The Far East welcomes the 2026 FIM Motocross World Championships this weekend as round 18, the Oriental Beauty Valley MXGP of China, takes place in the southern Fengxiang District of the Magic City, at the Shanghai International Off-Road Circuit near Hangzhou Bay, that leads directly to the East China Sea as it flows into the Pacific Ocean!

This will be the fourth MXGP event in one of the world’s most populous cities, and the expected heat and humidity will make life tough for every rider out there as they tackle the penultimate round of the series at a venue with heavily-updated facilities for all involved.

Newly-confirmed 2026 MXGP World Champion Jeffrey Herlings shares the record of most GP wins in China with Jorge Prado, having won two of the three MXGP events at this circuit so far, including a dominant 1-1 performance last year, and the Honda HRC Petronas pilot, who celebrates his 32nd birthday on the Saturday of the event, will not be expected to take things easy as he tries to reach a century and a quarter of GP victories by the close of the season!

His domination has been absolute on his way to securing the title in Türkiye, so much so that he hasn’t been off the top spot in every practice session and every race since the Qualifying Race of Foxhills, which was round 12 in mid-July! He will be in no mood to let that streak end, despite clinching the title with his fifth straight perfect weekend at Afyon.

Second place in the MXGP Championship is still to be decided, and outgoing #1 plate holder Romain Febvre will be very keen to add one final GP victory to his total for Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP before he leaves at the end of the season. He has a 40-point advantage over third-placed Tim Gajser, who is also searching for his first GP win of the series for Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP, at a track where he earned second overall last year.

The MX2 World Championship has still yet to be decided, but Spaniard Guillem Farres strengthened his position considerably at the MXGP of Türkiye, with the sixth win of his career for the Triumph Racing Factory Team, and the British manufacturer now has a 1-2 in the series as Camden McLellan took advantage of a rough weekend for Red Bull KTM Factory Racing rider Sacha Coenen. The Belgian is now ten points behind the South African, who in turn is 50 points behind Farres.

The red plate holder can clinch the title if he gains ten points or more on his teammate, and does not get outscored by Coenen over the three races in China. Reigning World Champion Simon Längenfelder has an outside chance for Red Bull KTM Factory Racing, but would have to make over 20 points on Farres to keep alive in the chase before the final round. Liam Everts is in an even more unrealistic mathematical chance for Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing, having to make up over 50 points on the Spaniard to stay in it!

There will be a small slice of MXGP history this weekend, as Brian Hsu enters as a wildcard for the JHL Factory Racing squad, becoming the first rider ever to race a Chinese motorcycle in the World Motocross Championships on the JHL LX350R machine.

It should be an intriguing event in the deep heat as the MXGP of China shows the far east what Motocross is all about in Shanghai!

Even though Jeffrey Herlings has now wrapped up his sixth world title, “The Bullet” is known for being merciless when it comes to racking up his career numbers, and now with 123 GP victories to his name, he will be eyeing up that 125 as a nice number to end the season on! If he does achieve that, it will bring the all-time GP win tally for his home country, The Netherlands, up to 250. So yes, exactly double what he would be on! Watch for those late laps in the practice sessions that break the hearts of his opposition! He has landed on the podium each time here in China, last year with a perfect 1-1-1 weekend, third in 2024, and a 2-1 GP victory at the first ever Chinese event in 2019. His race win streak, including Qualifying Races, is now at 17!

Romain Febvre has won a single race here, after missing 2019 through injury he took second overall in 2024, and a solid fourth overall last year put him on course to clinch the title in Australia. The Frenchman will be very keen to win a GP with the #1 plate, which he lets go of after the final round next weekend.

Tim Gajser was fifth in China in 2019, but suffered machine damage here in 2024 that seriously hurt his title challenge. He bounced back with a fine 2-2-2 weekend as runner-up to Herlings last season. The Slovenian needs to take a big chunk of points out of Febvre if he is to challenge for second in the series at the final round.

The injured Lucas Coenen, 2024 MX2 winner at Shanghai, is not likely to line up in China, and his fellow Red Bull KTM Factory Racing rider Andrea Adamo is now seven points behind the Belgian for fourth in the Championship. The Italian took his last ever MX2 race win at this circuit in 2025, so his ability to deal with the heat is not in question! Just 14 points behind him is Tom Vialle, who took second overall to Jorge Prado in his only Chinese event so far seven years ago, and he has enjoyed a fine run of form lately with four podiums from the last five GPs. His Honda HRC Petronas teammate, Ruben Fernandez, has had a rough couple of GPs before China and now sits seventh in the series, 22 points behind his teammate. The strong Spaniard has finished fourth and third overall at this venue, so a fight back is definitely possible after his brilliant podium last year.

Both Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP’s Maxime Renaux and Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing’s Kay de Wolf are out for the season, and virtually assured of eighth and ninth positions in the final points tally. Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP’s Latvian Pauls Jonass can confirm his top ten status this weekend if he finishes ahead of the Honda Team SR Motoblouz Motul rider Kevin Horgmo. Neither rider has fantastic results to their name in China but will be keen to end their season strongly.

