MXGP
Team HRC’s Tim Gajser battled hard in the Arnhem sand, going four-three for third overall and keeping hold of the 2024 MXGP Championship lead. After a fifth place in yesterday’s qualification race, Gajser put in two strong races and now heads to Switzerland with more confidence that he is at the level required to win his sixth world title.

After rain on Friday, and bright sunshine yesterday, the Dutch weather was cloudy for today’s racing and it allowed the riders to give everything in the sandy conditions. Having fifth gate-pick, the Slovenian wasn’t able to get such a good start in race one, but a good first lap meant he was up to fourth by the time they crossed the line for the first time. Another good pass moved him up into the podium spots but after riding a good pace and keeping the leaders in sight, he eventually dropped a spot and had to settle for fourth.

Motivated to improve upon that result in race two, Gajser got an excellent start on his Honda CRF450R and within a couple of laps was in the lead. Looking much more comfortable and consistent than his last sand-outing in Lommel, the #243 was able to lead for a couple of laps and show that he is a top rider in the loose stuff. However, he did lose his rhythm as they approached the lappers and that allowed two riders to go through. Keeping pace with them for the majority of the rest of the moto, a small error did allow the fourth-place rider to close right in, but Gajser showed his determination to hold him off and make sure he claimed third spot on the podium.

Team HRC now head south to Frauenfeld, Switzerland for the 17th round of the series, on the tight and technical circuit located near to Zurich. The series visited this track for the first time last year, but Gajser missed that round but has actually ridden there when was a youth rider, a number of years ago.

MX2
After a withdrawal from the qualification race yesterday, Team HRC’s Ferruccio Zanchi put in two motos filled with passes as he came through to finish 12-13 for 12th overall, in what was a really tough challenge for the Italian youngster.

Having last gate-pick put him at a massive disadvantage off the start, but he used every horsepower of his Honda CRF250R to put him in as good a position as possible around the first turn. In race one, that meant a top 15 start and in race two, he had to fight through from just outside the top 20, but as he has proved numerous times this year already, he can really put his head down when he needs to and picked off riders consistently throughout both races.

The 12th overall, kept him in 10th place in the MX2 Championship and with just four rounds remaining, it will go down as an excellent rookie campaign if he can keep putting in those sorts of rides.

Tim Gajser  ²⁴³

It was a solid weekend, and I definitely felt like my riding was a lot better this weekend than in Lommel. It was a shame I made a mistake in that second race, but I’m happy with the rest of the moto and it was good to get third place and stand on the podium. We have four rounds still to go and I’m still in the lead so I’m excited to go to the next race in Switzerland and put in another strong performance.

MXGP ploughed back into the sand for the Grand Prix of the Netherlands and the Arnhem terrain was the scene for Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Jeffrey Herlings to go 1-1 for the third time this season with his KTM 450 SX-F. The Dutchman clinched his third victory from the last five meetings to close the gap at the top of the FIM World Championship standings. MX2 World Champ Andrea Adamo broke into the top three for the second week in a row with 3rd overall.

For the second year in a row the Dutch Grand Prix was hosted by the compact and sandy Motorsportpark Gelderland circuit in Arnhem. Jeffrey Herlings was attempting his first MXGP outing at the venue after missing the 2023 event. Hot and bright weather greeted both days of action at the rippled, technical and physical layout.

On Saturday the RAM Qualification race decided the gate positions for the two Grand Prix motos on Sunday as well as providing the riders with their first opportunity to snare world championship points for the weekend. Herlings took his works KTM 450 SX-F to 4th position after a top ten start. In MX2 Liam Everts was highest classified with 3rd followed by Andrea Adamo in 4th. Sacha Coenen was 8th but dealing with some discomfort in his legs after his tumble in Sweden.

Sunday saw Herlings in superb form despite a back complaint. He took his time to make progress in the first moto but passed his title rivals to comfortably own the checkered flag. #84’s start was better in the second race and he was able to control the 30 minute and 2-lap distance from the front of the pack; winning his twelfth moto of the year by almost ten seconds.

Red Bull KTM headed the MX2 running at the start of the first outing with Coenen, Everts and Adamo running 1-2-3. It was Everts who applied the more effective pace and crossed the line in 3rd with Adamo a clear 4th. The Italian was more formidable on the rough track in the second dash as he classified as runner-up and celebrated 3rd on the day. Everts had a crash that dropped him to 7th (5th overall). Coenen was 10-6 for his result card but led for a phase. EMX250 star Cas Valk made another wildcard entry to MX2. The Dutchman scored 11-11 and will be back on European Championship duty next weekend.

