Lucas Coenen and De Wolf take Qualifying wins down under at the MXGP of Australia Presented by Sitzler

The first day of on-track action for the FIM Motocross World Championship riders took place today at the Hidden Valley Motorsports Complex, and the universal approval was apparent for the new circuit at the MXGP of Australia Presented by Sitzler!

As expected at this final round of the series, high temperatures, with not quite the humidity levels of China, made the racing very physically demanding, and the blazing sun added an intensity to the heat that could not be denied.

In MXGP the only two riders capable of winning this year’s World Championship took the top two positions, with Lucas Coenen taking a start-to-finish victory for Red Bull KTM Factory Racing, ahead of Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP’s red plate holder Romain Febvre. Mattia Guadagnini amazingly took his best Qualifying Race result of the year with third for the Aruba.it Ducati Factory MX Team!

The MX2 class was won convincingly by title contender Kay de Wolf, as the Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing star had to catch and pass Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Sacha Coenen, who took second place ahead of Monster Energy Triumph Racing rider Guillem Farres.

None of the World Championship titles were decided today as all of the riders who are chasing the leaders won their races, so it all goes down to the final day of the season tomorrow, in front of what are likely to be packed hillsides at this stunning new Grand Prix Motocross venue!

Right at the last moment of Free Practice, Jeffrey Herlings pulled out some magic by jumping from the bottom of the standings to the top on the very last lap of the session! Behind him was the other Red Bull KTM Factory Racing rider Lucas Coenen, only two thousandths of a second ahead of Honda HRC’s Tim Gajser. However, Coenen grabbed the first gate pick for the Qualifying Race in Time Practice, nearly half a second ahead of Herlings, with Romain Febvre over a second behind his title rival!

Coenen went straight for the inside gate to start the Qualifying Race from, and used it to good effect to claim the Holeshot for the fifth time on a Saturday this season! As with the previous four times, there was just no catching the teenager as he built a massive 8.7 second gap at the end of the first full lap!

Behind him, Febvre was recovering quickly from being boxed in at the start, although Mattia Guadagnini was looking good in second ahead of the Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MX2 rider Jago Geerts, who was swiftly passed by Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP’s Pauls Jonass and the Fantic Factory Racing MXGP machine of Brian Bogers.

Febvre took advantage of a mistake by Geerts along the Pit Lane straight to take fifth place, then duelled with Bogers over most of the first full lap before he could lock in fourth. He was predictably met with little resistance from his teammate Jonass to take third through the wave section.

Tim Gajser had also managed to pass Geerts to sit in seventh spot, while Geerts’ Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP teammate Calvin Vlaanderen held eighth ahead of the other Honda HRC pilot Ruben Fernandez. Meanwhile, Herlings had got boxed in between Coenen and Febvre down the start straight and had to fight through the pack, only breaking into the top ten by passing the MRT Racing Team Beta of Ben Watson on lap five.

Guadagnini was riding well, and held off the first attack by Febvre until the Frenchman blasted around the outside of a fast right hander onto a plateau, and that made second place the property of the man in green on lap four! A lap later, Gajser and Vlaanderen had both got past Bogers to claim fifth and sixth behind Jonass, before Geerts also moved back past the Dutchman two laps further on.

Vlaanderen was on an impressive charge, passing Gajser on lap eight and then Jonass on lap ten to take a solid fourth place, and sadly for Jonass he made a last lap mistake to drop to tenth! Ninth was the third Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP machine of Maxime Renaux, behind Geerts in eighth, and a fighting Herlings who came through to a dissatisfied seventh.

Fernandez nearly caught Gajser as the Honda men came home fifth and sixth behind Vlaanderen, while Guadagnini, with only his second Qualifying Race points-scoring ride of the year, took his best finish of the season, matching Ducati’s best of third with Jeremy Seewer back at Trentino in May.

Febvre was content to lose just a single point to Coenen, who romped to a 21-second margin of victory, but the Frenchman only needs a 16th-place finish in either race tomorrow to claim his second world title, even if the Belgian wins both races.

As well as the title celebrations, the MXGP class tomorrow is likely to be a full-blown no-pressure free-for-all!

Lucas Coenen: “I mean, we know the points gap is big, but I want to give him a run until the end. It was a good race, I was just cruising, jumping the bumps in the first laps, then I made a gap and just saved energy for tomorrow. But honestly, the track is really physical, bumpy and soft, you can’t really relax. We’ll try our best in the two races, get two good starts like we did now, and then, yeah, have fun.”

