Kiara Fontanesi and Daniela Guillén Battle to the Wire At MXGP of Türkiye

The penultimate round of the 2025 FIM Women’s Motocross World Championship in Afyon delivered high-stakes drama as the championship battle tightened ahead of the grand finale in Australia.

Just 20 points separated red plate holder Lotte van Drunen from Daniela Guillén, while Kiara Fontanesi remained firmly in contention, sitting just a single point behind the Spaniard. With the title still very much undecided, the Turkish round set the stage for a thrilling showdown.

Race 1 got underway with Martine Hughes taking an early advantage, briefly leading the opening lap after a small mistake from Fontanesi. However, the championship contenders quickly made their presence felt, with Guillén and Fontanesi charging past Hughes, while van Drunen slotted into third. Fontanesi took control early, only for Guillén to press hard lap after lap, finally making her pass stick on lap five and steadily pulling away. Fontanesi regrouped to maintain second, while van Drunen kept her composure to finish third and limit the damage in the championship standings.

Behind the leading trio, Hughes held fourth ahead of Amandine Verstappen, with Lucy Barker, April Franzoni, and Larissa Papenmeier completing the next group. Malou Jakobsen and Shana van der Vlist rounded out the top ten. Guillén celebrated her third race victory of the season, crossing the line five seconds ahead of Fontanesi, with van Drunen securing third to maintain her championship cushion.

Race 2 produced another tense contest. Papenmeier got the best jump off the gate, but Fontanesi quickly asserted herself at the front, taking the lead within a couple of turns. Guillén started further back in fifth and immediately pushed hard, climbing into third, while van Drunen was caught outside the top ten in the chaos of the opening corners.

Fontanesi set a fast pace, opening a gap over Papenmeier, while Guillén made swift progress, moving past Papenmeier on lap five to set up a head-to-head with Fontanesi. Behind them, Hughes delivered one of her strongest rides in recent years, running third on course for her first podium since 2022.

Fontanesi maintained her lead, but Guillén closed the gap to just a couple of seconds in the final stages. van Drunen, after a nervous moment in a tricky corner, fought her way through to finish fourth, limiting the championship impact. At the checkered flag, Fontanesi took Race 2 victory with a stellar final lap, Guillén was second, and Hughes secured third. van Drunen finished fourth, passing Franzoni and Papenmeier along the way, while Papenmeier completed the top five, followed by Barker and Danee Gelissen.

Late in the race, Fontanesi and Guillén were penalised five points for failing to respect a waved yellow flag, though the sanction did not affect the race results or Grand Prix overall. With a 2-1 and 1-2 score respectively, Fontanesi took the overall victory thanks to her second race win.

Fontanesi reflected on the weekend: “I felt amazing the whole weekend here. I liked the track and I knew I could feel pretty comfortable here, and that’s the result of enjoying riding. I took two good starts, two good races, found a good rhythm. It was definitely a big pressure with Daniela behind me for basically all the race, but it’s where we improve, it’s where we learn, it’s where we get better, and races like this are just amazing. I’m pretty happy to win three GPs out of five, it’s just an amazing season for me.”

In the championship standings, van Drunen leaves Türkiye with a 16-point lead over Fontanesi and 17 over Guillén, setting up a nail-biting final round in Australia.