Honda HRC PETRONAS make the long trip down to Johannesburg, South Africa for what is a new circuit on the MXGP calendar. The last time the World Motocross Championships raced in this country was 2008, so only a few of the team have been here before, whilst none of the riders have any experience of what it’ll be like racing a GP.
Whilst the forecast in good, considering it is ‘wintertime’ here, there is also a high altitude to consider with the track around 1500m above sea-level. This will affect both bike and athletic performance so everyone will need to be at the best to cope with those effects, for what is the 11th round of the 2026 season.
Jeffrey Herlings has won the last two rounds, putting in four excellent motos and closing the points gap now so that it under one round of racing. He’ll need to keep that momentum going if he really wants to challenge for the championship, but for now, the Dutchman is taking it one round at a time and trying to add to his record-breaking 117 GP victories.
For Tom Vialle, Ruben Fernandez and MX2 rider Valerio Lata, this trip marks a good opportunity for them to challenge at the front, for what is a new venue for everyone. No one has ridden here before or has any settings they can use so while that does increase the importance of every session, it also means that no one has an advantage.
Rubén Fernández 70
Honda HRC PETRONAS
It’s cool to be going to a new venue, in a new country. I’ve never been to South Africa before so I’m just really interested to see what they do. The last new venue we went to in Darwin, Australia was really good – except for the rain – so hopefully it will be something similar ad we can have a fun event.
Tom Vialle 16
Honda HRC PETRONAS
I always enjoy travelling to new places and seeing what its like there, so I can’t wait to get down to South Africa and just see what we have in store. I don’t really know what the dirt will be like or anything, I’ve just seen a couple of photos but that doesn’t always give a good representation of what it’ll be like. The last couple of GPs have been tough, so I’m hoping this new venue will even the playing field a bit and get me back going in the right direction.
Jeffrey Herlings 84
Honda HRC PETRONAS
It was good to get the win in Portugal – my 117th GP overall – and just keep the momentum going after also winning in Montevarchi. I think my pass for the lead was a fair one, and I don’t think I could have done it any less forceful than what I did, especially on that track where there weren’t a lot of options. Now the goal is to make it three in a row and just keep on rolling downhill.
Valerio Lata 18
Honda HRC PETRONAS
I didn’t have my best event in Portugal and I’m not proud of my results. I’m hoping that this new event in South Africa will be a reset for me and I can enjoy my racing a bit more. Things haven’t gone my way much this year but there are still plenty of opportunities to have good results, and that will be my aim, starting this weekend.
Marcus Pereira de Freitas –
Honda HRC PETRONAS
It’s a long trip down here to South Africa, but I think all the riders are excited to be here and go racing at a new place. For the team, it has been a tough, but successful couple of weeks and we just need to keep the work ethic high for this last of the latest triple-header. The altitude is high here, over 1500m so we need to make sure we are all prepared for this, but I’m confident that we can have a good GP down here.
@shotbybavo
