After two GP wins in a row, and five successive chequered flags, Jeffrey Herlings takes control of the red-plate, as he leads the 2026 MXGP World Championship by 49 points as they head into the MXGP of Flanders, Belgium, held at the treacherous Lommel circuit.

Bavo Swijgers image

It was a highly successful outing for the Honda HRC PETRONAS team last time out in the Czech Republic, with Tom Vialle joining Herlings on the podium in second place, and Ruben Fernandez narrowly missing out in fourth. From the hard-pack hillside circuit on Loket, they now have to take on the deep sand challenge of Lommel, but Herlings (4 times), and Vialle (2) have won there before and are riding excellently, with the #84 winning the last five races of the season to move from a 68-point deficit to a 49-point lead. With six rounds remaining, he is a prime spot to win his sixth world championship, but he is also well aware that he needs to take it race by race in order to achieve that goal.

Jeffrey Herlings: Lommel is kind of a home GP for me, so it’s good to be heading there. I’ve obviously had a lot of good times there, with a lot of victories, so I’m going to be working hard to add 2026 to the list. We’ve done a lot of testing in the sand since the beginning of the year, because I think I’ve mentioned that was where improvements needed to be made. Now is the time to go out there and show what we’ve done and try and make it three wins in a row.

Vialle’s Czech podium was the first one since April so he is extremely excited for this weekend, and having been successful before, he is gearing up to for what is also looking like a hot weather, which should make conditions even harder. While Fernandez didn’t quite make it on the podium in Great Britain, or in Czech, his pair of fourth place finishes suggest he is close to getting back on the box and it would be a career-moment for the Spaniard if he was to do it in Lommel.

Starts proved to be the downfall of Valerio Lata in Loket, but he’s been working hard at getting out the gate better during the week, and he’ll be trying to put that into practice when the gates drop on both Saturday and Sunday.

Rubén Fernández 70Honda HRC PETRONAS
The last two rounds have shown that I am close to the podium, finishing fourth twice, so now I’d like to get up on the box. It definitely won’t be easy because Lommel is such a tough track, but if I do, that would be a massive achievement for me. I’m going there full of confidence and I will do my very best to make this happen.

Tom Vialle 16Honda HRC PETRONAS
It was great to get back on the podium in Czech Republic, just as proof that all the work we’ve been putting in, is paying off. Of course the deep sand of Lommel is a much different task though, so we have to change a lot of things to be ready for this challenge. I think this GP is one that everyone in the world knows about, and you always want to see the results, just because it is so tough and so gnarly, so the goal is to once again get on the podium and show my sand-riding skills.

Valerio Lata 18Honda HRC PETRONAS
Lommel is always a difficult round, and one that I can’t say I look forward to. However, I want to show people that I can ride well in the sand and this is the best place to do it. The weather looks like it will make things even tougher, so this really will be the hardest race in the world!

Marcus Pereira de Freitas -Honda HRC PETRONAS
The mood in the team is really good after the Czech Republic, with Jeffrey holding the red-plate, Tom getting himself onto the podium and Ruben getting so close. However, we know from previous experience that you can never rest at moments like this, so we have been very busy this week making sure the guys are ready for what will probably be the hardest GP on the calendar. Temperatures look like they’ll be over 30C, which combined with the deep sand terrain means everything has to be right in order to succeed, but the team is working really well right now and I’m sure that’ll continue this weekend.