It’s hard to believe that we’re saying this, but it’s actually happening – the FIM Motocross World Championships is returning to the hallowed slopes of Foxhills Moto Parc in England for the Monster Energy MXGP of Great Britain this weekend!

This fabled venue on the south-west of England, about an hour’s drive from London itself, hosted many memorable events in the 1990s, first hosting a 250cc GP in 1992, won by American legend Bob Moore, although many local fans will fondly remember a first race win by British flyer Rob Herring! The instantly-popular circuit saw the first ever “double-header” GPs to be run outside of Japan from 1995 onwards, setting a standard which became the norm.

Through the years the events here came to be dominated by Stefan Everts, with three consecutive wins in the 250cc class as well as a famous decimation of the world’s best in the mud at the 1998 Motocross des Nations! Sebastien Tortelli and Alessio Chiodi would join Moore in winning two GPs apiece at the circuit, but some of the best days for British fans came with victories for MXGP-TV’s own Paul Malin, in 1995, and the last ever 125cc GP winner there, James Dobb, in 2000.

Now, after 26 years of being restricted to national and local races, the steepest hillsides many riders ever come across are returning to the world stage, as round twelve descends on the fully revamped circuit near the town of Swindon in the county of Wiltshire!

The MXGP World Championship is being led handsomely by Lucas Coenen, who holds a 68-point advantage for Red Bull KTM Factory Racing, although he did suffer a big crash at the AMA Pro Motocross event at Southwick last weekend. His main challenger for the title, five-time World Champion Jeffrey Herlings, is one of the few non-British racers to have raced at Foxhills before, winning the only race in a national Championship event, that was cancelled halfway through the day, in 2023. The Honda HRC Petronas rider, who won the 2024 national title in the UK, has raced three times in the country already this year, and will be likely to have the strongest support from the British fans!

Defending Champion Romain Febvre lies in third place for Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP, and the veteran Frenchman will surely feel at home on what has often been described as a very French circuit!

There is a much closer battle in the MX2 World Championship heading to Foxhills, as Sacha Coenen holds just a 14-point margin over the in-form Spaniard Guillem Farres of the Triumph Racing Factory Team! Sacha is questionable for Foxhills after his crash in the USA but his fellow Red Bull KTM Factory Racing pilot Simon Längenfelder is back up to third in the Championship after his podium in South Africa, and the German has a stunning record in the UK, having won eight of his last nine GP and Qualifying Races in England! Can he carry that form to this new circuit? He certainly needs to for his ambitions of defending his title!

This weekend sees the return of the FIM Women’s Motocross World Championship, and it will be their first event in the UK since the opening round of 2020, when Courtney Duncan went 1-1 in her first GP with the #1 plate. The Kiwi is third in this year’s series after returning from a year off with illness for DRT Kawasaki. Spaniard Daniela Guillen leads the way for RFME National Team GASGAS, by a slender 6-point margin over Kiara Fontanesi and her FontaMX Racing GASGAS. Fontanesi has taken three podium trophies home from the UK but never quite the overall win.

Amazingly, just one point covers third-placed Duncan to eighth-placed British hope Lucy Barker on the EMEKS KTM! Between them lie Malou Jakobsen, Shana van der Vlist, Amandine Verstappen, and Lynn Valk, who will sadly be absent through injury. Reigning World Champion Lotte van Drunen has had a tough season for De Baets Yamaha and is only ninth, four points behind Barker. Foxhills should see a big shake up in the WMX World Championship!

The EMX125 European Championship Presented by FMF Racing will sprinkle some old-fashioned two-stroke magic around Foxhills for its eighth round of ten scheduled, and the sad news from the World Junior Championship is that points leader Moritz Ernecker suffered a broken leg and will be unable to compete again this year. His Norman KTM Factory Rookies teammate Ricardo Bauer, who won the 125cc World Junior title, will pick up the baton with a 29-point lead over Yamaha Europe Monster Energy MJC’s French flyer Sleny Goyer. Fantic Factory Racing EMX125’s Danish rider Bertram Thorius, fresh from his birthday celebrations this week, is next in line, while Hayden Statt is the top Brit in the series for Chambers Racing KTM and keen to add more top ten finishes to his campaign on home soil!

