Belgian businessman Hans Corvers, the owner of the Monster Energy Yamaha factory team knows his motocross. A fan as a child in the golden era of 500cc GP racing, a former racer, a huge fan and of course, one of the most important figures in the MXGP paddock.

A good friend and somebody who probably loves life as much as anyone in the paddock, Corvers isn’t just a little excited for the 2026 season as he has two very strong candidates for the MXGP championship.

With both Maxime Renaux and Tim Gajser under the blue tent, you just know they must battle for GP wins and the championship. We gave Hans a call this week and below is what he told us.

MXLarge: Obviously, 2026 is probably going to be one of the most anticipated in the sports history. You have been in the sport a long time, so you have seen some very good seasons in the past and for me, we are entering a really good season, one of the best ever. What is your opinion?

Corvers: If you look at what is going on, it’s great for motocross and you have to be honest. When you have Romain and Jeffrey and Tim and Lucas and then you have the new guys, Vialle, Adamo and De Wolf, we need to be honest, everyone is looking forward to seeing the battles. I hope everyone stays away from injuries and we get a season that we deserve, because I remember the era of Geboers, Thorpe, Carlqvist, Malherbe, Vromans and Jobe and this season has the potential to be very similar. It is a time we have so many top riders in MXGP.

MXLarge: On top of that, we start again in Argentina, and we all know what that country gives us time and time again, and end in Australia, which was a really great end to the season, with some brilliant tracks in-between. It’s a pretty good calendar?

Corvers: It is a world tour and the only thing for us is, there is no Indonesian round in there, hey?

MXLarge: And maybe we need to throw in a Cambodian round (laughing).

Corvers: Sure, Geoff, sure.

MXLarge: Tim and Jeffrey are the two big guns, even though Romain and Lucas were the two guys last year. I think we always have to look at the two guys with five championships each and assume they will be serious contenders. You have one of those guys, so that must be exciting?

Corvers: Sorry to interrupt you, but I actually have two of guys, because Maxime will also be fighting for the championship.

MXLarge: Okay, okay, you have two guys, and I understand you are very loyal to Renaux, but seriously, Tim and Jeffrey with their five titles each, have been the main men for the last 15 years, right?

Corvers: Yes, you are correct and Tim is probably the best guy I have worked with. So good also having Jago for many years, but I hope he finds himself again. Like you said, the top guys, Jeffrey, Tim and Romain, they are the top guys, and then maybe Lucas, Maxime and maybe Kay and Tom, because these guys are world champions. I think Tom might surprise a lot of people.

MXLarge: Watching everything that is going on in the pre-season, with Jeffrey going to Honda and Tim going to your team and the difference in their prep. Jeffrey has 25 Honda men at the track and Tim seems to continue to do his own thing, not having a lot of people around him. Can you explain to me how that has gone so far?

Corvers: He is super, super professional and I have never had a guy that is so professional. We delivered a bike to him on the 2nd of January, and the bike had been tested internally by Yamaha, which gave it a good base. Both Tim and Maxime are happy with the set-up. Your R&D team went over to Tim’s to be with him, but unbelievable he said the base was already good enough, but he just wanted some minor changes and after two days, we knew where we needed to do something. They implemented those changes, took the bike to Sardinia and I can tell you, he had two test days and he said stop, now it is up to me to adapt to the new bike.

MXLarge: It sounds like a similar situation with Honda and Herlings and to have both these guys feeling comfortable on their new bikes, is what we want for the season right? What will Tim do leading into the season?

Corvers: He will do Sardinia and Mantova, those will be his two races. Maxime will do an International in France and Hawkstone Park.

MXLarge: The contact with Tim, how has that been as far as within the team. Who is his key contact?

Corvers: The first contact with him his crew chief, Massimo Castelli, who came over from Honda to us. He was coming to us before Tim was coming, and then after Tim also made the decision to come. Massimo was always his crew chief, and they work 11 years together. Massimo is his single point of contact, but we all have good contact with him.

MXLarge: Maxime (Renaux) has shown he has the speed, is a former MX2 world champion and seems a very focused guy, but he has had injuries, which have slowed his career. I assume with Tim in the team and probably being the favourite between the two, that takes a lot of pressure off for Maxime.

Corvers: Yes, and honestly, on my side, Maxime was the guy who was meant to do it at Yamaha, and he always fought against injuries. When you turn the clock back, in 2020 and 2021, Jago Geerts was the guy at Yamaha everyone thought would go for the world title and Maxime was in the team as team-mate, and the underdog. Then Maxime, for me, my personal opinion, is he is at his strongest, when he has somebody next to him (this year Gajser) who everyone thinks will be better. I think this will be better for him. The eyes are on Tim Gajser, because he is a five-time world champion. Maxime can play the underdog and surprise everyone. It is better for Maxime to play the underdog. He showed that in 2021. We strongly believe in Maxime Renaux and that is why we tried so hard to keep him in the team. I also told him, he can learn from Tim, Tim is a top team-mate to have, but he doesn’t want, he wants to do his own thing.

MXlarge: Maxime reminds me a lot of Romain (Febvre). Of course both are French, both seem very stubborn and both have had some bad luck with injuries. There is no doubt, if Maxime can keep away from injuries, he is quick enough and determined enough. Is that a French thing?

Corvers: (laughing). I don’t know, we in Belgium say the French are chauvinists. If you ask Tim about his competitors, he says they are all the same, and all are competitors, you ask Maxime that, he hates everybody (laughing).

MXlarge: You made a lot of changes to the team. Why was that?

Corvers: Yes. We reorganize the team, and we said goodbye to eight people and that isn’t normal and we have seven new people. We needed new vibes in the team and sorry to say, it’s like a long relationship and you need to freshen it up. No hard feelings toward anyone. We went from three to two riders and we changed a lot, for a new start.