The MXGP of China got underway at Shanghai International Off-Road Circuit on Saturday, with Jeffrey Herlings continuing his remarkable run of form and Guillem Farres taking another important step towards securing the 2026 MX2 World Championship.
Under hot conditions at the heavily redeveloped Shanghai venue, complete with a massive new grandstand complex and race control building, Herlings claimed his 18th consecutive race victory while Farres strengthened his championship position with his third MX2 qualifying race win of the season.
The MXGP world title may already be decided, but there was no sign of Herlings easing off as the newly crowned champion continued the dominant streak that stretches back to the British Grand Prix at Foxhills in July. However, the premier class again attracted just 14 riders to the gate, continuing the small-field trend that has been evident in recent rounds.
Meanwhile, the MX2 title fight remains alive heading into Sunday’s motos, although Farres now finds himself firmly in control after holding off his closest rivals in a thrilling finish. MX2 fared only slightly better in Shanghai, with 17 riders lining up as the championship battle heads towards its conclusion.
MXGP: Herlings Keeps Perfect Run Alive
Despite suffering a heavy crash in Free Practice and nursing a sore knee for the remainder of the day, Jeffrey Herlings topped both Free Practice and Time Practice before extending his winning streak in the MXGP qualifying race.
Romain Febvre was second in both sessions, while Jan Pancar was third in Free Practice. In Time Practice, Pauls Jonass moved into third, just 0.01 seconds ahead of Calvin Vlaanderen, with Tom Vialle fifth.
The start of the qualifying race saw the factory Hondas and Kawasakis go head-to-head, with Febvre grabbing the holeshot. Jonass initially looked set for a strong opening lap but clipped the rear wheel of Herlings and crashed, ending his hopes of challenging at the front.
That allowed Vialle to settle into third ahead of Pancar and Jago Geerts. Geerts was later shuffled back as Andrea Adamo forced his way through, opening the door for Vlaanderen to move into sixth. Jeremy Seewer ran eighth, while Australia wildcard Dylan Walsh sat ninth.
The decisive moment came during the opening lap when Febvre made a mistake after the dragon’s back section. Running wide into loose dirt allowed Herlings to dive underneath and take the lead.
While Jonass charged back through the field after his crash, reaching 10th by the end of lap one, another notable performance came from Brian Hsu, who finished 12th aboard the JHL Factory Racing 350cc machine, marking the debut of the first Chinese-built motorcycle to compete in MXGP competition.
At the front, Febvre refused to let Herlings escape. The Frenchman was particularly strong through the third sector and repeatedly matched the Honda rider’s pace. The pair traded fastest laps until lap nine, when Herlings finally began edging clear. Febvre briefly closed the gap again, but the Dutchman held firm to win by just over three seconds.
“Yeah, it was good,” Herlings said after the race. “Considering this morning, I think it was quite good to still top every practice and lead almost every lap, so not too bad. After a good night of sleep I’ll be like new again tomorrow.
“The track is quite gnarly; it’s a bit easier than last year. Last year there was a bit more rain, and it was way hotter than this year. But I’m still enjoying it, and I’ll do the same thing tomorrow.”
Febvre was encouraged by his pace and believes a better understanding of the track could help him challenge for victory on Sunday.
“I felt really good,” Febvre said. “For once I got the start, and then I knew he was going to push me the first time to try to make the pass. Actually, where he passed me, I didn’t check the line properly on the sighting lap, I went there and I didn’t know where to go, I went outside and it was completely broken up, so he passed me there.
“But after that I was on it, I was feeling good and riding good. So hopefully the same start tomorrow, and then battle for the win.”
Vialle rode a largely lonely race to third place in his first appearance at the Shanghai circuit. The result moves him to within 12 points of Adamo in their battle for fourth in the championship, with both riders expected to move ahead of the injured Lucas Coenen before season’s end.
The Frenchman admitted his start could have been better.
“I actually had a pretty bad start, I spun on the gate when it dropped,” Vialle explained. “So that was pretty bad, but I made a good first turn and I was behind Romain the whole time.
“I made a mistake in one of the turns and then I lost the gap a little bit, and I kind of settled for tomorrow. P3 is okay for today and hopefully tomorrow we can push a little bit more.”
Behind the podium finishers, Pancar held fourth ahead of Adamo, who was unable to find a way past the Slovenian despite staying close throughout the race. Vlaanderen finished sixth, just ahead of Geerts, while Seewer and Jonass completed the top nine. Walsh rounded out the top 10 to score his first MXGP championship point in six years.
With the pressure of the championship now gone, Sunday’s battles between Herlings and Febvre could provide some of the best racing of the season.
MX2: Farres Strengthens Title Position
The MX2 title contenders dominated proceedings from the opening session.
