Yamaha secures the Queen of Motocross: Lotte van Drunen in Yamaha blue

The new "Queen of Motocross" will keep wearing blue. In 2026, Lotte van Drunen, who this year was crowned WMX World Champion for the second consecutive time, will continue to defend the colors of the De Baets team with full support from Yamaha. The goal is clear: to capture a third straight world crown, with a few appearances in the MX2 World Championship along the way.

After effectively finding herself without a bike at the start of 2023, Lotte van Drunen quickly established herself as the true benchmark rider in international motocross. The 18-year-old Dutch rider clinched her first WMX world title in 2024, then repeated the feat this past September in Darwin (Australia) at the end of a thrilling battle with Kiara Fontanesi and Daniela Guillen.

Yamaha has therefore decided to secure the "Queen of Sand" who in 2026 will once again represent the De Baets team, the squad that welcomed her in 2024, winning everything there was to win over the past two years. Lotte will be the team’s sole rider competing in the Women’s Motocross World Championship and will, in every respect, be considered a factory-supported and official rider of the House of the Three Tuning Forks.

In the meantime, next week Lotte van Drunen will race in America at the Mini O's, one of the most important amateur off-road events, held at the Gatorback Cycle Park in Newberry. For 2026, alongside her primary WMX commitment, further outings in the MX2 World Championship are not ruled out, where she already counts three starts. On her 2024 debut at Lommel, she scored a world championship point by finishing 20th in Race 2 (17th out of 25 participants in official practice), then repeated the experience in the just-concluded 2025 season on two separate occasions: Arco di Trento and again at Lommel.