JOHANNESBURG (South Africa), 5th July 2026 – Blue skies, sunshine, an incredible atmosphere, and blisteringly fast racing! You wouldn’t believe that the MXGP of South Africa was held in the height of the southern hemisphere winter as the eleventh round of the 2026 FIM World Motocross Championships set the Terra Topia MX track alight on the northern edge of Johannesburg.  South Africa’s biggest city provided a stunning backdrop to the world class racing as the MXGP elite battled around one of the most popular new circuits in recent times !

With superb track preparation to combat the bright sunshine and mild breeze that worked to dry the circuit out, the venue was in perfect condition and buzzing with fans eager to end the 18-year wait that this country has had for a Motocross Grand Prix.  The racing more than met their expectations, with the riders pushing their bikes as hard as they could to combat the drop in power due to the 1,400m (4,600 ft) altitude in this part of the world.

After taking second overall in each of the last two GPs, Lucas Coenen completed a perfect weekend for himself and Red Bull KTM Factory Racing, sweeping both races after making great starts and hitting the front early each time!  Jeffrey Herlings did all he could to chase the talented teenager down, and wasn’t far away in either race as he took second overall for Honda HRC Petronas, while Romain Febvre claimed two third places to take that spot overall.  They are also the top three in the Championship as we head into a week’s break.

The MX2 World Championship is getting closer at the top as Triumph Racing Factory Team rider Guillem Farres scored a perfect Sunday for the second straight weekend!  Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s reigning World Champion Simon Längenfelder put a halt to his podium drought with a solid second overall to strengthen his hold on third in the Championship, while star rookie Janis Reisulis took his second straight podium result for Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MX2 with third overall.

With top five results also achieved by South African riders Calvin Vlaanderen for the Red Bull Ducati Factory MXGP Team and Camden McLellan for the Triumph Racing Factory Team, the crowd went home happy after the first MXGP event in the country for 18 years! With near-universal acclaim for the circuit and facilities, the future looks bright for MXGP in South Africa!

A late run for the #1 plate holder Romain Febvre was enough to top the time tables in morning Warm-Up, just a tenth of a second ahead of Tim Gajser on the Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP, and another late run from Jeffrey Herlings for third.  

Straight from the first corner, however, Lucas Coenen took the advantage with his seventh Fox Holeshot Award of the 2026 campaign, with Honda HRC Petronas’ fast starter Tom Vialle right in his wheel-tracks and ahead of Febvre. Herlings had got into the first corner in around sixth place, but was quickly able to get into fourth by going around the outside of both the second Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP machine of Pauls Jonass and Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP teamster Maxime Renaux!

On the first full lap, “The Bullet” was able to shoot past Febvre along a fast rhythm section, then tucked to the inside line on the next corner to move into second past Vialle!  It was a lap reminiscent of his performance in Portugal and it looked like we were in for a Coenen versus Herlings showdown again! 

Behind them, Jonass had settled nicely into fifth, but Renaux was dealing with the attentions of his teammate Gajser, who weaved one way, then the other, in his attempts to get past the Frenchman! The third Honda HRC Petronas of Ruben Fernandez held eighth ahead of Calvin Vlaanderen and Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Andrea Adamo.

Coenen set about building his lead with a series of fast laps, but Vialle, under pressure from Febvre for third, suffered a heavy fall through a left-right sequence of corners, and had to retire from the race with a damaged motorcycle!  Everybody moved up a position, but the fast circuit was proving to be difficult to pass on, and Gajser couldn’t make a move on his teammate Renaux, as the Monster Energy Yamaha men finished fifth and sixth despite a late final effort from the Slovenian.  Fernandez took seventh in front of home hero Vlaanderen, with Adamo ninth ahead of the Gabriel SS24 KTM of Oriol Oliver.

Up front, the crowd got into it as Herlings closed to within two seconds of Coenen, setting the Acerbis Fastest Lap on lap 13, before getting on the gas a touch too early on a slick landing from a jump, sliding to the floor on lap 14!  He was able to pick it up quickly enough to keep second position, but Coenen was happy to cruise to the race win from there, with the factory Kawasaki pairing of Febvre and Jonass taking third and fourth behind Herlings. It was the Latvian’s equal best Sunday race result for the factory Kawasaki squad, and his best for over a calendar year.

