The 2026 FIM Motocross World Championship gets underway this weekend with the YPF Infinia MXGP of Argentina at the all-new Bariloche MX Race Track. As the gates drop on a new season, the MX2 class arrives with plenty of storylines, as a mix of returning front-runners and emerging talent prepare to launch their championship challenges.
Reigning World Champion Simon Längenfelder starts the season as favourite in an MX2 class full of youthful expectations and hungry warriors out to establish their reputations in the Motocross world as the next big things, and as always the action will be frantic as ambition outweighs experience and desire pushes personal limits!
The German #1 plate holder, only the third World Champion from his country in Motocross history, stays on familiar Red Bull KTM Factory Racing machinery, but switches to the KTM Austria awning as a replacement for Andrea Adamo. Simon has tasted podium success in Argentina for the last two years, but despite a race win in 2024 he has yet to hit the top spot overall. He will be happy that the temperatures should be cooler in Bariloche than the punishing heat of Córdoba last year.
Sacha Coenen improved his consistency last year to reach fourth in the MX2 World Championship, and continues with the Davide de Carli-ran Red Bull KTM Factory Racing squad that helped him get there. The Belgian teenager is always the favourite for the Fox Holeshot Award, and he used those starts to take a solid second overall in Argentina last year with a race two victory. He will be confident of starting a season well as he looks to challenge for the title from the very outset.
READ MORE: MXGP NEWS
For the last two MX2 seasons, the top non-Austrian manufacturer has come from the UK, and the Triumph Racing Factory Team will be out to get even higher in 2026 than the fifth position they achieved with Camden McLellan in 2025 and Mikkel Haarup in 2024. The South African has a home GP to look forward to this season and will surely look to move up from the single GP race win and four podium results currently next to his name.
Camden is again teamed up with Guillem Farres, who also took a race victory last year on his way to eighth in the series, and is set up well for his last year in the MX2 category.
One rider who will be happy to head to Argentina at 100% fitness will be Liam Everts, as the sole representative for Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing in MX2 has started both of his last two seasons in recovery from injury. Fourth and sixth in the last two campaigns and with six GP wins to his name, albeit with only five race wins, the 21-year-old from the most legendary family in World Motocross will have his jaw set to be a title contender from the outset.
Two second-year former European Champions lead the charge for the Japanese manufacturers in MX2, as 20-year-old Valerio Lata takes the reins again at Honda HRC Petronas after finishing 2025 with a fine podium at the final round in Australia. The Italian will be looking to improve his form on softer tracks to strengthen his campaign this time.
Lata’s former EMX rival Mathis Valin will be back for Kawasaki Racing Team MX2, and though he dazzled with his speed at Córdoba last year, he also crashed spectacularly out of contention. A calmer approach could see the 19-year-old Frenchman as a serious title threat in 2026.
Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MX2 bring Valin’s successor as EMX250 Champion, Janis Reisulis, into the MX2 class for the first time. The 17-year-old kid they call “The Killer” is used to battling at the front, and will expect no less in the World Championship! Don’t expect a smile, even if he does win! He joins his elder brother Karlis Reisulis on the squad, and the Latvian pair will seek to put the blue crew back to the top of an MX2 class they used to dominate in the days of Renaux and Geerts.
The Beddini Racing Ducati Factory MX2 Team will bring the new Desmo250 MX into its first season of World Championship racing, with Italian Ferruccio Zanchi at the handlebars for his third and final year in the class. Sixth overall in his first appearance in Patagonia, and a race winner in the deep mud of Cozar last year, it will be fascinating to see what he can do on the brand-new machine.
Dutchman Cas Valk moves to his first full factory ride with TM Moto CRD Motosport, and the 21-year-old scored his best race finish of the year in Argentina last year, with third place in a muddy first outing. Although his 2025 campaign tailed off, he will be out to challenge his former EMX rivals Valin and Lata as they all make a push towards the front in their second full season!
Another former EMX Champion leads the privateer efforts as Hungarian Noel Zanocz debuts for Venrooy KTM Racing, and the 19-year-old who took Janis Reisulis all the way for the EMX250 title last year is keen to establish himself as a future star in the making. Czech star Julius Mikula returns to the Osicka MX Team from his home country, also on KTM machinery. The Maddii Racing Honda ABF Italia squad bring Maxime Grau to his first Grand Prix in Argentina, while Dutch privateers Kay Karssemakers, for DRT Kawasaki, and Scott Smulders for the SixtySeven Racing Team all aim for the top ten in the ultra-competitive MX2 class!
The stage is set, the machines are prepared, and the athletes are ready to start what should be a landmark year in World Championship Motocross racing, spanning 19 rounds across 17 countries and five continents, the biggest global series in the sport is set to excite, delight, and astound fans in 2026! Do not be missing a single wheel churning the dirt! Here we go!
Saturday’s Time Practice, the Qualifying Race, and all four GP races will be broadcasted LIVE on MXGP’s streaming service www.MXGP-TV.com
TIMETABLE (Local Timing UTC-3)
SATURDAY: 09:15-09:45 Blåkläder Start Practice MX2, 09:50-10:20 Blåkläder Start Practice MXGP, 10:45 MX2 Free Practice, 11:15 MXGP Free Practice, 13:20 MX2 Time Practice, 14:00 MXGP Time Practice, 15:25 MX2 Qualifying Race, 16:10 MXGP Qualifying Race.
SUNDAY: 10:25 MX2 Warm-up, 10:45 MXGP Warm-up, 12:15 MX2 Race 1, 13:15 MXGP Race 1, 15:10 MX2 Race 2, 16:10 MXGP Race 2.
MXGP of Argentina MX2 – Entry List
2026_YPF_MXGP_of_Argentina_EntryList_MX2 (1)