The best of all that modern MXGP has to offer will mix with one of the greatest circuits of years gone by this weekend, and we think that it will make for an incredible spectacle as fabled Foxhills makes its world-class return! Do not be missing this one!

Lucas Coenen makes his first visit to Foxhills after returning from showing more impressive speed in the USA, although that weekend did not go to plan for him. He will be keen to bounce back in England to press his advantage at the head of MXGP in 2026. He has yet to taste victory in the UK, however, with a best of second overall in last year’s event at Matterley Basin.

In contrast, Jeffrey Herlings has won more GPs in Great Britain than any other active rider, with four victories from his nine attempts, and his affinity for this country could see him garner the most local support. With five GP wins apiece this season, the Coenen vs Herlings battles look to rumble on all year, and Foxhills could provide us with yet another stone-cold classic!

Romain Febvre first won a GP race in England back in his first title year of 2015, but took his first overall GP win here only last year! He will be looking to end his Sunday win draught this weekend above anything else.

Tim Gajser had one of the best moments of his whole career in the UK with his amazing defeat of Jett Lawrence in the 2024 Motocross of Nations, and the Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP rider has taken three GP victories in this country. He sits 39 points behind Febvre in fourth place in the 2026 series. His teammate Maxime Renaux is another 40 behind, and hopeful of repeating his success in the 2021 MX2 GP in the UK.

Andrea Adamo enjoyed his first race as a World Champion in England at the end of the 2023 season, and celebrated with a podium finish. He lies sixth in the points right now for Red Bull KTM Factory Racing, the best-placed class rookie. Just 11 behind him is Honda HRC Petronas rider Ruben Fernandez, who got close to a podium in this round last year with second in race two. His teammate Tom Vialle is next along after his return from injury, and he has finished on the podium in every GP he has contested in the British Isles, with a single race win back in 2020.

Kay de Wolf is ninth in the Championship table, but the Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing pilot has been absent since getting hurt at the MXGP of Italy, and will sadly not be back in action at Foxhills. Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP’s Pauls Jonass won the MX2 British GP in 2018, but has yet to break into the top five in MXGP. Will the change in circuit suit the in-form Latvian?

There are returns for racing in store for Jeremy Seewer, now part of the Venrooy KTM Racing team, and former British MX2 Champion Isak Gifting, who will bring some knowledge of this venue to his first 2026 start for JK Racing Yamaha after an off-season injury.

Top British hopes lie with Dirt Store Triumph Racing’s Ben Watson, currently 18th in the series, and the Chambers Racing KTM of Adam Sterry. There will be a host of wildcards for the crowds to get behind as well!

The 450cc machines will snarl up and down the hills of the Wiltshire valley this weekend, and this in itself will be an amazing sight to see!

MXGP - World Championship Top 10 Classification: 1. Lucas Coenen (BEL, KTM), 566 points; 2. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, HON), 498 p.; 3. Romain Febvre (FRA, KAW), 443 p.; 4. Tim Gajser (SLO, YAM), 404 p.; 5. Maxime Renaux (FRA, YAM), 364 p.; 6. Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), 343 p.; 7. Ruben Fernandez (ESP, HON), 332 p.; 8. Tom Vialle (FRA, HON), 287 p.; 9. Kay de Wolf (NED, HUS), 273 p.; 10. Pauls Jonass (LAT, KAW), 268 p.

Sacha Coenen continued to stake his claim to being the fastest 250cc rider on the planet with a dominant 1-1 victory in the AMA Pro Nationals last weekend, but a late crash saw him damage his collarbone, which he had plated before flying back home. The red plate holder will have a final medical check before he can be cleared to ride this weekend, and even then, who knows how much more pain he can endure?