Jeffrey Herlings now has eleven consecutive podium finishes and twelve for the season as well as 15 career wins on home soil. The points haul means he is 3rd in the standings: just 35 from the red plate and 26 from P2. In MX2 Liam Everts holds 4th and is 40 points from the top three. The Grand Prix of Switzerland at Frauenfeld will bring MXGP up to round 17 and the last fixture in August.

Jeffrey Herlings, 1st and 1st for 1st overall in MXGP: “I struggled with a painful back this week. It was something I had to deal with: I’m getting old! Today was quite OK. 1-1 was what I was hoping for. I made work for myself in the first moto but started picking off riders and coming back. I almost made a mistake in the second moto, even if the start was better. The competition is so strong. I’m super-proud of another 1-1 and now up to 107. I’m happy and blessed.”

NEW BERLIN, N.Y. – Red Bull KTM Factory Racing's Chase Sexton earned his fourth-straight overall victory as the 2024 AMA Pro Motocross Championship returned to action at Unadilla, marking Round 9 of the season. Aaron Plessinger made it a double podium for the team in 450MX in third position overall.

Sexton qualified fastest onboard his KTM 450 SX-F FACTORY EDITION and then took the checkered flag in second position following Moto 1. He stepped up in the second moto to get out front instantly and sprint away from the chasing pack, winning by 7.107 seconds to seal the overall. His series lead continues to sit on 28 points with two rounds remaining.

Chase Sexton: "I've worked on my starts a lot, that was my first holeshot of the summer in Moto2, and I felt so good at the beginning of the race. I sprinted away and managed it from there – that was a fun moto! The track felt a lot better to me in that second moto, so I'm excited for the next two to finish out the season."

The opening moto saw Plessinger storm to the holeshot in technical conditions, eventually finishing in P3, but he had his work cut out for him in Moto 2 after a bad start. A hard-fought ride from outside of the top 15 to fourth place enabled him to salvage the podium overall and, as a result, he has also climbed to third in the championship standings.

Aaron Plessinger: "Man, I was so far back on the first lap! It felt like they held the gate for 20 seconds and I almost sat up, then sure enough, they dropped it. I was not ready at all, but it was a hard-fought ride and I just clicked another gear – I felt so good, it was such a good ride. Definitely hard-fought, I could hear the fans and I knew I just had to keep taking over the positions. In the end, we found ourselves on the podium for the weekend."

The 250MX round at Unadilla saw Julien Beaumer finish in ninth overall on his KTM 250 SX-F FACTORY EDITION, which was delivered via a consistent 8-10 scorecard. The rookie is now 11th in the series, continuing to gain important race mileage in the professional ranks as the series reaches its final stages.

Team HRC riders Xavi Vierge and Iker Lecuona have completed round seven of the Superbike World Championship at the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve with a strong display of grit and resilience, achieving a seventh and fourteenth place finish in today’s Superpole race, before placing ninth and thirteenth respectively in Race 2.

The day’s ten-lap Superpole race did not get underway until 2.45pm (CET-1), as dictated by this weekend’s modified schedule that has seen all sessions run later in the afternoon than usual. Lining up on row five, Xavi wasted no time when the lights went out, passing a series of riders through the first turns and placing eighth by the end of lap one. Passing Rea mid-way through this ten-lapper, Vierge held seventh to the line, further boosting his points tally as a result. Forced to start from the back of the grid after a challenging qualifying session, Iker made similar positive progress to his team-mate off the line, immediately making up seven positions. Fourteenth at the mid-race point, the Spaniard continued to push but was unable to improve further on his position, considering the limited laps available.

The weekend’s second and final full-length SBK race got underway as scheduled at 6pm, the conditions seemingly cooler and breezier (26°C air, 35°C track) than they were for Saturday’s race 1. Once he settled into a rhythm, Vierge battled with both Rea and Bassani for several laps but couldn’t make the same impact during the second half of the race as he had early on. Nevertheless, the Spaniard finished P9, rounding out an encouraging weekend. Team-mate Iker had to fight his way through the pack after starting from the back of the grid but was already up to seventeenth after the first lap. Continuing to gain ground as he found a good rhythm, Iker managed to pick up extra pace in the final laps, setting his fastest time on lap 18, and made up two more positions to cross the line thirteenth, inside the points zone.

