, just another two tenths back, with Herlings in fourth ahead of another French hope, Gajser’s teammate Maxime Renaux!

From just the seventh gate pick for the Qualifying Race, Tom Vialle drew a roar from the crowd as he fired into the lead with a clear Holeshot, but Herlings was right with him as De Wolf battled the Red Bull KTM Factory Racing machine of Andrea Adamo for third.  Coenen was only down in eighth position, just ahead of reigning World Champion, Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP’s Romain Febvre!

Jeffrey wasted no time in getting to the front, knifing inside his teammate to take the lead through the inside of the fourth corner.  The third Honda HRC Petronas machine of Ruben Fernandez briefly held fourth place behind De Wolf, as Gajser and Coenen quickly got past Adamo on the opening lap. 

After a couple of nasty moments, Vialle didn’t heed the warning signs and suffered a spectacular crash as his bike swapped sideways through the waves, sending him in a flat spin through the air!  He was lucky enough to be unhurt, and would recover to claim 13th place at the finish.  Coenen then got around Gajser to put himself into fourth behind Fernandez, eventually passing him for third on lap five!

As Herlings eased away at the front, looking in perfect control through the many difficult rutted sections, the battle raged for fourth place throughout the second half of the race, as Gajser and Renaux both passed Fernandez on lap eight, and Febvre also fought forward two laps later.  Adamo, the Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP rider Pauls Jonass, and Red Bull Ducati Factory MXGP Team’s Calvin Vlaanderen rounded out the top ten, until Vlaanderen came to a stop and dropped out. Jonass was overtaken by a late charge from Team Honda Motoblouz SR Motul pilot Thibault Benistant, celebrating his home GP with his first Qualifying Race points in the class for ninth place.  Fernandez and Adamo finished seventh and eighth.

Coenen started to attack De Wolf for second, and the battle between the former teammates was enthralling! Gajser made a mistake to suddenly drop behind Renaux and Febvre with two laps to go, giving the home riders fourth and fifth at the flag.  Meanwhile, Lucas Coenen got right to the back wheel of De Wolf, and after trying a pass on a corner after a downhill for two laps, got it done perfectly as the Dutchman lost traction and second place on the final lap!  However, the Husqvarna man was not done, and pulled an amazing pass on his old rival, around the outside on the final corner to take the runner-up spot by just 0.075 of a second!

By then, however, Herlings had crossed the line to win by nearly four seconds, and halves the Championship lead to just two points heading into the Grand Prix races tomorrow!  The fighting French riders will be out to please their fans while the title battle rages on, so we are set for a stunning Sunday to match a spectacular Saturday!

Jeffrey Herlings: “It was fun out there. It got quite sketchy and quite rough by the end, but I think that’s actually good for the racing. The track prep was really good today we got some nice lines opening up. I took a good start, went second, then managed to get past my teammate in the second turn and led the rest of the race. I felt good, felt in control. The track prep was really good for Race 1 and I hope they can repeat that tomorrow. Looking forward to it.”

Kay de Wolf: “It felt really good. Lucas [Coenen] gave me some good pressure so it was a fun race, I really enjoyed it. This is exactly what I wished for, to battle with these guys, because they’re at the top of the championship right now, they’re the best. I just wanted to fight with them and that’s what we did. We had some clean racing in the last lap. I’m sure Lucas will try to get me back tomorrow, but that’s all good. Looking forward to it.”

Lucas Coenen: “Honestly, I wasn’t feeling great. It wasn’t the best start, I was quite far down in that first lap and had to make some passes to get back in the mix. On this track if you take the holeshot you’re almost home, so it’s a bummer I didn’t get that. But I reeled Kay [de Wolf] in and my speed was there, I just made a small mistake in one corner that gave him the gap on the inside on the jump. I tried to get him but I couldn’t. It’s only a qualifying race though, tomorrow is the day. If I can nail the start and pull the holeshot, we can win.”

MXGP – Qualifying Race Classification: 1. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, Honda), 24:57.638; 2. Kay de Wolf (NED, Husqvarna), +0:03.846; 3. Lucas Coenen (BEL, KTM), +0:03.921; 4. Maxime Renaux (FRA, Yamaha), +0:13.973; 5. Romain Febvre (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:15.345; 6. Tim Gajser (SLO, Yamaha), +0:17.317; 7. Ruben Fernandez (ESP, Honda), +0:24.802; 8. Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), +0:34.445; 9. Thibault Benistant (FRA, Honda), +0:37.718; 10. Pauls Jonass (LAT, Kawasaki), +0:41.049;

MXGP – World Championship Classification: 1. Lucas Coenen (BEL, KTM), 239 points; 2. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, HON), 237 p.; 3. Tom Vialle (FRA, HON), 206 p.; 4. Tim Gajser (SLO, YAM), 203 p.; 5. Romain Febvre (FRA, KAW), 197 p.; 6. Maxime Renaux (FRA, YAM), 185 p.; 7. Kay de Wolf (NED, HUS), 153 p.; 8. Ruben Fernandez (ESP, HON), 150 p.; 9. Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), 141 p.; 10. Calvin Vlaanderen (NED, DUC), 110 p.

