Bow to the King: Jeffrey Herlings is the 2026 MXGP World Champion!

The Dutch ace clinches victory in his first season with Honda: the MXGP title already secured in Race 1 in Turkey, his sixth overall and third in the premier Motocross class.

The coronation came right at the end of Race 1: Jeffrey Herlings sealed the deal—he is the King of the MXGP class in 2026. After triumphing in the qualifying race, winning Sunday’s first race in Turkey definitively extinguished the already fading hopes of his rivals. Race 2 is still to come later, but the big prize of the Motocross World Championship has already arrived, sparking major celebrations for him, his home country, Team Gariboldi, and Honda HRC.

It’s his sixth world title, the third in the MXGP class, but the first in his debut season aboard the Honda CRF450RW. Having joined the team on January 1 of this year, number 84 has worked tirelessly to reach this milestone and, thanks also to the unwavering commitment of the entire Honda HRC PETRONAS team, this championship showcases Herlings’ abilities and the qualities of the Honda bike.

Together, the pair have racked up 10 overall GP victories, bringing Herlings’ total to 122—61 across MX2 and MXGP—and with two race weekends still to go (two qualifying races and four Sunday motos), there’s a chance to push those numbers even higher. Coming into Turkey, he also held the most qualifying race wins (7), the most GP race wins (16), and the most podiums (13), and had won his last 14 gate drops in what has been an incredible streak of performances that turned a 68-point deficit into a championship victory in just six rounds.

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