The epic rocky hillsides of the Glimminge Motorstadion near the town of Uddevalla in Sweden will rock to the sound of Viking-hatted Motocross fans this weekend, as round 15 of the 2026 FIM Motocross World Championships takes place in the Västra Götaland County. It’s time for the crazy Nordic fans to make some noise at the MXGP of Sweden!

The only Scandinavian stop of the tour sees the final quarter of this wild season get underway, and it will be the 28th World Championship Motocross event to rattle around the tight but steeps slopes of the Glimminge circuit. It’s easy to forget that Sweden dominated the early years of MXGP racing, with eight of the first nine world titles being claimed by riders from this country, and the first world-level GP here in 1958 saw a Swedish podium sweep for Sten Lundin, on a Swedish Monark machine to boot, ahead of the Matchless-mounted duo of Raymond Sigvarsson and Gunnar Johansson.

Sadly for the local fans, only Bill Nilsson, in 1961, has matched that home success at Uddevalla since then, with multi-champions Stefan Everts and Antonio Cairoli setting the record of six GP wins each at this venue. The most successful active rider here is current Venrooy KTM Racing pilot Jeremy Seewer, having taken back-to-back MXGP victories in 2022 & ’23, after his MX2 success in 2017.

The 2026 MXGP title chase is being firmly led by Jeffrey Herlings, as the Dutch legend has racked up seven GP wins this season on his new Honda HRC Petronas steed, and leads defending World Champion, and last year’s Uddevalla winner for Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP, Romain Febvre, by 104 points after his third consecutive victory at Lommel. Former red plate holder Lucas Coenen is third now for Red Bull KTM Factory Racing, five points behind Febvre and working to be fit again for this weekend after injuries have kept him from scoring in the last three GPs.

MX2 is being led by the Spaniard Guillem Farres, who put in the biggest win streak of the year before the MXGP of Flanders, and the Triumph Racing Factory Team are looking for their first world title with a 47-point lead over Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Sacha Coenen.

Farres’ Triumph Racing Factory Team wingman Camden McLellan moved up into third in the standings with a perfect weekend at Lommel, and he is only 13 behind the teenage Belgian as the men in black push for a Championship 1-2! None of the top three men have seen an Uddevalla GP podium, however, while defending World Champion Simon Längenfelder has never finished off of it, so the German is hoping to capitalise on that experience and bridge his own ten-point gap to McLellan.

The EMX250 European Championship also enters its final quarter with round ten, and series leader Francisco Garcia is hoping to return strongly from injury to defend his 74-point lead for BUD Racing Kawasaki. Team SixtySeven Husqvarna Racing’s Nikolaj Skovbjerg is now second after winning at Lommel, and the Dane will enjoy the support at his most local round! Garcia’s teammate Jake Cannon had a rough day in the Flemish sand and is now twenty points further back in third.

The EMX125 European Champonship Presented by FMF Racing returns after nearly a month away for its penultimate round, and the title could be clinched this weekend by new red plate holder Ricardo Bauer, who holds a 31-point lead over his Norman KTM Factory Rookies teammate Moritz Ernecker. Ernecker is still recovering from his leg injuries that were sustained at the World Junior Championships, and French kid Sleny Goyer, third for Yamaha Europe Monster Energy MJC, is 61 behind Bauer coming into Uddevalla. So if the tall Austrian can keep the gap to over 50 points, then the title will be confirmed! Denmark’s Bertram Thorius is fourth in the series for Fantic Factory Racing EMX and hoping for some Scandinavian support in the absence of any Swedish front runners, although 17 local riders are among the massive 78-strong entry list this weekend! It’s a good job Sweden has one of the biggest Paddocks of the year!

Last year’s event was made memorable by the efforts of Isak Gifting, who led with just half a lap to go in MXGP, and he returns for JK Racing Yamaha to build up the hopes and the atmosphere again! His compatriot Alve Callemo took a fine eighth overall in MX2 at Lommel for Young Motion Powered by Resa, so he will have high hopes of home success in EMX250 this weekend as well! Everything is set to produce some fantastic action beneath the cliffsides! 

