This weekend, just one month before the opening round of the FIM Motocross World Championship, the Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP / MX2 will enter its first race of the 2026 season. After many weeks of intense preparation, Romain Febvre, Pauls Jonass and Mathis Valin will line up behind the gate on Sunday at the Pernes les Fontaines International in their 2026 livery.

In the wake of such a successful 2025 campaign, Romain and the entire Kawasaki staff in Europe and Japan had a productive winter and are prepared for the new season with a strong motivation. Collectively the team have a world title to defend, and the technicians have used the past months to develop even further the bikes which were demonstrably so competitive last year with many podiums, GP victories and the premier off-road world title.

After testing in October, the riders took a break from riding at the end of last year before Romain, Pauls and Mathis joined the team staff in January for training and testing in Sardinia preparing for the opening races of the season. As usual the team will enter several pre-season races to fine tune themselves and their equipment for the MXGP series, which will kick off on March 8th on a brand new track in Argentina. The international races at Pernes les Fontaines in Provence this weekend and Hawkstone Park in England one week later will be a great opportunity for the team and the riders to race against some of this season's GP rivals; nothing can replace racing!

Romain, who has chosen to race with the #1 on his 450 KX-SR, and Pauls, who enters his second year in Green, will contest the MXGP class, while Mathis, after a solid rookie season, will be aiming to add more podiums and victories to his résumé in the MX2 class. They will again face a long season with twenty rounds on the MXGP calendar between March 8th and the finale on September 20th in Australia.

Romain Febvre MXGP: “I had a good winter in Sardinia, where we had good conditions to train and test. The bike is based on my title winning machine, though of course we had some adjustments we’ll make and we will use these first races to finalise our preparations. I can’t wait to start racing again, and to see during the pre-season races where we are compared to our rivals. I feel more relaxed this year as I claimed the title last season, but my motivation remains the same as my goal is always to race in the leading pack.”

Pauls Jonass MXGP: “The off-season went really well; we did some good testing with the bike after the MX des Nations and last month in Sardinia. I’m feeling really confident on the bike, but there is still one month before the first GP so we have more time to continue to build. It’s my second year with Kawasaki, and it’s always good to have some experience behind me with the team and the bike. The first year is always a learning curve so now we will be even more comfortable together.”

Mathis Valin MX2: "My winter programme was similar to last year; Red Sand in December, then I trained in France with Thierry Van Den Bosch and in January we moved to Sardinia with the team. I had a good winter and I feel that I have improved on many things. I have a good feeling on the bike, and the goal is to be consistent at each race; if I can go as fast as in training I think I can have very good results and there is one goal, to be fighting at the front every week. We have also worked hard on the starts, and now I think that we have the set-up to get holeshots. We have a couple of pre-season races so it will be good to see where we are in racing, and then we still have one month before the first GP."

Steve Guttridge (KME Race Planning Manager): “Heading into the 2026 MXGP season as World Champions and sporting the Number 1 plate is a dream come true for Kawasaki. The Kawasaki Racing Team crew and our riders, Romain and Pauls in the MXGP class and Mathis, who’s no longer a rookie, in MX2 will continue to work together as a formidable combination! Everyone has been working harder than ever with both our factory technicians in Japan and our valued technical partners; their KX-SR race bikes have advanced to the next level in winter testing. We are ready and excited for the 2026 season to get underway”.

Antti Pyrhonen (Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP / MX2 Team Manager): “We are looking forward to yet another season. The riders and team members are extremely motivated and we are getting ready to go racing. After last year’s success, we continued the work and further development; the riders are very happy with the progress and feeling with our factory KX-SR machines. The entire team, riders and staff, have remained the same so we know what we need to do.”