Rookies Lucas Coenen and Valerio Lata Reign in MXGP of Germany Qualifying Races

Under bright sunshine and surrounded by the buzzing atmosphere typical of Teutschenthal, the 2025 MXGP of Germany served up a Saturday spectacle with rookies stealing the spotlight.

In front of a vocal crowd and on a reworked layout that impressed riders and fans alike, Lucas Coenen and Valerio Lata took their first-ever qualifying race wins in the MXGP and MX2 classes respectively, shaking up the pecking order at the halfway point of the championship season.

MXGP: Coenen Holds Off Herlings and Febvre in a Thriller

Saturday’s free and timed practices saw the usual suspects flexing their speed, with Pauls Jonass and Romain Febvre topping Free Practice, before Jeffrey Herlings edged out teammate Lucas Coenen in Time Practice for the top gate pick. Calvin Vlaanderen rounded out the top three.

When the gate dropped, it was Slovenian privateer Jan Pancar who grabbed headlines early, launching out front and nabbing the Holeshot before Coenen took charge going up Liqui Moly Mountain. Herlings quickly slotted into second, making it a Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 1-2. Behind them, Isak Gifting scrapped with Febvre, Jonass, and Ruben Fernandez in a feisty opening lap.

Febvre and Fernandez worked past Gifting by the end of the first lap, while Jonass couldn’t quite match their pace. Further back, a factory Yamaha intra-squad duel played out as Vlaanderen battled Maxime Renaux for eighth, with the latter coming out on top by lap three.

German wildcard Noah Ludwig gave the home fans something to cheer about as he held onto tenth for most of the race before being nudged back by Ducati’s Jeremy Seewer with two laps to go.

Coenen managed to build a comfortable gap out front but had to stay sharp as Herlings began closing the margin in the final laps. Febvre took until lap seven to finally clear a stubborn Pancar, who was in career-best form. Jonass eventually passed Gifting for sixth but couldn’t catch Fernandez in fifth.

Renaux used a creative line through the wave section to pass Vlaanderen and hold onto seventh, while Seewer forced a last-corner move on Gifting to steal ninth. Pancar, meanwhile, held strong to claim a well-earned fourth.

As Coenen crossed the line just over a second ahead of Herlings, questions started swirling about whether the multi-time world champ is ready to return to winning ways. Still, it was Coenen who picked up two crucial points on series leader Febvre, narrowing the gap to 45 heading into Sunday’s races.

“Honestly, I struggled with arm pump—I don’t know how or why. Maybe it’s just Saturday and it’ll be better tomorrow,” Lucas Coenen admitted after the race. “I had a good start, messed it up a little after the gate, but I’ll fix that. Then I just did my laps and tried to control the arm pump. I didn’t know Jeffrey (Herlings) was that close until I saw ‘84 +0’ on the pit board—I was like, ‘He’s right there!’ So I had to nail that last corner. It was a good qualifying race—now we focus on tomorrow’s two races.”

Championship leader Romain Febvre only dropped a couple of points but feels he has the speed to win on raceday, “I didn’t get a good start and that is the key here. I was able to make some good moves through the first few turns, but it was almost impossible to pass after that unless the rider in front made a mistake. The speed is there; when I finally passed for third, I could catch Herlings, but it was too late,” Febvre said.

MX2: Lata Scores First Win as De Wolf Stumbles

MX2 Free Practice saw Sacha Coenen on top, but reigning World Champion Kay de Wolf answered fitness doubts by posting the fastest time in qualifying, edging Coenen by just 0.017 seconds. Home hero Simon Laengenfelder slotted into third, building anticipation for a tight showdown.

Unfortunately for Honda HRC, Ferruccio Zanchi was ruled out after injuring his knee attempting a tricky double in Free Practice. That left teammate Valerio Lata to fly the flag—and fly he did.

“Very disappointed to have to pull out of this GP, but it was quick a big impact on my knee and I think it is the smart move to withdraw and just make sure everything checks out okay before continuing racing,” Zanchi explained.

Lata launched his Honda off the line with a massive burst of acceleration, lifting the front wheel as he out-dragged Coenen into turn one. He immediately shut the door on the Belgian to hold the early lead and never looked back.

Coenen briefly lost second to Laengenfelder but regained it with a power move down the start straight. Behind them, Andrea Adamo and Oriol Oliver joined the mix, with Oliver dropping back after a mistake. Adamo pounced on the opportunity to take third and was soon followed by Mathis Valin.

De Wolf, meanwhile, had a shocker of a start and was forced to fight his way past Oliver to get into sixth. His race unravelled on lap four when he lost the front up an incline and hit the deck hard, remounting to finish a disappointing 15th.

