Herlings sweeps China as McLellan keeps the MX2 title race alive for Darwin

Jeffrey Herlings carried his title winning form straight into Shanghai, sweeping qualifying and both motos at the MXGP of China, while Camden McLellan kept the MX2 championship battle alive heading into the Australian finale with a Grand Prix win of his own. Guillem Farres heads to Darwin with a 48 point cushion, and Australian Byron Dennis finished seventh overall in the MX2 class.

MXGP: no signs of Herlings easing off

Having already wrapped up his sixth world title at the previous round in Türkiye, Herlings arrived in Shanghai with nothing left to prove, yet showed no interest in taking it easy. He recovered from a Saturday practice fall to win qualifying by 3.007 seconds over Romain Febvre, with Tom Vialle third and Jan Pancar fourth. Championship contender Tim Gajser was absent, having ended his season early to recover from a rib injury sustained in the Netherlands and aggravated in Türkiye, with Yamaha confirming he will also miss the Australian finale following a specialist assessment.

Race one: Vialle pressures Herlings before Febvre strikes

Vialle grabbed the holeshot in the opening moto, but Herlings moved past on the first lap, with Febvre running third behind the two Hondas. Vialle kept the pressure on through the middle stages, cutting Herlings’ lead from 3.571 seconds after three laps down to just 0.601 seconds at the end of lap eight, before Herlings found another gear and pulled away again.

Febvre reeled in his teammate and took second on lap 14, crossing the line 4.055 seconds behind Herlings, a gap that had stretched to 8.333 seconds by the finish. Vialle held on for third, a further 3.903 seconds back. Pancar fought forward from seventh on lap one to finish fourth, ahead of Pauls Jonass and Calvin Vlaanderen, while Andrea Adamo recovered from a second lap fall to salvage ninth. Herlings also set the fastest lap of the race, a 1:43.709.

Race two: Febvre closes in, then loses his footing

Herlings took the second moto holeshot as well, again leading Vialle and Febvre through the opening lap. Febvre needed until lap eight to get past Vialle, by which point Herlings already held a 4.865 second lead. That gap briefly grew beyond five seconds before Febvre, chasing hard despite Herlings reporting fogged goggles in the humid conditions, closed to 1.188 seconds by the end of lap 17.

Febvre remained just 1.196 seconds back heading into the final lap, but a cross rutted jump sent him sideways and ended any chance of a final attack. Herlings crossed the line 5.641 seconds clear to complete the double, while Vialle, dealing with a bitten tongue and sore neck from a warm up crash, held on for third, 41.944 seconds back.

Seven straight wins, and a sixth perfect weekend in a row

Herlings’ China sweep marked his seventh consecutive Grand Prix victory and twelfth of the season, extending his run to 20 straight wins across qualifying races and Sunday motos, and, according to Honda, 38 consecutive session wins spanning practice, qualifying and racing. It was also his sixth straight maximum points weekend.

Febvre’s 2-2 finishes were worth 44 points and his tenth podium of the season, while Vialle’s 3-3 scorecard delivered 40 points and a fourth consecutive overall podium. Vlaanderen’s 6-4 result put him fourth overall on 33 points, with Jonass and Pancar tied on 32 apiece, Jonass taking fifth via a stronger second moto. Adamo and Jeremy Seewer both scored 27, with Adamo awarded seventh ahead of Seewer.

Herlings leaves China on 915 championship points, with Febvre confirmed as runner up on 752 and Gajser locked into third on 659 despite missing the final two rounds. Just behind them, the fight for fourth remains razor tight: Vialle arrived in China 14 points behind Adamo and leaves one point ahead instead, 593 to 592, after a 15 point weekend swing.

MXGP round results, China

MXGP World Championship standings, top 10

MX2: two thrillers, one Triumph one-two, and a title race kept alive

Farres strengthened his position on Saturday, topping qualifying ahead of Sacha Coenen and McLellan, stretching his championship lead over teammate McLellan from 50 to 52 points before Sunday’s motos even began.

In race one, Simon Längenfelder led the first 15 laps, with Coenen, Farres, McLellan and Liam Everts holding station behind him through the first ten laps. Coenen, still not fully recovered from illness, lost three positions over the next two laps, allowing Farres and McLellan through on lap 11 and Everts a lap later. McLellan continued his charge, passing Farres for second on lap 14 and Längenfelder on lap 16, the same lap Farres crashed, promoting Everts to third and costing the championship leader crucial points.

The top three stayed tightly bunched to the flag, with McLellan winning by 1.575 seconds over Längenfelder, and Everts just 0.407 seconds further back, all three separated by under two seconds. Farres recovered to fourth, 16.578 seconds off the win, ahead of Coenen and Kay Karssemakers. McLellan’s sixth moto win of the season trimmed Farres’ championship cushion to 45 points.

Race two flipped the script. Längenfelder grabbed the holeshot, but Farres moved ahead before the end of lap one. Coenen’s race effectively ended almost immediately with a crash in the wave section, leaving him classified 17th. Everts passed Längenfelder for second on lap seven, setting the race’s fastest lap, while McLellan, fifth after lap one, also got by the German for third. Längenfelder later revealed stomach pain had bothered him from the start, eventually dropping to ninth before a post race reclassification moved him up to eighth.

Everts kept Farres honest, but a small mistake in a left hander on lap 15 let McLellan through into second, and the South African closed to within 0.857 seconds of his teammate by the penultimate lap. Farres held on to win by 1.038 seconds, with Everts a further 0.941 seconds back in third, another finish covered by less than two seconds across the podium.

Farres takes a 48 point lead into the Darwin finale

McLellan’s 47 points from the round secured his fourth Grand Prix win of the season, ahead of Farres on 43 and Everts on 40, with Farres’ race two response marking his 14th moto win of the campaign. Everts extended his podium streak to four rounds running.

Farres now heads to Darwin on 859 points, 48 clear of McLellan’s 811, with Coenen third on 775. With only 60 points available at the finale, Farres and McLellan remain the only two riders who can still take the MX2 title, though Triumph has already secured the manufacturers’ crown regardless of how the individual battle plays out.

Byron Dennis backs up his EMX250 form

Australian Byron Dennis followed his fifth place finish in the EMX250 finale in Türkiye with seventh overall in Shanghai’s MX2 Grand Prix, going 8-7 in the motos aboard his KTM. He ran seventh through the first six laps of race one before being passed, and moved back up to seventh in race two on lap 12 as Längenfelder faded, a position that held once the German’s penalty rearranged the order behind him. The result gave Dennis 27 Grand Prix points plus two more from ninth in qualifying, a useful 29 point weekend heading into his home round.

Next up: the season finale in Darwin

The 2026 championship concludes at Hidden Valley Raceway for the MXGP of Australia, presented by Sitzler, held from 18 to 20 September. Herlings gets one more shot at extending his win streak in MXGP, while Vialle and Adamo arrive separated by a single point in the battle for fourth overall.