MXGP of Turkey, red-hot Saturday: Herlings show and world championship match point

Jeffrey Herlings triumphs in MXGP, Guillem Farres prevails in MX2: it’s the day of the leaders. Report, standings, and tomorrow’s race times.

The world championship leaders are unbeatable in qualifying in Turkey: Jeffrey Herlings powers to victory in MXGP with a late pass on Tom Vialle, while in MX2 Guillem Farres dominates this Saturday race, collecting another haul of precious points given the tight battle. In the premier class, the points leader has his first world title match point: he only needs to leave Turkey with a 121-point lead and the deal will be officially sealed. Mathematically, however, after today’s qualifying win, he could already clinch it after Race 1... But we’ll talk about that tomorrow. Here’s how it went today, followed by tomorrow’s schedule.

A notable list of absentees due to injury, such as Kay De Wolf and Maxime Renaux, who have therefore ended their seasons early. In the meantime, Fantic gets one of its factory riders back: Brent van Doninck ended 2026 with four broken ribs at the Swedish GP, but Alberto Forato returns after a fractured shoulder blade, with substitute Talviku thus continuing the MXGP adventure. Let’s look at the race: in the usual scrum off the line Vialle emerges, provisionally leading ahead of Gajser, Herlings, Febvre, Adamo, and the rest. But then comes another bit of magic from Honda’s Dutch ace: he’s up to second in no time, shadows his teammate at a second back for a long stretch, and with three laps to go finds another gear and makes the decisive pass. Vialle doesn’t give up, keeps the pace, and looks for a response, but there’s no stopping this unleashed phenomenon.

Let’s recall that our Valerio Lata is no longer present, having ended his collaboration with Honda HRC early. The excellent holeshot in the qualifying race goes to Sacha Coenen, the main rival of Guillem Farres in the standings, but the Spaniard, 4th at the first corner, quickly claws his way forward and takes command of the qualifying race. He’s followed by Everts, Laengenfelder, McLellan, the Reisulis brothers... The major protagonists of the season, all ready to have their say. There’s not much to be done, though: the Triumph standard-bearer is now clearly in better shape physically and immediately looked determined to land the blow, which he does: victory and 10 precious points in the bag ahead of Coenen and Everts. It’s not Karssemakers’ day—fresh off a renewal with DRT Kawasaki but out due to a technical issue following a start-line crash.

Races on 09/06 (live on mxgp-tv.com)
12:15 MX2 Race 1
13:15 MXGP Race 1
15:10 MX2 Race 2
16:10 MXGP Race 2

-> Follow us on Instagram: @Corsedimoto