Seven rounds in, and Vierge lies fifteenth in the overall championship standings with 46 points, Lecuona eighteenth with 37. Team HRC now heads directly to Estoril for a two-day test on 14-15 August and will then turn its attention to the eighth WorldSBK round, set to take place at the Nevers Magny-Cours circuit in France on 6-8 September.

MXGP
Team HRC’s Tim Gajser got himself back on the podium at the MXGP of Sweden, held at the rocky Uddevalla track in front of a hugely vocal crowd. After a day of torrential rain on Friday, conditions were nearly perfect for the two motos today, where Gajser was able to go two-three for second overall.

In race one, the Honda CRF450R rider got a good start inside the top five, before gradually working his way forward. Unfortunately, due to the nature of the circuit, passing was at a premium and it took until the 13th lap before he finally got into the lead and after all that effort, a small error in judgement then saw it slip from his fingers. He regrouped quickly and put pressure on the leader for the rest of the moto, eventually crossing the line less than a second behind the winner.

Race two and the Slovenian didn’t have the best first bend, but a few passes on the first lap got him into third place. From there, the trio checked out from the field opening out a massive gap to the riders behind. Pushing hard, Gajser tried to keep in touch with the front two, but a combination of lappers and tricky conditions meant that he lost contact and couldn’t fight for the win. Still, a third place meant that he was back on the podium and he still leads the championship by 17 points as they head into the final five rounds of the season.

Next up is Arnhem, in the Netherlands, which a return to sandy terrain, where the #243 will be hoping to put in a strong effort and maintain his grip on the 2024 MXGP World Championship.

MX2
Ferruccio Zanchi had an excellent second moto in Uddevalla, Sweden, finishing seventh and riding a fast and consistent pace for the duration of the moto. Unfortunately a bike issue in race one when fighting for eighth robbed him of the opportunity for a strong overall position, but after a sixth in the qualifying race yesterday, the young Italian can be very happy with how he rode on what is a difficult challenge.

In what is the second of this triple-header, the series heads to Arnhem, Netherlands for what will be another sand track, where Zanchi will be trying to repeat his excellent riding from Lommel a few weeks ago.

MXGP 2024, Round 14 of 20, Lommel, Flanders (Belgium)

More trophies, more celebrations and continued success in 2024 MXGP for Red Bull KTM Factory Racing as Jeffrey Herlings demonstrated his superlative skill in sandy conditions once again to win a hot and sunny Grand Prix of Flanders at Lommel. The Dutchman went 1-1 at round 14 of 20 to snare his third victory of the year and tenth podium appearance (nine in a row) with the KTM 450 SX-F.

• Career moto wins 201 and 202 for Jeffrey Herlings and 106 overall victories (including four now at Lommel) as the former world champion closes to within 38 points of the red plate in Belgium
• Liam Everts rides the KTM 250 SX-F to 4th at his home Grand Prix with countryman Sacha Coenen placing 9th overall in the sand
• Cas Valk earns 2nd position in the seventh round of 11 in the 2024 EMX250 European Championship with the KTM 250 SX-F and wins the second moto. MX2 World Champ Andrea Adamo is sidelined with a torso injury
• The 2024 series travels next to Scandinavia and the compact climes of Uddevalla for the Grand Prix of Sweden in a fortnight  

For the eleventh year in a row Lommel staged the Belgian stop on the MXGP calendar and the versatile but brutally rough and sapping sand close to the Dutch border was another dauting terrain for the world’s fastest Grand Prix riders. Red Bull KTM Factory Racing were down to a three-man effort for the hot and sunny fourteenth date of the year after MX2 World Champion Andrea Adamo was counted out of action on Friday: the cut to the left side of his torso sustained the previous weekend at the Czech Grand Prix had not healed sufficiently for the Italian to tackle for the sand.

Jeffrey Herlings rode to a strong 2nd position on an overcast Saturday and for an exciting RAM Qualification Heat where he almost seized P1. In the MX2 class Liam Everts was the squad’s top runner with 5th place and after fighting back from an early mistake.

Many eyes and a lot of support from a large crowd at Lommel centered on Herlings for a sunny Sunday. His charge from 2nd to the front was briefly interrupted by a collision with a backmarker in the first moto but #84 was able to drop his lap-times and grasp the checkered flag. In the second chase Herlings started well and again pursued the leader – this time without issues – and swept into P1 on lap eight of 16. The result marked his second ‘1-1’ of the term and enlarges his haul of moto wins to 10. Jeffrey has classified in the top three 14 times from the last 15 starts.

The MXGP standings are narrowing. After banking 59 points in Belgium, Herlings is now less than 40 from the peak of the table.