Although marginally beaten to the Fox Holeshot Award by Vialle in race two, Coenen was right at the front again as Adamo held third from Febvre and a loudly-cheered Vlaanderen into the second corner! Herlings was again chasing from around eighth, as Coenen carved past Vialle to take the lead at the bottom of the circuit.  Adamo had slipped back to seventh, as Herlings fought his way into fourth ahead of Vlaanderen and Gajser.  Jonass, Fernandez, and Oliver rounded out the top ten by the end of the first full lap.

Coenen again sprinted away, as Febvre and Herlings closed on Vialle, and it all changed between the trio, with nine world titles between them, on lap five! 

Febvre dived up the inside of his fellow Frenchman on the same corner that Coenen had passed him on, and Herlings took advantage of the confusion to move to the inside of his teammate on the very next corner!  A lap later, Fernandez cut to the inside of Jonass in a 90-degree left-hander, and made contact with the Latvian, causing him to tip over a rut and lose all hope of a top five overall! He recovered to finish 13th and salvage ninth overall ahead of Oliver. The move put Renaux into tenth in race two, which is where he finished behind the Spanish pair of Fernandez and Oliver.

It took Herlings until lap 11 to get close to Febvre, and the veteran pair had closed in on leader Coenen, so the Dutchman took his shot with a surprise pass into that bottom corner to take second! Two laps later came the most popular pass of the day, as Vlaanderen blasted his Ducati around the outside of Vialle at the end of the start straight, sending the fans into raptures! Gajser worked his way past the tiring Frenchman as well a lap later, and those positions were set.  Vlaanderen matched his best race finish of the year with fourth, but that claimed his best overall result of the year, also in fourth! Gajser’s fifth was good enough for that spot overall ahead of Fernandez and Renaux, with Adamo’s seventh in race two enough for eighth overall.

Herlings again got close to Coenen, but the Belgian put the hammer down again to make sure of the perfect weekend, and take his 50th career GP race win to secure his 21st Grand Prix victory!  Herlings’ second overall puts his career podium tally above that of the legend Stefan Everts, leaving only Antonio Cairoli ahead of him in that all-time list.  Febvre took third overall for the second straight GP.

This gives Lucas Coenen a 68-point Championship lead heading into the weekend off, which he will spend racing in the USA before returning for the Monster Energy MXGP of Great Britain at the revamped classic venue of Foxhills!  That one should be a stunner!

Lucas Coenen: « On those types of tracks it’s really nice to ride, but the start is the key. If you get the holeshot, you’re almost safe. Still had to fight to keep the gaps a little bit, but overall I won all three races, so I’m happy with that. When Jeffrey is coming, you can hear him coming. It was good, when I heard him I was back to reality, I knew he was going to push. Yesterday with Romain he was on my toe from beginning to end, and today with Jeffrey I managed a little gap and then he came back. Overall a decent weekend. »

Jeffrey Herlings: « If I would have taken two holeshots, and he [L.Coenen] came twice from P5, we would have had the result the opposite way, because our speeds were more or less the same. Just his starts were better all weekend. [On the crash in race 1] I landed and the rear just slid and I kind of high sided, then it just slid. That was my luck, to not have the high side. Then in the second race I had a gnarly one just after passing Romain, I scrubbed it so hard I had my foot back on the ground. I saw Jesus coming, man. How I saved it I really have no idea, but I made it without crashing.”