Jeffrey Herlings comes to the Uddevalla circuit on an amazing three-GP winning streak, but the Swedish venue is one of the few that has never seen a Herlings victory in the MXGP class. He took two straight MX2 wins here in 2013 & ’14, but since then only Qualifying Race chequered flags in 2017 & ’19 have come his way, with not even a Sunday race win to his name here in the premiere class. If he were to break that baffling run, it would give him his first four-GP win streak since his stellar 2018 title season. “The Bullet” has no real need to push for it with such a healthy Championship lead, so the door might be open for others to capitalise on his possible caution.

Febvre in particular will be keen to break his own barren run, that of no GP victories since this round 12 months ago. His decisive 1-1-1 weekend in 2025 was a major factor in deciding the Championship in his favour, and was his first victory here since his 2015 title season, when he went 1-1 on the Sunday. He has taken at least one top three race finish in the last eight of his ten visits to Uddevalla, so it’s a fair bet that the Frenchman will be up the sharp end again.

Lucas Coenen had a rough GP here last year, only managing eighth overall on a day that really hit his own title run in MXGP. He went 1-1 here in MX2 in 2024, however, and even took an EMX250 race win back in 2022. The biggest question, of course, is whether or not he will be able to line up to try and hack back the 109-point deficit he now has between himself and Herlings.

A lonely fourth in the series is Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP’s Tim Gajser, who has rarely been off the podium at this venue, although a sole Qualifying win in 2024, a Sunday race win in 2019, and his most recent GP win here in 2017, means that a return to the top step would be a surprise. He also took MX2 victory in his first title season of 2015, as well as a 1-1 EMX125 weekend in 2012. The Slovenian will never stop chasing, and with good starts he will be a threat.

The battle for fifth in the series is the closest in the higher reaches of the table. Red Bull KTM Factory Racing pilot Andrea Adamo took the place after top six results from each of the last three GPs, although Ruben Fernandez has been there in each of the last five events, so the Honda HRC Petronas ace is only four points behind the Italian in an entertaining side plot! Add in Maxime Renaux, who is only another 21 further back for Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP, and you have three hard chargers going for that spot! Of the three, Adamo has the best Uddevalla record with three MX2 race wins here, although the Frenchman took one in MXGP in 2022. Keep an eye out if any of them get close to each other this weekend!

Honda HRC Petronas’ Tom Vialle has returned to the status of podium contender in recent events, and he took his first ever career GP victory at Uddevalla in 2019, as well as a race win in 2022. The Frenchman’s starting prowess will be a strong factor if he can fight for the Holeshot again this weekend! He is also only 16 points back from Renaux, while Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing’s Kay de Wolf is in a lonely ninth position in the table, and hoping to stay fit for his home GP a week later. He has tasted Qualifying Race success in MX2 here two years ago, but second overall to Simon Längenfelder last season remains his only Swedish podium visit.

Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP’s Pauls Jonass and Red Bull Ducati Factory MX Team rider Calvin Vlaanderen are the next two in the Championship, and both are returning to action at Uddevalla. The Latvian took an MXGP podium here at the first time of asking in 2019, while Vlaanderen achieved that last year, as well as taking an MX2 race win in 2019, so the battle at the edge of the top ten could get interesting.

MRT Racing Team Beta rider Jago Geerts won an MX2 GP here in 2022, and he has been finding the top ten recently, so could be a force again. Jeremy Seewer, however, returns to the only circuit where he won more than a single GP, and with results like his sixth overall at Foxhills, the Swiss veteran could be a real surprise package at a place where he is bound to be feeling good!

Of course, all eyes will be on home hero Isak Gifting, who nearly caused an avalanche from the cliffs with his dynamic passes to take the lead on the final lap of MXGP last year! A month into his return from injury, the Swede has been starting well and with the energy of the crowd pulsing through him, who knows what 2026 will bring?!

The MXGP class is perhaps more unpredictable this weekend that at any other GP, so make sure you tune in to catch the action!

MXGP - World Championship Top 10 Classification: 1. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, HON), 675 points; 2. Romain Febvre (FRA, KAW), 571 p.; 3. Lucas Coenen (BEL, KTM), 566 p.; 4. Tim Gajser (SLO, YAM), 534 p.; 5. Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), 450 p.; 6. Ruben Fernandez (ESP, HON), 446 p.; 7. Maxime Renaux (FRA, YAM), 425 p.; 8. Tom Vialle (FRA, HON), 409 p.; 9. Kay de Wolf (NED, HUS), 345 p.; 10. Pauls Jonass (LAT, KAW), 273 p.