This leaves Guillem Farres looking even stronger, especially after winning five of the last six Sunday races this season, and the 14-point gap is looking more vulnerable now than ever. Simon Längenfelder will hope that his excellent record in the UK extends to the new Foxhills circuit as he tries to catch one Triumph and hold off another!

The second Triumph Racing Factory Team rider Camden McLellan will be keen to put the disappointment of his home GP behind him as he tries to close the 12-point gap on the defending Champion. His record in the UK is not sensational, but he is a better hardpack rider now than ever before.

Liam Everts is back up to fifth in the series for Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing, and while the Belgian usually shuns any comparisons to his great father, he must be keen to emulate Stefan’s success around this particular English track, especially after finishing second overall in the British GP last year!

The Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MX2 brothers Janis Reisulis and the elder Karlis currently run sixth and eighth in the standings, either side of Mathis Valin, who should return to racing this weekend for Kawasaki Racing Team MX2 after his crash in Portugal. Janis clinched his 2023 EMX125 title in the UK with a double victory, while Mathis was second to him in race two that day! Karlis had a distinguished day at the 2024 Nations in this country, picking up the Ricky Carmichael Award for best young rider, and will be keen to get a good feeling back this weekend.

Rounding out the top ten are Honda HRC Petronas’ young Italian Valerio Lata, looking to recover some form on what should be a good circuit for him, and Kay Karssemakers, who races for the British DRT Kawasaki on their home ground.

British fans will see eight wildcards line up, including national championship leader Charlie Heyman on the SC Sporthomes Husqvarna and top Brit in the points Ollie Colmer on the Chambers Racing KTM, looking to improve on his 20th position in the standings. For sure the crowd will make some noise for all of them!

This venue was famous in the 1990s for its atmosphere, the racing, and the dramatic topography that can truly make riders’ jaws drop! The cacophony of noise should be overwhelming, and we truly recommend that every fan across the globe joins us in some way as we witness the ultimate spectacle of Motocross, coming home!

MX2 - World Championship Top 10 Classification: 1. Sacha Coenen (BEL, KTM), 518 points; 2. Guillem Farres (ESP, TRI), 504 p.; 3. Simon Längenfelder (GER, KTM), 467 p.; 4. Camden Mc Lellan (RSA, TRI), 455 p.; 5. Liam Everts (BEL, HUS), 433 p.; 6. Janis Martins Reisulis (LAT, YAM), 400 p.; 7. Mathis Valin (FRA, KAW), 352 p.; 8. Karlis Alberts Reisulis (LAT, YAM), 307 p.; 9. Valerio Lata (ITA, HON), 278 p.; 10. Kay Karssemakers (NED, KAW), 225 p.

All the photos from the Monster Energy MXGP of Great Britain will be available HERE.

You can find the complete results HERE.

TIMETABLE

SATURDAY:
08:20 WMX Free Practice, 08:50 EMX125 Group 1 Free Practice, 09:20 EMX125 Group 2 Free Practice, 09:50 WMX Qualifying Practice, 10:30 MX2 Free Practice, 11:00 MXGP Free Practice, 12:20 EMX125 Group 1 Qualifying Practice, 13:00 EMX125 Group 2 Qualifying Practice, 13:40 MX2 Time Practice, 14:15 MXGP Time Practice, 15:00 WMX Race 1, 15:45 EMX125 Race 1, 16:35 MX2 Qualifying Race, 17:25 MXGP Qualifying Race.

SUNDAY:
09:45 WMX Race 2, 10:25 MX2 Warm-up, 10:45 MXGP Warm-up, 11:30 EMX125 Race 2, 13:15 MX2 Race 1, 14:15 MXGP Race 1, 16:10 MX2 Race 2, 17:10 MXGP Race 2.