Romain Febvre: « I felt pretty good all weekend, my speed was there, my starts were there too. It’s not in one week that you turn things upside down. Last week they were much faster than us; this week I could keep with them, even in the second race I held onto Jeffrey for maybe 20 minutes or so. Step by step I’m getting there. The last few weeks I’ve been working on the speed just on one lap, two laps, three laps, because I felt in the race I could hold the pace but the speed wasn’t there. And the start is always key, if you start tenth today, there’s no chance you come back third. »

MXGP – Grand Prix Race 1 – Top 10 Classification: 1. Lucas Coenen (BEL, KTM), 34:20.060; 2. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, Honda), +0:04.641; 3. Romain Febvre (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:16.549; 4. Pauls Jonass (LAT, Kawasaki), +0:33.768; 5. Maxime Renaux (FRA, Yamaha), +0:37.832; 6. Tim Gajser (SLO, Yamaha), +0:40.246; 7. Ruben Fernandez (ESP, Honda), +0:44.525; 8. Calvin Vlaanderen (NED, Ducati), +0:50.171; 9. Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), +1:09.455; 10. Oriol Oliver (ESP, KTM), +1:10.640

MXGP – Grand Prix Race 2 – Top 10 Classification: 1. Lucas Coenen (BEL, KTM), 34:27.909; 2. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, Honda), +0:02.167; 3. Romain Febvre (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:33.299; 4. Calvin Vlaanderen (NED, Ducati), +0:40.773; 5. Tim Gajser (SLO, Yamaha), +0:42.871; 6. Tom Vialle (FRA, Honda), +0:46.492; 7. Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), +0:48.034; 8. Ruben Fernandez (ESP, Honda), +1:04.189; 9. Oriol Oliver (ESP, KTM), +1:09.202; 10. Maxime Renaux (FRA, Yamaha), +1:21.893

MXGP Overall – Top 10 Classification: 1. Lucas Coenen (BEL, KTM), 50 points; 2. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, HON), 44 p.; 3. Romain Febvre (FRA, KAW), 40 p.; 4. Calvin Vlaanderen (NED, DUC), 31 p.; 5. Tim Gajser (SLO, YAM), 31 p.; 6. Ruben Fernandez (ESP, HON), 27 p.; 7. Maxime Renaux (FRA, YAM), 27 p.; 8. Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), 26 p.; 9. Pauls Jonass (LAT, KAW), 26 p.; 10. Oriol Oliver (ESP, KTM), 23 p.;

MXGP – World Championship – Top 10 Classification: 1. Lucas Coenen (BEL, KTM), 566 points; 2. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, HON), 498 p.; 3. Romain Febvre (FRA, KAW), 443 p.; 4. Tim Gajser (SLO, YAM), 404 p.; 5. Maxime Renaux (FRA, YAM), 364 p.; 6. Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), 343 p.; 7. Ruben Fernandez (ESP, HON), 332 p.; 8. Tom Vialle (FRA, HON), 287 p.; 9. Kay de Wolf (NED, HUS), 273 p.; 10. Pauls Jonass (LAT, KAW), 268 p

MXGP – Manufacturers Classification: 1. KTM, 586 points; 2. Honda, 583 p.; 3. Yamaha, 487 p.; 4. Kawasaki, 468 p.; 5. Husqvarna, 297 p.; 6. Ducati, 251 p.; 7. Fantic, 225 p.; 8. Beta, 90 p.; 9. Triumph, 70 p.; 10. GASGAS, 4 p.

The margins were very tight amongst the MX2 fighters in morning Warm-Up, as Sacha Coenen put yesterday’s disappointment behind him to go fastest for Red Bull KTM Factory Racing, by under a tenth of a second from Janis Reisulis.  Just half a second back in third, after scoring his career best Qualifying Race result yesterday, was the Maddii Racing Honda ABF Italia of Maxime Grau!

Reigning Champion Längenfelder, fresh from his Qualifying Race win yesterday, claimed the Fox Holeshot Award by a tiny margin from Coenen, as Farres looked strong in third, just ahead of the SB Racing KTM of Jens Walvoort! Janis Reisulis was in fifth ahead of his brother Karlis and local Johannesburg boy Camden McLellan. Liam Everts was eighth for Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing, while the Dixon Racing Team Kawasaki of Kay Karssemakers and the Osička KTM of Julius Mikula rounded out the top ten.