Liam Everts scored 4th overall at Lommel. The Belgian dropped away from the running for the top three in the first moto due to two mistakes and took 6th while Sacha Coenen crossed the line in 10th after making the holeshot. Liam was more consistent in the second race and as part of a frantic chase for P2. He jumped past the flag in a decent 3rd and only just missed the podium steps by two points. Sacha was again the fastest from the gate but counted the cost of another slip to finish 6th and confirm 9th.

Cas Valk buried his nerves on Sunday to take a commanding second moto win in the latest installment of the EMX250 European Championship. The ride complimented 4th on Saturday for P2 overall. The Dutch youngster, riding the KTM 250 SX-F for the SS24 Gabriel KTM team, is also 2nd in the standings but only 13 points from the top.

MXGP will cross water towards the west coast of Sweden and to Uddevalla for round 15 in two weeks’ time.

Jeffrey Herlings, 1st and 1st for 1st overall in MXGP: “It’s been a really good weekend. First moto I was trying to overtake the same guy a couple of times and ended-up hitting him and banging my knee. That meant I had to warm-it-up and take it a big easy at the start of the second moto. Jorge [Prado] has been really strong at the start of races so I had to make a rhythm and try not to blow up. I passed him and made a little gap and then managed it. Every point counts, and I fought for every one today. It’s a fun track and I obviously I’m strong in the sand. I was beaten in Sardinia but I’ve been getting better and better and riding more like my old self. I’m looking forward to the next one and then soon my home GP.”

A total of 46 teams lined up on the grid for round 3 of the 2024 FIM Endurance World Championship, ready to compete on one of motorsport’s most iconic circuits. Among them, nineteen teams were Honda-powered, with five teams finishing in the top ten.

Team HRC with Japan Post took the victory at the 45th Coca-Cola Suzuka 8 Hours Endurance with Takumi Takahashi, Teppei Nagoe, and French MotoGP rider Johann Zarco. With this win, Team HRC secured its third consecutive win at Suzuka 8 Hours and it marks Honda’s 30th win in the Japanese round.

During the warm-up session held in the morning, Team HRC with Japan Post topped the time sheets with a lap time of 2:06.336.

The race got underway at 11.30am (local time) under particularly hot and very humid conditions, with a temperature of 37ºC.

Team HRC with Japan Post started in 3rd place on the grid with Takumi Takahashi. The experienced Japanese rider made an excellent start, and after a close battle at the front, Takahashi, who was in third place, moved to second on lap 10 and managed to take the lead of the race at the 130R corner with his best lap time of 2:07.378.

Back in the pits at the end of his stint, Takahashi handed over the Honda CBR1000RR-R Fireblade SP to the MotoGP French rider, Johann Zarco who joined the track still in first place.

Zarco improved his time to 2:07 and, with a comfortable riding position, opened a 20.808-second gap. Thanks to the Frenchman’s strong pace, when Tappei Nagoe took over for his stint, Team HRC with Japan Post was still leading by one lap after two hours of racing.

At the halfway point of the race, Team HRC with Japan Post continued to control the race with a gap of 1:21.322 ahead of the second team.

Entering the last quarter of the 45th Coca-Cola Suzuka 8 Hours race, Team HRC with Japan Post continued on top, and with very consistent lap times and fastest pit stops, the Honda #30 still kept a 36.813 leading gap.

Although a 40-second penalty was applied to Team HRC with Japan Post due to a pitstop infringement, the Japanese team had enough margin to cross the checkered flag in first place and take the win.

As the AMA Pro Motocross series cleared its midway point with the traditional Independence Day Weekend race at RedBud MX in Buchanan, Michigan, Team Honda HRC sophomore rider Chance Hymas seized the occasion to notch the first overall victory of his career in the 250 division, with a masterful moto 2 win following a fourth-place finish in moto 1. Following him across the finish line in moto 2 (and taking his second overall podium in a row) was Jo Shimoda, whose 5-2 tally was good for third overall. Meanwhile, Hunter Lawrence showed impressive speed in the 450 class, leading most of moto 1 before a late crash dropped him to second. In the second moto, the Australian rode to a fourth-place finish, good enough to keep his unblemished premier-class podium streak alive.

For the fourth time this season, Lawrence took the holeshot in the first 450 moto, and he rode strong at the front until there were less than two laps remaining, when he suffered a hard fall on a rough descent. The Australian recovered in time to finish second. Lawrence was fifth off the start in moto 2 and completed lap 1 in seventh, but he went to work and was into the top five by lap 6. He took over fourth a lap later, and that’s where he would spend the remainder of the race—sufficient for an overall podium.