Guillem Farres and Camden McLellan both featured in spirited mid-pack scraps, the latter dicing with Thibault Benistant throughout the race before settling for tenth. Benistant climbed to eighth, just behind Oliver, while Liam Everts came through late to nab sixth after a steady climb from a sluggish start.

The loudest cheer of the day came when Laengenfelder executed a daring pass over the big uphill triple on Valin to snatch fourth. He finished just one spot behind Adamo and now sits only ten points adrift in the standings. De Wolf’s no-score leaves him 32 points behind the German, who soaked up the crowd’s support with a post-race salute.

Coenen took second in a Qualifying Race for the fourth time this season, enough to move into fifth in the championship, while Lata’s win bumped him up to eighth overall.

“What a great race, I’m so happy right now with how it went. The perfect moto,” said Valerio Lata. “I got the holeshot, put in a really good first lap about three seconds faster than in second and just controlled that gap for the rest of the race. It was a great feeling to be riding round in first place, and I thoroughly enjoyed the experience and now I want to try and do it again tomorrow. A big thank you to the team for all their work, it has been getting better and better and now I’ve got the first gate-pick which hopefully means I can get another holeshot.“

With nine different riders now claiming a race win on either Saturday or Sunday this season, the MX2 championship remains wide open, and Sunday’s main events promise to be a rollercoaster.

MXGP – Qualifying Race – MXGP of Germany
Pos	No	Rider	Nat	Bike	Gap
1st	96	Lucas Coenen	BEL	KTM	+0:00.000
2nd	84	Jeffrey Herlings	NED	KTM	+0:01.178
3rd	3	Romain Febvre	FRA	Kawasaki	+0:09.192
4th	253	Jan Pancar	SLO	KTM	+0:17.674
5th	70	Ruben Fernandez	ESP	Honda	+0:19.845
6th	41	Pauls Jonass	LAT	Kawasaki	+0:20.942
7th	959	Maxime Renaux	FRA	Yamaha	+0:25.583
8th	10	Calvin Vlaanderen	NED	Yamaha	+0:27.529
9th	91	Jeremy Seewer	SUI	Ducati	+0:31.429
10th	517	Isak Gifting	SWE	Yamaha	+0:31.783
11th	300	Noah Ludwig	GER	KTM	+0:40.318
12th	259	Glenn Coldenhoff	NED	Fantic	+0:44.218
13th	189	Brian Bogers	NED	Fantic	+0:45.559
14th	411	Marcel Stauffer	AUT	KTM	+0:46.381
15th	919	Ben Watson	GBR	Beta	+0:50.116
16th	39	Roan Van De Moosdijk	NED	KTM	+0:55.432
17th	132	Andrea Bonacorsi	ITA	Fantic	+1:00.654
18th	226	Tom Koch	GER	Beta	+1:02.502
19th	17	Cornelius Toendel	NOR	Honda	+1:04.479
20th	303	Alberto Forato	ITA	Honda	+1:05.562
21st	32	Brent Van doninck	BEL	Honda	+1:09.128
22nd	101	Mattia Guadagnini	ITA	Ducati	+1:10.528
23rd	811	Adam Sterry	GBR	KTM	+1:15.724
24th	326	Josh Gilbert	GBR	Honda	+1:17.425
25th	71	Maximilian Spies	GER	KTM	+1:19.750
26th	196	Victor Alonso	ESP	Honda	+1:20.658
27th	93	Jago Geerts	BEL	Yamaha	+1:21.004
28th	224	Jakub Teresak	CZE	Honda	+1:29.527
29th	131	Cato Nickel	GER	Husqvarna	+1:33.214
30th	123	Federico Tuani	ITA	Honda	+1:41.332

MXGP Championship Standings
Pos	No	Rider	Nat	Bike	Total
1st	3	Romain Febvre	FRA	KAW	449 Points
2nd	96	Lucas Coenen	BEL	KTM	404 Points
3rd	243	Tim Gajser	SLO	HON	305 Points
4th	259	Glenn Coldenhoff	NED	FAN	302 Points
5th	70	Ruben Fernandez	ESP	HON	298 Points
6th	959	Maxime Renaux	FRA	YAM	293 Points
7th	132	Andrea Bonacorsi	ITA	FAN	253 Points
8th	10	Calvin Vlaanderen	NED	YAM	231 Points
9th	91	Jeremy Seewer	SUI	DUC	221 Points
10th	24	Kevin Horgmo	NOR	HON	204 Points
11th	84	Jeffrey Herlings	NED	KTM	172 Points
12th	41	Pauls Jonass	LAT	KAW	162 Points
13th	919	Ben Watson	GBR	BET	153 Points
14th	253	Jan Pancar	SLO	KTM	145 Points
15th	93	Jago Geerts	BEL	YAM	137 Points
16th	101	Mattia Guadagnini	ITA	DUC	123 Points
17th	517	Isak Gifting	SWE	YAM	109 Points
18th	189	Brian Bogers	NED	FAN	97 Points
19th	92	Valentin Guillod	SUI	YAM	72 Points
20th	39	Roan Van De Moosdijk	NED	KTM	71 Points
21st	811	Adam Sterry	GBR	KTM	55 Points
22nd	87	Kevin Brumann	SUI	HUS	50 Points
23rd	226	Tom Koch	GER	BET	35 Points
24th	411	Marcel Stauffer	AUT	KTM	32 Points
25th	32	Brent Van Doninck	BEL	HON	25 Points
26th	326	Josh Gilbert	GBR	HON	21 Points
27th	300	Noah Ludwig	GER	KTM	19 Points
28th	71	Maximilian Spies	GER	KTM	13 Points
29th	222	Antonio Cairoli	ITA	DUC	10 Points
30th	177	Alessandro Lupino	ITA	DUC	9 Points