Farres was in no mood to hang around, and made an amazing two-for-one move past both Red Bull KTMs on the exit of the third corner!  The top three were briefly all side-by-side, Coenen landing heavily from the next jump and nearly colliding with Längenfelder!  He was to make the pass for second place a few corners later and the chase was on between the series leader and his closest points rival out front.

Janis Reisulis was able to get around Walvoort on the opening lap, and McLellan, having passed Karlis Reisulis, followed suit a lap later to get into fifth spot. From there, the only rider able to make significant progress was Everts, and he took until lap ten to get around the outside of Walvoort for sixth position.

Coenen kept chasing, but Farres had it all under control despite the gap being just 1.2 seconds at the chequered flag.  Längenfelder was the same distance back from Coenen, while McLellan nearly got caught by Everts for fifth behind Janis Reisulis. Karlis Reisulis got the better of Walvoort to take seventh with two laps to go, while Mikula and Grau had got past Karssemakers to take ninth and tenth.

The Red Bull KTMs were again sharp out of the gate for race two, and were side-by-side into turn one!  Coenen was on the outside, and paid the penalty by being squeezed off the track as the reigning Champ gave him no other option! Farres used the opportunity to take the Fox Holeshot Award, and that was bad news for the opposition as the in-form Spaniard took his chance to disappear at the front!

Coenen had recovered to hold down sixth spot, but crashed heavily into the final corner of the first full lap, causing panic among his team as the bike started steaming dramatically through the next few corners!  Meanwhile, Janis Reisulis had settled in behind Längenfelder and ahead of his brother Karlis, while Everts got a better start to sit inside the top five.

The Belgian soon got past the Latvian, then the chasing McLellan darted to the inside of the Yamaha on the final corner of lap three. Meanwhile, Coenen was mounting a comeback, and he was able to fight through to sixth at the flag ahead of Karlis Reisulis. Grau won an all-red-bike battle with the Honda HRC Petronas rider Valerio Lata, claiming eighth ahead of the Italian and his countryman Ferruccio Zanchi on the Beddini Racing Factory Ducati.

While Farres and Längenfelder remained untouched in the top two positions, there was a royal tear-up for third in the race that was to decide the final spot on the podium! McLellan, urged on by his home crowd, fought past Janis Reisulis on lap ten, and Everts was also close.  Coenen’s move past Reisulis had put him in a podium spot, but then Janis responded by fighting past McLellan in the waves, setting his fastest lap on the penultimate circulation to seal the deal, and his second straight podium one week after his very first!

Coenen would have to settle for fourth overall ahead of McLellan, with Everts sixth, Karlis Reisulis seventh, then Grau, Walvoort, and Lata completing the top ten. Längenfelder’s second place was his best Sunday finish since April in Sardegna, and it clinched his first podium result since that weekend as well. However, Farres was invincible around the Terra Topia circuit, and again sailed to the win by nearly five seconds, his ninth race win of the season, and it now puts him just 14 points behind Coenen as they head into the week’s break!

While one Coenen brother appears to be in a prime position for the MXGP World Championship, his brother is being chased down by Farres in MX2, and with the dramatic slopes of Foxhills ahead of them, this title battle could reach fever pitch in the UK! The weekend off cannot pass quickly enough as we prepare for round twelve, with the following two rounds hot on its heels!  Be sure to join us for the rest of the fantastic 2026 FIM Motocross World Championship!

Guillem Farres: « My mentality is just going race by race. Same story as Portugal, haven’t really touched my bike, stayed on my base setup, just focused on myself and my riding. It’s a great group, and it’s nice to come to a race weekend, it doesn’t feel like work. It feels like when I was a 10 or 12 year old kid going to race with my dad. It’s nice when you’re leading, your goggles don’t get dirty, your bike doesn’t get dirty, you can run your own pace. I think that’s one of my strong points, I can have a guy on my back for the whole race and not get nervous at all. »