The first 250 moto saw Hymas start third and get around two riders on lap 1 to take over the lead. He built up a lead of over 5 seconds, but his line selections eventually led to a loss of flow and riding tight. He held on to finish the moto in fourth. Meanwhile, Shimoda spent most of the moto recovering after being knocked down in turn 1, as he climbed from eighth on lap 1 to fifth at the finish. Hymas started off moto 2 with a holeshot, and he stayed at front for the duration, initially establishing a comfortable margin but eventually having to fend off the advances of his teammate, who had started third.

Chance Hymas  48

“In the first moto, I got out in front and tried to build a big gap, but I was making bad choices and fighting the bike; with my riding style, I can’t ride like that for 35 minutes. I watched some video, executed a really good start in the second moto and tried to ride as loose as I could–honestly, I just believed I could do it. I put a big gap, but Jo reeled me in and I had to pick up the pace. I didn’t even know I had the overall win until I came in. I was like, ‘Man, last time that I went 4-1 (Thunder Valley), I barely got second! It’s really good to do it on Fourth of July Weekend. RedBud is kind of a bucket-list win for a lot of Americans, so to get my first one here is pretty special.”

Good race for the rider of the Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team who reaches the Top10. First retirement of the season in the Sunday's race for Fabio Di Giannantonio

Chemnitz (Germany), July 7th 2024 - Marco Bezzecchi closes the first half of the 2024 season with a good eighth place at the German GP. After a complicated start of the weekend, the rider of the Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team closes the gap and signs the Top10. Forced to retirement due to a technical problem, Fabio Di Giannantonio.

Starting from the 12th box on the grid and able to keep the same pace of the group at the start, Marco takes full advantage of the good confidence on his Ducati to climb up the standings. With today's points he is 12th place in the general standings with 53 points.

Forced into the garage earlier than expected due to a technical problem - to be investigated better on the data - Fabio when he was close to yet another Top10 after starting from the third row. This is the first retirement for him in Sunday's race and, on the eve of the summer break, he remains at 92 points in the standings (eighth). For both riders, the next appointment is at Misano, from July 26 to 28, for the World Ducati Week and then at Silverstone (August 2-4) for the tenth race of the 2024 Championship

Luca Marini capped off his most consistent weekend of the year with a hard-fought German GP and his first score as a Repsol Honda Team rider.

It was a full house for the Round Nine of the MotoGP World Championship, fans flocking into the Sachsenring from early in the morning. The Repsol Honda Team were primed for an intense day of action, eager to collect the final bits of information before the summer break.

Having shown his pace throughout the weekend, Luca Marini was determined to once again lead the Honda charge. Heading into the longer 30-lap Grand Prix, Marini knew he’d need to revise his strategy compared to Saturday and went about steadily building his speed over the opening laps. As the race entered its final third, Marini attacked and moved ahead of Takaaki Nakagami to lead the group. The Honda pairing would battle right until the line, Nakagami just pipping Marini who finished 16th – 25.854 seconds behind the winner. A post-race penalty for Augusto Fernandez promoted Marini into 15th, scoring his first point of the season. A small reward for his diligent work.

Joan Mir meanwhile showed the determination of a champion as he continued to work tirelessly with his team to improve his fortunes. It would be a third and final complicated day for the #36 as he took 18th after post-race penalties, still searching for the next step in the setup of his Honda RC213V machine. Work to understand what happened started immediately as he sat down with his team and began to go over the data.

Both of the Repsol Honda Team riders have identified clear areas to work on for the remainder of the season and are hopeful of further progress when action resumes in Silverstone. The British GP will start the second half of the 2024 season in early August and feature a special historical livery for the Repsol Honda Team.

Luca Marini 10

“I am happy with what we have done in the first half of the year overall, this is the most important thing. Of course, I didn’t expect to struggle so much but we are starting to turn things around now. Our effort from the opening races is starting to pay off and now we have to see what’s going to come after the summer break. The gap to first today is good, the track plays a part, but we are making improvements. Everyone in Honda is working together in the same direction, let’s keep it up after a short break.”

Joan Mir 36

“We have to use this weekend to understand what happened and how to avoid it in the future. Again, I was unable to unlock my full potential and I was struggling more than the other Honda riders. A long race, a tough race and one to learn a lot from. The team and I have already been looking through the data and we have some ideas on what to change in the future. We don’t stop working, we don’t stop trying and aim to come back in Silverstone stronger.”