Guillem Farres’ four-GP winning streak came to an end in the sand of Lommel, but he still made ground on Sacha Coenen in the Championship, and 47 points is a nice buffer for him to work with. Neither of the two leaders have fared brilliantly at Uddevalla before, however, with the Spaniard only ninth last year, and the Belgian fourth overall with 2-7 finishes.

Camden McLellan took Triumph’s seventh victory of the season last time out, completed a third 1-2 of the 2026 season for the team, but he also has had little success here, his best GP coming back in 2023 with fifth overall, a year after taking third overall in EMX250. It’s the second Red Bull KTM Factory Racing rider Simon Längenfelder who will be the happiest to see the grey clay of Sweden on Saturday morning, as he has finished either first or third overall in each of his four GPs at the circuit, and even took second overall in the 2019 EMX125 round! It’s one of just three venues where he has won overall more than once, the others being Matterley Basin and Frauenfeld. With ten points to catch up to McLellan, the German will be keen to continue this trend!

Liam Everts will turn 22 years old on the Thursday before the GP, and the Belgian finished second overall behind Längenfelder in 2023, but since then has not caught fire here. In a lonely fifth in the Championship, the Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing rider will look to his last hardpack outing at Loket, when he won race two, for confidence towards seeking his first GP win of the year.

The Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MX2 teammates and brothers Janis and Karlis Reisulis are next up in the Championship, as Janis makes his GP debut at a circuit where he has got to the podium after all three of his EMX appearances here. An EMX125 1-1 in 2023 was a particular highlight, but 2-2 in EMX250 last year got him third overall, and he is likely to be a force again, while Karlis has nothing like that record here, and will be hoping to get some tips from his younger sibling!

Valerio Lata has finally moved up to eighth in the Championship, and the Honda HRC Petronas rider is starting his second GP here after finishing 11th last year and winning the second EMX250 race in 2024. The rider who finished third overall behind him that day, Mathis Valin, is now back in ninth for Kawasaki Racing Team MX2 and still uncertain of returning from his Portugal injuries.

Julius Mikula was 12th overall behind Lata in Sweden last year, but the Osička Racing KTM man has had a stirring 2026 season and will surely be eyeing up the top five!

With five Swedish wildcards being led by Triumph rider Nike Korsbeck, the local fans will have riders to cheer for, but this weekend’s MX2 GP could be as wide open as ever and should deliver some fantastic racing!

The MXGP of Sweden will get you wafting blue and yellow smoke from your face as it oozes through the TV screen, so let the atmosphere pull you in and enjoy this classic MXGP venue as the final quarter of the season begins in earnest!

MX2 - World Championship Top 10 Classification: 1. Guillem Farres (ESP, TRI), 668 points; 2. Sacha Coenen (BEL, KTM), 621 p.; 3. Camden Mc Lellan (RSA, TRI), 608 p.; 4. Simon Längenfelder (GER, KTM), 598 p.; 5. Liam Everts (BEL, HUS), 542 p.; 6. Janis Martins Reisulis (LAT, YAM), 512 p.; 7. Karlis Alberts Reisulis (LAT, YAM), 416 p.; 8. Valerio Lata (ITA, HON), 355 p.; 9. Mathis Valin (FRA, KAW), 352 p.; 10. Julius Mikula (CZE, KTM), 312 p.

TIMETABLE

SATURDAY:
07:40 EMX125 Group 1 Free Practice, 08:10 EMX125 Group 2 Free Practice, 08:40 EMX250 Group 1 Free Practice, 09:10 EMX250 Group 2 Free Practice, 09:50 EMX125 Group 1 Qualifying Practice, 10:30 MX2 Free Practice, 11:00 MXGP Free Practice, 11:50 EMX125 Group 2 Qualifying Practice, 12:25 EMX250 Group 1 Qualifying Practice, 13:00 EMX250 Group 2 Qualifying Practice, 13:40 MX2 Time Practice, 14:15 MXGP Time Practice, 15:00 EMX125 Race 1, 15:45 EMX250 Race 1, 16:35 MX2 Qualifying Race, 17:25 MXGP Qualifying Race.

SUNDAY:
09:40 EMX125 Race 2, 10:25 MX2 Warm-up, 10:45 MXGP Warm-up, 11:30 EMX250 Race 2, 13:15 MX2 Race 1, 14:15 MXGP Race 1, 16:10 MX2 Race 2, 17:10 MXGP Race 2.