The packed banks of French fans were given an early reason to make some noise as their biggest hope in MX2, Mathis Valin, took the top time in Free Practice, over half a second ahead of Triumph Factory Racing Team’s Guillem Farres in second.However, reigning World Champion Simon Längenfelder got the better of the Frenchman in Time Practice to grab the first gate pick for the Qualifying Race, with his fellow Red Bull KTM Factory Racing pilot Sacha Coenen behind Valin in third.

Despite their great gate picks, both of the top two riders in the Championship started well outside the top ten, and Sacha Coenen’s unbeaten run of Qualifying Race wins this season was already certain to be over!  It was Valin who led through the first corner to the delight of the local fans, and the pack tore into the valley to a noisy crescendo!

Farres was right on Valin’s tail, however, after quickly passing the Honda HRC Petronas rider Valerio Lata, and before they started the first full lap the Spaniard got better drive from an inside rut and took the lead from the Frenchman!

Liam Everts was also quickly past Lata, and Janis Reisulis took another lap to get past the Italian.  However, Farres fell in the same corner where he took the lead a lap before, and remounted in sixth place, putting Valin back in a leading position as the fans howled their approval! One of the riders to pass Farres was his countryman Francisco Garcia, making his MX2 debut for BUD Racing Kawasaki in an off week for the EMX250 Championship, which he currently leads! The youngster kept Farres back for three whole laps before the Triumph man finally got a good run to pass him.

While the top three stayed in position for the rest of the race, the battle was joined behind as Längenfelder and Coenen recovered from their poor starts while fighting each other!  The young Belgian made a good inside pass on his German rival on lap five, but the Champ hit his stride later in the race as the track got more technical, re-passing Coenen on lap ten!

Lata held onto fourth until Farres came through on lap nine, and then sadly for the Italian the floodgates opened on the final two laps as Camden McLellan joined his Triumph Racing Factory Team stablemate in the top five by the finish.  Längenfelder also passed Lata on the penultimate lap to rescue sixth place and actually build his points lead to four over Coenen, who came home in seventh. 

Garcia took points from his very first MX2 Qualifying Race with a fine eighth, with Beddini Racing Ducati Factory MX2 Team’s sole MX2 rider Ferruccio Zanchi taking ninth after some strong racing with the two factory KTMs, while a disappointed Lata collected the final point in tenth.

Reisulis got to within a second and a half of Everts at the close, but the Belgian held onto second to level with Farres for third in the Championship going into tomorrow, still both 38 points off the leader.

All the crowd noise was for Valin though, who celebrated in typical goofy style as he crossed the line with the widest smile in the south of France!  The crowd and his team will hope for more of the same tomorrow, but for sure the top Championship contenders will not be giving up without a fight!

Be sure to join us for the MXGP of France main races tomorrow, it’s looking like an absolute scorcher!

Mathis Valin: “I had a good start, finally! It’s been a long time since I was out front like that so I’m really pumped. The track is not easy but I’m so happy to be up there in front of this crowd. I just kept pushing and managed to hold it together. Let’s see if we can do the same tomorrow, thank you to everyone for the support today.”

MX2 – Qualifying Race Classification: 1. Mathis Valin (FRA, Kawasaki), 23:46.460; 2. Liam Everts (BEL, Husqvarna), +0:04.517; 3. Janis Martins Reisulis (LAT, Yamaha), +0:06.002; 4. Guillem Farres (ESP, Triumph), +0:09.815; 5. Camden Mc Lellan (RSA, Triumph), +0:10.663; 6. Simon Längenfelder (GER, KTM), +0:14.359; 7. Sacha Coenen (BEL, KTM), +0:15.983; 8. Francisco Garcia (ESP, Kawasaki), +0:18.256; 9. Ferruccio Zanchi (ITA, Ducati), +0:18.910; 10. Valerio Lata (ITA, Honda), +0:23.332

MX2 – World Championship Classification: 1. Simon Längenfelder (GER, KTM), 249 points; 2. Sacha Coenen (BEL, KTM), 245 p.; 3. Guillem Farres (ESP, TRI), 211 p.; 4. Liam Everts (BEL, HUS), 211 p.; 5. Camden Mc Lellan (RSA, TRI), 191 p.; 6. Janis Martins Reisulis (LAT, YAM), 178 p.; 7. Mathis Valin (FRA, KAW), 169 p.; 8. Karlis Alberts Reisulis (LAT, YAM), 150 p.; 9. Valerio Lata (ITA, HON), 134 p.; 10. Kay Karssemakers (NED, KAW), 114 p.

TIMETABLE

SUNDAY

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