Herlings fights hard for Italian victory at a testing Montevarchi circuit
Honda HRC PETRONAS’ Jeffrey Herlings made it four GP victories in 2026 after a hard-fought pair of races at the dry and dusty Montevarchi circuit in Tuscany, Italy. The rocky terrain certainly isn’t a favourite condition for the #84, but getting a holeshot in race one made his life a lot easier, before moving through the field in race two to secure an excellent GP overall.
After extremely hot weather yesterday, the track turned out to be a lot better for the two motos, especially after a shower hit the track between races. It was still rock-hard in places and very easy to make a mistake on, but if you could get out front and control the race, it meant you could pick the right lines and avoid the nasty roost. Which is exactly what Herlings managed to do, after a clever gate-pick strategy. Alongside Vialle, the pair rounded the first corner first and second, showing the power of the Honda CRF450RW.
From there, Herlings controlled the pressure from behind and took a good race win, giving him a lot of confidence heading into race two, and while that start wasn’t quite as effective, he was still into the top five very quickly, settling into third place. After a few laps he moved into second and despite trying everything, he wasn’t able to pass the leader and eventually settled for second place, going one-two on the day and closing the points gap over the weekend by six points in the championship battle.
Vialle can consider this a successful return to action after missing the last five GP motos, with the Frenchman going five-nine for seventh overall. Things could have been even better, except for a small tip-over near the end of race two, which dropped him a few spots. Still, it was good to see him back battling at the front of the field and he’ll looking forward to these upcoming rounds.
Unfortunately a nasty crash by Ruben Fernandez yesterday, limited his chances of a good result today as he had to line up from the very outside gate. However, the Spaniard gave his best effort, going 13-12 for 13th overall, and showing a lot of determination. Next weekend is Portugal, an adopted ‘home GP’ which he is really excited about and he’ll be trying to make sure he is as prepared as possible for that event.
This weekend was Valerio Lata’s home GP, but the Italian wasn’t quite about to challenge for the podium spots like he would have liked. Good starts in both races gave him the chance, but the terrain certainly wasn’t easy to navigate and he just couldn’t find a solid rhythm to stick with the lead pack.
Honda HRC PETRONAS’ Jeffrey Herlings made it four GP victories in 2026 after a hard-fought pair of races at the dry and dusty Montevarchi circuit in Tuscany, Italy. The rocky terrain certainly isn’t a favourite condition for the #84, but getting a holeshot in race one made his life a lot easier, before moving through the field in race two to secure an excellent GP overall.
After extremely hot weather yesterday, the track turned out to be a lot better for the two motos, especially after a shower hit the track between races. It was still rock-hard in places and very easy to make a mistake on, but if you could get out front and control the race, it meant you could pick the right lines and avoid the nasty roost. Which is exactly what Herlings managed to do, after a clever gate-pick strategy. Alongside Vialle, the pair rounded the first corner first and second, showing the power of the Honda CRF450RW.
From there, Herlings controlled the pressure from behind and took a good race win, giving him a lot of confidence heading into race two, and while that start wasn’t quite as effective, he was still into the top five very quickly, settling into third place. After a few laps he moved into second and despite trying everything, he wasn’t able to pass the leader and eventually settled for second place, going one-two on the day and closing the points gap over the weekend by six points in the championship battle.
Vialle can consider this a successful return to action after missing the last five GP motos, with the Frenchman going five-nine for seventh overall. Things could have been even better, except for a small tip-over near the end of race two, which dropped him a few spots. Still, it was good to see him back battling at the front of the field and he’ll looking forward to these upcoming rounds.
Unfortunately a nasty crash by Ruben Fernandez yesterday, limited his chances of a good result today as he had to line up from the very outside gate. However, the Spaniard gave his best effort, going 13-12 for 13th overall, and showing a lot of determination. Next weekend is Portugal, an adopted ‘home GP’ which he is really excited about and he’ll be trying to make sure he is as prepared as possible for that event.
This weekend was Valerio Lata’s home GP, but the Italian wasn’t quite about to challenge for the podium spots like he would have liked. Good starts in both races gave him the chance, but the terrain certainly wasn’t easy to navigate and he just couldn’t find a solid rhythm to stick with the lead pack.