Sacha Coenen topped Free Practice ahead of Camden Mc Lellan and Guillem Farres, before Mc Lellan turned the tables in Time Practice. Farres was second fastest, Coenen third, with Simon Längenfelder fourth and Liam Everts fifth.
Längenfelder launched to the holeshot in the qualifying race, but Farres wasted no time taking control, diving underneath the KTM rider at the second corner to seize the lead.
Mc Lellan fought his way into fourth through the opening turns, while Karlis Reisulis started strongly in fifth. The Latvian later slipped backwards after issues on the opening lap, dropping behind Kay Karssemakers.
By the end of lap one, Coenen had already moved past Everts into third after an aggressive outside line that allowed him to launch a difficult double jump. Mc Lellan sat fifth, while Australia wildcard Byron Dennis impressed in sixth ahead of Janis Reisulis.
Further back, Maxime Grau ran eighth for Maddi Racing Honda ABF Italia, while Julius Mikula held ninth ahead of Karssemakers.
Coenen spent several laps hunting Längenfelder before finally making the move on lap six. One lap later, Mc Lellan forced Everts wide onto the start straight and dived underneath to take fourth.
Janis Reisulis worked his way past Dennis for sixth on lap four, while the Australian eventually slipped to ninth after losing two positions late in the race. Karssemakers continued his strong recent form by moving past Mikula and finishing seventh.
Mc Lellan then used the same line Coenen had used earlier to pass Längenfelder and move into third with four laps remaining.
At the front, Farres appeared to be managing the race despite the intense heat, but Coenen and Mc Lellan rapidly closed in during the closing laps. The top three were virtually nose-to-tail entering the final corner, yet Farres held on to claim victory by just over a second, with all three riders crossing the line within 1.1 seconds.
“I’ve been feeling good,” Farres said. “Pretty good start in second, made a quick pass in the second turn and from there I just managed it. It got a little bit sketchy at the beginning, but yeah, pretty good, good feeling.
“The whole team of Triumph Racing Factory is doing an amazing job and you guys can see, one, two in the Championship. Hopefully we can keep it going that way.”
The result leaves the Spaniard in a commanding position heading into Sunday’s motos. Coenen must gain at least two points on Farres across the day to keep the title fight alive, while Farres can secure the championship if he gains eight points or more on teammate Mc Lellan.
With Farres, Coenen and Mc Lellan showing near-identical pace throughout Saturday, the MX2 title battle looks set to come down to starts, first-lap aggression and who can best handle the pressure when the gate drops on Sunday.
| MXGP – Qualifying – MXGP of China | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pos | No | Rider | Nat | Bike | Gap |
| 1st | 84 | Jeffrey Herlings | NED | Honda | +0:00.000 |
| 2nd | 1 | Romain Febvre | FRA | Kawasaki | +0:03.007 |
| 3rd | 16 | Tom Vialle | FRA | Honda | +0:22.433 |
| 4th | 253 | Jan Pancar | SLO | KTM | +0:37.266 |
| 5th | 80 | Andrea Adamo | ITA | KTM | +0:40.834 |
| 6th | 10 | Calvin Vlaanderen | NED | Ducati | +0:43.280 |
| 7th | 93 | Jago Geerts | BEL | Beta | +0:44.482 |
| 8th | 91 | Jeremy Seewer | SUI | KTM | +0:46.709 |
| 9th | 41 | Pauls Jonass | LAT | Kawasaki | +0:48.671 |
| 10th | 53 | Dylan Walsh | NZL | KTM | +1:32.329 |
| 11th | 128 | Ivo Monticelli | ITA | Yamaha | +1:47.020 |
| 12th | 781 | Brian Hsu | GER | JHL | +1 lap |
| 13th | 361 | Riga Wu | CHN | Yamaha | +2 laps |
| 14th | 171 | Yuzhang Li | CHN | JHL | +2 laps |
| MXGP – Championship Standings After Qualifying – MXGP of China | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pos | No | Rider | Nat | Bike | Total | Gap |