With the title decided, the MXGP elite can ride without serious pressure in China, which often means they can throw caution to the winds as they go for the best results possible! The physical challenge is not to be underestimated, however, and should make for some fascinating racing in the far east this weekend!

MXGP - World Championship Top 10 Classification: 1. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, HON), 855 points; 2. Romain Febvre (FRA, KAW), 699 p.; 3. Tim Gajser (SLO, YAM), 659 p.; 4. Lucas Coenen (BEL, KTM), 566 p.; 5. Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), 559 p.; 6. Tom Vialle (FRA, HON), 545 p.; 7. Ruben Fernandez (ESP, HON), 523 p.; 8. Maxime Renaux (FRA, YAM), 449 p.; 9. Kay de Wolf (NED, HUS), 428 p.; 10. Pauls Jonass (LAT, KAW), 366 p.;

Guillem Farres got back to winning ways in Türkiye, and now has to be considered as having one hand on the MX2 World Championship trophy as he leads his Triumph Racing Factory teammate Camden McLellan by a daunting 50 points with two rounds to go. Farres cannot be beaten in a tie-break with any rider on race wins this season, scoring 13 compared to five each for McLellan and Simon Längenfelder, and eight for Sacha Coenen. The Spaniard can clinch the title if he gains ten points on the South African by the end of the second race this Sunday, and although neither rider has stood on the podium in China as of yet, they are both much stronger in 2026. McLellan was fifth overall here last year, with Farres seventh in his first event in Shanghai.

Sacha Coenen had a great debut in China in 2025, taking the Qualifying Race win as well as the overall victory with a 1-3 on Sunday. Now 60 points down on Farres after his disastrous Sunday in Türkiye, the teenage Belgian needs to gain points on the Spaniard this weekend in order to keep his Championship chances alive. Defending World Champion Simon Längenfelder has finished third overall at both of his GPs in China so far, but he needs to gain 20 points on Farres to keep his slim title hopes alive into the final round. After such a long run without a Sunday win to his name, he did pick up the first race in Türkiye, and will be out for a first GP win since April as he looks to finish the season strong.

Liam Everts has bad memories of China after picking up a major back injury here in 2024, but he fared well on his return last year with sixth overall. Currently on a three-round podium streak, the Belgian could be strong this weekend as he aims for his first GP win of the year. Fifth in the standings and 110 points back from the leader, he still has a very faint chance of the title but would need disaster for several riders to get there.

The Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MX2 teammates and brothers Janis and Karlis Reisulis are virtually assured of finishing sixth and seventh in the Championship, and Janis has never visited China before, while Karlis has finished tenth and eighth overall in the last two years. Not big fans of the heat, they will be in for a tough weekend, like everyone else!

Osička Racing KTM privateer Julius Mikula now needs to score another 32 points to overhaul the absent Honda HRC Petronas rider Valerio Lata for eighth in the Championship, having passed Kawasaki Racing Team MX2’s Mathis Valin with seventh overall in Türkiye. The 20-year-old makes his first appearance in China, while Kay Karssemakers comes here with Dixon Racing Team Kawasaki for the third time, with a target of 35 points in order to pass Valin for a top ten Championship finish. The Dutchman will be fighting for his first top ten overall in Shanghai.

Will the MX2 World Championship be decided this weekend by the fighting Farres? It’s sure to be a fantastic battle for victory as China hosts the penultimate round of the epic 2026 FIM Motocross World Championships! Be sure to tune in!

MX2 - World Championship Top 10 Classification: 1. Guillem Farres (ESP, TRI), 806 points; 2. Camden Mc Lellan (RSA, TRI), 756 p.; 3. Sacha Coenen (BEL, KTM), 746 p.; 4. Simon Längenfelder (GER, KTM), 726 p.; 5. Liam Everts (BEL, HUS), 696 p.; 6. Janis Martins Reisulis (LAT, YAM), 607 p.; 7. Karlis Alberts Reisulis (LAT, YAM), 502 p.; 8. Valerio Lata (ITA, HON), 414 p.; 9. Julius Mikula (CZE, KTM), 383 p.; 10. Mathis Valin (FRA, KAW), 352 p.

All the photos from the MXGP of China will be available HERE.

You can find the complete results HERE.

TIMETABLE

SATURDAY: 10:45 MX2 Free Practice, 11:15 MXGP Free Practice, 13:20 MX2 Time Practice, 14:00 MXGP Time Practice, 15:25 MX2 Qualifying Race, 16:10 MXGP Qualifying Race.

SUNDAY: 09:55 MX2 Warm-up, 10:15 MXGP Warm-up, 12:15 MX2 Race 1, 13:15 MXGP Race 1, 15:10 MX2 Race 2, 16:10 MXGP Race 2.