MX2 – Qualifying Race – MXGP of Germany
Pos	No	Rider	Nat	Bike	Gap
1st	18	Valerio Lata	ITA	Honda	+0:00.000
2nd	19	Sacha Coenen	BEL	KTM	+0:03.998
3rd	80	Andrea Adamo	ITA	KTM	+0:10.394
4th	27	Simon Längenfelder	GER	KTM	+0:14.679
5th	317	Mathis Valin	FRA	Kawasaki	+0:17.947
6th	26	Liam Everts	BEL	Husqvarna	+0:19.440
7th	51	Oriol Oliver	ESP	KTM	+0:20.636
8th	9	Thibault Benistant	FRA	Yamaha	+0:24.399
9th	99	Guillem Farres	ESP	Triumph	+0:26.531
10th	8	Camden Mc Lellan	RSA	Triumph	+0:28.134
11th	172	Cas Valk	NED	KTM	+0:38.625
12th	83	Maxime Grau	FRA	KTM	+0:46.105
13th	22	David Braceras	ESP	Honda	+0:50.320
14th	47	Karlis Alberts Reisulis	LAT	Yamaha	+0:53.384
15th	1	Kay de Wolf	NED	Husqvarna	+1:04.260
16th	20	Julius Mikula	CZE	TM	+1:11.276
17th	696	Mike Gwerder	SUI	KTM	+1:20.209
18th	33	Kay Karssemakers	NED	Kawasaki	+1:25.009
19th	515	Mads Fredsoe	DEN	Husqvarna	+1:25.803
20th	772	Janis Martins Reisulis	LAT	Yamaha	+1:26.726
21st	432	Ivano Van Erp	NED	Yamaha	+1:29.922
22nd	256	Magnus Smith	DEN	KTM	+1:32.258
23rd	170	Valentin Kees	GER	KTM	+1:38.327
24th	97	Simone Mancini	ITA	Fantic	+1:40.724
25th	304	Liam Owens	AUS	Husqvarna	+1:42.531
26th	338	Filip Olsson	SWE	KTM	+1:52.761
27th	408	Scott Smulders	NED	Triumph	+1:56.847
28th	466	Vaclav Janout	CZE	KTM	+1:59.312
29th	382	Manuel Carreras	ESP	Honda	+1 lap
30th	473	Collin Wohnhas	GER	Husqvarna	+1 lap

MX2 Championship Standings
Pos	No	Rider	Nat	Bike	Total
1st	27	Simon Längenfelder	GER	KTM	431 Points
2nd	80	Andrea Adamo	ITA	KTM	421 Points
3rd	1	Kay de Wolf	NED	HUS	399 Points
4th	26	Liam Everts	BEL	HUS	348 Points
5th	19	Sacha Coenen	BEL	KTM	314 Points
6th	9	Thibault Benistant	FRA	YAM	311 Points
7th	8	Cameron Mc Lellan	RSA	TRI	266 Points
8th	18	Valerio Lata	ITA	HON	229 Points
9th	73	Ferruccio Zanchi	ITA	HON	220 Points
10th	172	Cas Valk	NED	KTM	217 Points
11th	319	Quentin Prugnieres	FRA	KTM	166 Points
12th	4	Rick Elzinga	NED	YAM	164 Points
13th	51	Oriol Oliver	ESP	KTM	160 Points
14th	47	Kaspars Reisulis	LAT	YAM	154 Points
15th	99	Guillem Farres	ESP	TRI	143 Points
16th	317	Mathis Valin	FRA	KAW	127 Points
17th	22	David Braceras	ESP	HON	124 Points
18th	20	Julius Mikula	CZE	TM	106 Points
19th	83	Maxime Grau	FRA	KTM	51 Points
20th	256	Magnus Smith	DEN	KTM	44 Points
21st	114	Nathan Vennekens	BEL	KTM	24 Points
22nd	696	Mike Gwerder	SUI	KTM	21 Points