MXGP – Qualifying Race Classification: 1. Lucas Coenen (BEL, KTM), 23:36.321; 2. Romain Febvre (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:21.099; 3. Mattia Guadagnini (ITA, Ducati), +0:27.959; 4. Calvin Vlaanderen (NED, Yamaha), +0:31.357; 5. Tim Gajser (SLO, Honda), +0:34.883; 6. Ruben Fernandez (ESP, Honda), +0:38.518; 7. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), +0:40.752; 8. Jago Geerts (BEL, Yamaha), +0:41.456; 9. Maxime Renaux (FRA, Yamaha), +0:42.057; 10. Pauls Jonass (LAT, Kawasaki), +0:47.258

MXGP – World Championship Classification: 1. Romain Febvre (FRA, KAW), 938 points; 2. Lucas Coenen (BEL, KTM), 892 p.; 3. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, FAN), 665 p.; 4. Ruben Fernandez (ESP, HON), 604 p.; 5. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 586 p.; 6. Calvin Vlaanderen (NED, YAM), 567 p.; 7. Maxime Renaux (FRA, YAM), 527 p.; 8. Andrea Bonacorsi (ITA, FAN), 508 p.; 9. Tim Gajser (SLO, HON), 470 p.; 10. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, DUC), 368 p.;

Main Photo: Lucas Coenen

Top Photo: MXGP Start Darwin

Bottom Photos: 1. Romain Febvre; 2. Mattia Guadagnini

Once again MX2 Free Practice was topped by Sacha Coenen, with his Red Bull KTM Factory Racing teammate Simon Längenfelder nearly a second behind, just ahead of his title rival Kay de Wolf. However, Time Practice saw the defending World Champion back to the top by just nine hundredths of a second from Längenfelder, with Andrea Adamo completing the top three, also for Red Bull KTM Factory Racing.

It looked as though De Wolf had grabbed the holeshot before Karlis Reisulis fired around the outside to lead for Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MX2, but that was short-lived as Coenen chopped across the Latvian to lead out of the fourth corner. De Wolf got embroiled in a battle with Guillem Farres, as the Triumph rider fought back from the Dutchman’s first passing attempt, while Längenfelder and Adamo disputed fifth place behind them!

De Wolf and Farres battled past Reisulis by the end of the first full lap, with Adamo ahead of Längenfelder, while Mathis Valin held seventh for Kawasaki Racing Team MX2. Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MX2 pilot Rick Elzinga held eighth ahead of the Monster Energy Triumph of Camden McLellan. The pair would battle for much of the race, whilst Kay Karssemakers held tenth from lap three to the chequered flag, scoring his first Qualifying Race points of the season!

Showing the patience that has characterised his campaign, Längenfelder worked steadily forward, passing Adamo on lap three while pushing to the inside of Reisulis on lap five. He briefly threatened the rear wheel of Farres but couldn’t get any higher than fourth behind the Spaniard, with Adamo fifth and Valin a quiet sixth.

Sadly for Reisulis, he got swallowed up by the McLellan/Elzinga battle as the South African passed the Dutchman with three laps to go, the pair taking seventh and eighth ahead of Reisulis and Karssemakers.

De Wolf, meanwhile, having saved a monumental kicker on lap three, closed in on Coenen around the often soft and rutted circuit and made a nice switchback pass to take the lead on lap seven of 13. It was his fourth Qualifying Race win of the season, matching the best of the year with Adamo and the absent Thibault Benistant.

Today’s results closed the gap at the top of the standings to just 13 points with only tomorrow’s races to go. If De Wolf wins both races, which is obviously his target, then Längenfelder needs at least a third and a fourth to bring home the title! This one could go all the way to finish off an all-action 2025 MX2 World Championship!

Don’t miss the final day of racing to conclude the 2025 MXGP season tomorrow. The Champions will be crowned in front of the avid Australian fans on this amazing new circuit down under! See ya there!

Kay de Wolf: “It was a good race. I had a good start and did what I had to do. I’ve been charging myself up all week for this and I’m just going to try and finish it this way. I’ll try to win, give all I can, and every race I will give 110% so I won’t regret anything at the end of the season. I was 70 points down after Matterley Basin, so everything I’ve been doing since has been amazing. A great qualifying win, another pole position for tomorrow, and I’m just really excited to go racing.”

MX2 – Qualifying Race Classification: 1. Kay de Wolf (NED, Husqvarna), 23:46.711; 2. Sacha Coenen (BEL, KTM), +0:05.720; 3. Guillem Farres (ESP, Triumph), +0:09.785; 4. Simon Längenfelder (GER, KTM), +0:11.231; 5. Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), +0:15.615; 6. Mathis Valin (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:30.363; 7. Camden Mc Lellan (RSA, Triumph), +0:33.419; 8. Rick Elzinga (NED, Yamaha), +0:34.329; 9. Karlis Alberts Reisulis (LAT, Yamaha), +0:35.191; 10. Kay Karssemakers (NED, Kawasaki), +0:35.658

MX2 – World Championship Classification: 1. Simon Längenfelder (GER, KTM), 891 points; 2. Kay de Wolf (NED, HUS), 878 p.; 3. Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), 823 p.; 4. Sacha Coenen (BEL, KTM), 765 p.; 5. Camden Mc Lellan (RSA, TRI), 616 p.; 6. Liam Everts (BEL, HUS), 606 p.; 7. Thibault Benistant (FRA, YAM), 603 p.; 8. Guillem Farres (ESP, TRI), 469 p.; 9. Valerio Lata (ITA, HON), 447 p.; 10. Mathis Valin (FRA, KAW), 439 p.