Championship leads and home GPs for Honda HRC PETRONAS
Honda HRC PETRONAS head to Almonte, Spain for the second round of the 2026 MXGP World Championships. They are full of confidence that this will be a continuation of the success they experienced in round one in Argentina.
Jeffrey Herlings and Tom Vialle both made their world championship debut for the team in Bariloche.
Both riders left the Argentine city tied for the lead in the series, after two days of excellent results. Vialle won Saturday’s qualification race and then went two-four on Sunday. Meanwhile, Herlings recovered from a small crash on Saturday to win both motos on Sunday (including a holeshot). He took the red-plate from his teammate.
It was about as good a weekend as anyone could have hoped for. Now the aim is to try and make it happen again in Almonte, which is another new track for the GP series. Apparently, a sandy surface awaits the riders at the MXGP of Andalucia. For Herlings – who just won the opening round of the Dutch Championship in Oss last weekend – this is a good sign as he tries to add to his victorious start to 2026. Meanwhile, Vialle will be trying to match his teammate once again and show that Argentina wasn’t a one-off result. He aims to prove that he has adapted to his Honda CRF450RW on any surface.
Also looking forward to the weekend is Ruben Fernandez, who will be amongst his home fans in Spain.
He will be hoping to benefit from all the support they’ll be giving him trackside. After a fifth-place finish in race two in Bariloche, the #70 is feeling much more confident about things for this weekend. Now he will be aiming to be battling out with his teammates at the front of this highly competitive MXGP field.
Things didn’t go so well in the MX2 class as Valerio Lata was involved in a scary incident on the first jump of the second MX2 moto. Thankfully the young Italian didn’t have any serious injuries. He was able to get back on the bike last weekend for an Italian Championship race, which he won. That was a great rebound from Argentina. Now he is in a much more positive frame of mind for the second round of the GPs.
All four riders will have more points to prove in Spain. There is huge optimism amongst the team that results can be similar, if not better. The Honda HRC PETRONAS team can go from strength to strength.
Ruben Fernandez 70
I wasn’t completely satisfied with my performance in Argentina, but there were some positives, especially in the second moto – both before and after the restart. Now the aim is to build upon those positives and get myself battling with the top guys in Andalucia, which of course is a home GP for me. I haven’t ridden there before, but being Spanish, I know I’ll have a lot of support and that is always a cool thing and something I look forward to.
Tom Vialle 16
Before the season, all the questions were about where I’d fit into this MXGP class and I was completely honest when I said I wasn’t sure. Of course you hope you are going to up there battling for the win, but until the gatedrops, I really didn’t know. Now, after Argentina, I feel good about my speed and although it’s only round one, it is a massive confidence booster. There are a couple of things I need to get used to, being back in the GPs but this was a great start and I want to continue it in Spain this weekend.
Jeffrey Herlings 84
While the qualification race definitely wasn’t great, I think I won every other session on the track so it was a really good start to the season. It shows that all the hard work that I put in, and that the team put in to help me really did pay off. Now the key is to keep that going and maintain that level in Spain, and try to just keep things going at the best level I can be. Oss was a nice win as well – although it was a shame they cancelled race two – so I want to try and keep winning.
Valerio Lata 18
The crash in Argentina was pretty scary and I’m glad I ended up just have some bumps and bruises. It definitely could have been a lot worse! There were some good point to come out of that weekend though, and then winning in Italy last weekend was a nice confidence boost so the goal in Almonte is to try and fight it out with those top guys and establish myself in the top five of this championship.
Marcus Pereira de Freitas
HRC General Manager – MXGP
As a team, Argentina was a great weekend for us. Of course we were very nervous about Valerio but with four riders it is difficult for all of them to have success, however he looked good at the race in Italy last weekend so we expect him to back firing strongly in Almonte. For Tom and Jeffrey, that was about as good a debut as you can expect from the pair of them. They are tied leading the championship, with Tom winning the qualification race and Jeffrey going one-one on Sunday. Together with Ruben’s sixth place, we are really expecting another strong showing in Spain this weekend and we all can’t wait to get round two started.
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SuperBike Magazine – Herlings goes one-one and takes MXGP red-plate after victory in Argentina