| 1st | 84 | Jeffrey Herlings | NED | HON | 865 Points | +0 |
| 2nd | 1 | Romain Febvre | FRA | KAW | 708 Points | -157 |
| 3rd | 243 | Tim Gajser | SLO | YAM | 659 Points | -206 |
| 4th | 5 | Lucas Coenen | BEL | KTM | 566 Points | -299 |
| 5th | 80 | Andrea Adamo | ITA | KTM | 565 Points | -300 |
| 6th | 16 | Tom Vialle | FRA | HON | 553 Points | -312 |
| 7th | 70 | R. Fernandez | ESP | HON | 523 Points | -342 |
| 8th | 959 | Maxime Renaux | FRA | YAM | 449 Points | -416 |
| 9th | 74 | Kay de Wolf | NED | HUS | 428 Points | -437 |
| 10th | 41 | Pauls Jonass | LAT | KAW | 368 Points | -497 |
| 11th | 24 | Kevin Horgmo | NOR | HON | 303 Points | -562 |
| 12th | 10 | Calvin Vlaanderen | NED | DUC | 301 Points | -564 |
| 13th | 253 | Jan Pancar | SLO | KTM | 275 Points | -590 |
| 14th | 303 | A. Forato | ITA | FAN | 221 Points | -644 |
| 15th | 93 | Jago Geerts | BEL | BET | 197 Points | -668 |
| 16th | 83 | Oriol Oliver | ESP | KTM | 187 Points | -678 |
| 17th | 919 | Ben Watson | GBR | TRI | 151 Points | -714 |
| 18th | 32 | B. Van doninck | BEL | FAN | 146 Points | -719 |
| 19th | 39 | R. Van De Moosdijk | NED | KTM | 117 Points | -748 |
| 20th | 91 | Jeremy Seewer | SUI | KTM | 113 Points | -752 |
| MX2 – Qualifying – MXGP of China | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pos | No | Rider | Nat | Bike | Gap |
| 1st | 99 | Guillem Farres | ESP | Triumph | +0:00.000 |
| 2nd | 19 | Sacha Coenen | BEL | KTM | +0:00.583 |
| 3rd | 8 | Camden Mc Lellan | RSA | Triumph | +0:01.104 |
| 4th | 1 | Simon Längenfelder | GER | KTM | +0:05.167 |
| 5th | 26 | Liam Everts | BEL | Husqvarna | +0:07.092 |
| 6th | 772 | Janis Martins Reisulis | LAT | Yamaha | +0:13.341 |
| 7th | 33 | Kay Karssemakers | NED | Kawasaki | +0:29.114 |
| 8th | 20 | Julius Mikula | CZE | KTM | +0:31.473 |
| 9th | 265 | Byron Dennis | AUS | KTM | +0:33.178 |
| 10th | 47 | Karlis Alberts Reisulis | LAT | Yamaha | +1:00.953 |
| 11th | 83 | Maxime Grau | FRA | Honda | +1:05.771 |
| 12th | 82 | Manuel Carreras | ESP | GASGAS | +1:25.468 |
| 13th | 576 | Brian Gyles | GBR | KTM | +1 lap |
| 14th | 434 | Jinyu Yang | CHN | Yamaha | +2 laps |
| 15th | 159 | Ledi Wang | CHN | Honda | +3 laps |
| 16th | 92 | Italo Medina | ECU | JHL | +9 laps |
| 17th | 73 | Ferruccio Zanchi | ITA | Ducati | +12 laps |
| MX2 – Championship Standings After Qualifying – MXGP of China | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pos | No | Rider | Nat | Bike | Total | Gap |
| 1st | 99 | Guillem Farres | ESP | TRI | 816 Points | +0 |
| 2nd | 8 | Camden Mc Lellan | RSA | TRI | 764 Points | -52 |
| 3rd | 19 | Sacha Coenen | BEL | KTM | 755 Points | -61 |
| 4th | 1 | Simon Längenfelder | GER | KTM | 733 Points | -83 |
| 5th | 26 | Liam Everts | BEL | HUS | 702 Points | -114 |
| 6th | 772 | Janis Martins Reisulis | LAT | YAM | 612 Points | -204 |
| 7th | 47 | Karlis Alberts Reisulis | LAT | YAM | 503 Points | -313 |
| 8th | 18 | Valerio Lata | ITA | HON | 414 Points | -402 |
| 9th | 20 | Julius Mikula | CZE | KTM | 386 Points | -430 |
| 10th | 317 | Mathis Valin | FRA | KAW | 352 Points | -464 |
| 11th | 33 | Kay Karssemakers | NED | KAW | 322 Points | -494 |
| 12th | 83 | Maxime Grau | FRA | HON | 302 Points | -514 |
| 13th | 716 | Noel Zanocz | HUN | KTM | 237 Points | -579 |
| 14th | 48 | Jens Walvoort | NED | KTM | 168 Points | -648 |
| 15th | 408 | S. Smulders | NED | HUS | 138 Points | -678 |
| 16th | 73 | Ferruccio Zanchi | ITA | DUC | 126 Points | -690 |
| 17th | 420 | Andrea Rossi | ITA | KTM | 112 Points | -704 |
| 18th | 172 | Cas Valk | NED | TM | 87 Points | -729 |
| 19th | 456 | Ollie Colmer | GBR | KTM | 79 Points | -737 |
| 20th | 12 | P. Gundersen | NOR | HUS | 70 Points | -746 |
