Honda HRC is preparing to head out for three races back-to-back-to-back, spanning the entire globe to finish off the 2025 MXGP World Championship calendar. Turkiye is up this weekend, before next weekend’s stop-off in Shanghai, ending up in Darwin, Australia for what is a brand-new round for the season-finale.
Like the past two rounds, Tim Gajser is back alongside Ruben Fernandez and Valerio Lata, while unfortunately Ferruccio Zanchi will be absent after his knee surgery a few weeks ago. The trio all had some positive moments in the Netherlands last time out, so now they want to improve upon those and finish this year off strongly.
For Gajser, that means making a return to the podium, after narrowly missing out in Arnhem by just one point. The Slovenian showed that his sand riding skills were definitely up to par, on the difficult terrain, but now hopes that he can show-off his hard-pack prowess in Afyon, at a track he has won at numerous times before.
Fernandez (recently named captain for Team Spain at this years’ Motocross of Nations) will also be hoping he can revisit the podium in these last three events. The #70 hasn’t had much luck in recent rounds, but he has shown that he is fully capable of mixing it up with the best in the world earlier on this year, so now is perfect time to do so again.
Last weekend, Valerio Lata secured the Italian MX2 Championship with another dominant display, but he hasn’t always been able to transfer that riding onto the world stage. This has been a source of frustration for the youngster, but if he puts in three good performances in the these final three rounds, he’ll finish the year inside the top 10 in his rookie season, and that is something he can be very proud of.
Tim Gajser 243
The comeback from injury has been a good one. I think I’ve shown my speed in both the rounds so far, but now I really want to challenge for the wins. I have done well in Turkiye before, and I think it is a track that suits me, so it is just a question of going out there and putting in my best effort. These last three rounds are certainly going to be interesting, with all the travel and then the finale at a new venue in Australia, so I want to try and enjoy them as much as possible.
Ruben Fernandez 70
I really want to finish this 2025 campaign on a high, and that starts with Turkiye this weekend. These recent GPs haven’t been my best, and that is disappointing because I was on a good run of form and now it looks like third place in the championship is out of reach. Still, I will keep fighting and I’m looking forward to competing in these last three rounds and fighting for the podium positions.
Valerio Lata 18
It was really cool to win the Italian Championship last weekend and just have some nice moments with the team and all the fans who are helping and supporting me. The second half of this MX2 championship hasn’t gone as well as I’d hoped, so to have this was a nice confidence boost and I hope to take that into Turkiye, China and Australia and just put in some results like I know that I am capable of.
Marcus Pereira de Freitas – HRC General Manager – MXGP
We’re now entering the final three rounds, and logistically it’s probably the toughest test we’ve had as a team, just to prepare for three flyaway races back-to-back-to-back. I really want to thank all of the crew who have done the work to get ready for this because it hasn’t been easy, but they just always get the job done. I also want to thank the team members that aren’t making this trip, but have worked all year with the squad, everyone plays an important part and we couldn’t do it without you. Now though, we have a lot of travelling to undertake, but we are excited for these gate-drops as I think Tim, Ruben and Valerio can have good success in Turkiye, so that’s our aim to finish this year as strongly as possible.