Simon Langenfelder: « We made a few changes, a few new people in the team [Marc de Reuver as coach], and that helped bring back the intensity, the fire, that I’d been struggling with the past few races, especially in the second race. It was there again, so I’m super happy about that qualifying race win, about three really good starts, and about that weekend. You need to come to the races and be best friends with the people around you, work perfectly together, everybody pushing hard and wanting the best for the other one. That’s just so important, and he’s a great guy in the team. »

Janis Reisulis: « The intensity this weekend was on point, especially the end of race 2, since I knew I had to pass Camden back for the podium. He’s one of the strongest guys in the MX2 class, so I kind of just went with the mentality it’s either pass him or crash, and it worked out. I just think I’m getting into this class and I’m feeling really calm lately. Even if someone is on my back in the race, I take it easy, fight back how I can. I think that’s a big step in the right direction for me. »

MX2 – Grand Prix Race 1 – Top 10 Classification: 1. Guillem Farres (ESP, Triumph), 35:02.592; 2. Sacha Coenen (BEL, KTM), +0:01.208; 3. Simon Längenfelder (GER, KTM), +0:02.451; 4. Janis Martins Reisulis (LAT, Yamaha), +0:20.794; 5. Camden Mc Lellan (RSA, Triumph), +0:25.238; 6. Liam Everts (BEL, Husqvarna), +0:25.922; 7. Karlis Alberts Reisulis (LAT, Yamaha), +0:45.086; 8. Jens Walvoort (NED, KTM), +0:46.263; 9. Julius Mikula (CZE, KTM), +0:56.226; 10. Maxime Grau (FRA, Honda), +1:01.333;

MX2 – Grand Prix Race 2 – Top 10 Classification: 1. Guillem Farres (ESP, Triumph), 35:26.970; 2. Simon Längenfelder (GER, KTM), +0:04.847; 3. Janis Martins Reisulis (LAT, Yamaha), +0:07.823; 4. Camden Mc Lellan (RSA, Triumph), +0:09.533; 5. Liam Everts (BEL, Husqvarna), +0:10.477; 6. Sacha Coenen (BEL, KTM), +0:29.365; 7. Karlis Alberts Reisulis (LAT, Yamaha), +0:39.355; 8. Maxime Grau (FRA, Honda), +0:45.505; 9. Valerio Lata (ITA, Honda), +0:51.633; 10. Ferruccio Zanchi (ITA, Ducati), +0:54.413

MX2 Overall – Top 10 Classification: 1. Guillem Farres (ESP, TRI), 50 points; 2. Simon Längenfelder (GER, KTM), 42 p.; 3. Janis Martins Reisulis (LAT, YAM), 38 p.; 4. Sacha Coenen (BEL, KTM), 37 p.; 5. Camden Mc Lellan (RSA, TRI), 34 p.; 6. Liam Everts (BEL, HUS), 31 p.; 7. Karlis Alberts Reisulis (LAT, YAM), 28 p.; 8. Maxime Grau (FRA, HON), 24 p.; 9. Jens Walvoort (NED, KTM), 22 p.; 10. Valerio Lata (ITA, HON), 21 p.

MX2 – World Championship Classification: 1. Sacha Coenen (BEL, KTM), 518 points; 2. Guillem Farres (ESP, TRI), 504 p.; 3. Simon Längenfelder (GER, KTM), 467 p.; 4. Camden Mc Lellan (RSA, TRI), 455 p.; 5. Liam Everts (BEL, HUS), 433 p.; 6. Janis Martins Reisulis (LAT, YAM), 400 p.; 7. Mathis Valin (FRA, KAW), 352 p.; 8. Karlis Alberts Reisulis (LAT, YAM), 307 p.; 9. Valerio Lata (ITA, HON), 278 p.; 10. Kay Karssemakers (NED, KAW), 225 p.

MX2 – Manufacturers Classification: 1. KTM, 593 points; 2. Triumph, 585 p.; 3. Husqvarna, 433 p.; 4. Yamaha, 429 p.; 5. Kawasaki, 420 p.; 6. Honda, 325 p.; 7. Ducati, 133 p.; 8. TM, 87 p.; 9. GASGAS, 50 p.; 10. Fantic, 8 p.