After four weekends of waiting, the 2026 FIM Motocross World Championships fire back into life as we head to one of the most passionate nations in the sport with the MXGP of France, returning for the second such event at the Circuit Georges Filhol within the Lacapelle-Marival commune in the south-western quarter of the country, two hours north of the city of Toulouse.
Words and Images by Infront Moto Racing
The circuit, which holds the pitch for the local Union Sportive Marivaloise football team within its boundaries, previously held the MXGP of France in 2021, a COVID-affected season that saw round twelve of the year held in October. The crowd enjoyed a stunning battle between home favourite Romain Febvre and Jeffrey Herlings, with the Dutchman just taking the verdict with 2-1 finishes for his 95th career GP victory. The MX2 class delivered a French winner for the patriotic fans with a double win for Tom Vialle.
Both of those previous winners line up in the MXGP class this weekend for the Honda HRC Petronas team, currently sitting second and third in the World Championship behind Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s talisman Lucas Coenen, but the Belgian teenager only holds a slender four-point lead over the five-time World Champion Herlings. “The Bullet” has won eight GPs on French soil, the most recent being that victory at this venue in 2021, while Lucas has taken a single win in this country back in 2024.
Vialle, winner of the MXGP of Switzerland on similar grassy hardpack, is just 21 points behind his teammate, so the crowd will be hopeful of a home winner, especially with Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP spearhead Febvre holding the #1 plate, and Maxime Renaux also in the top six of the series for Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP!
The MX2 class is precariously poised in an even tighter battle at the top, with just three points separating Red Bull KTM Factory Racing pilots Simon Längenfelder and Sacha Coenen! Coenen took the victory in Trentino before the break, giving him the momentum with the German missing the podium for the first time all season. Guillem Farres lies in third for Triumph Factory Racing Team, but French spectators will have been enthused by the podium result for Mathis Valin at Trentino, and he will be keen to go even better than that for Kawasaki Racing Team MX2 in front of his adoring supporters!
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The venue has also held two MX3 GPs, in 2009 and 2011, with the latter event also featuring a round of the FIM Women’s Motocross World Championship, and the fastest racing females will return to the track for the opening round of their season this weekend! Kiara Fontanesi was the winner at this circuit 15 years ago, and the 32-year-old has finished on the podium after each of the last eight WMX rounds on French soil, including that victory and one in 2015 at Villars-sous-Écot! The Fonta-MX GASGAS rider is still fired up to become the first ever mother to become a Motocross World Champion!
The WMX class is over-subscribed with 45 entries for its opening round, with the #1 being worn for the first time by double World Champion Lotte van Drunen on the De Baets AIT Yamaha, who took fourth overall in the last visit to France for this series back in 2023. Third on that day was Daniela Guillen, who will fancy her chances on hardpack for the RFME Spain National Team, while April Franzoni was the top French finisher in 2025, and returns for the Team Honda Motoblouz SR Motul squad to lead the charge of seven French ladies in the race.
The EMX125 European Championship Presented by FMF Racing reaches its halfway point this weekend, and runaway points leader Moritz Ernecker holds a 40-point advantage over his Norman KTM Factory Rookies teammate Ricardo Bauer in an Austrian 1-2 after four of the ten rounds! Frenchman Sleny Goyer took a race win in Sardegna for Yamaha Europe Monster Energy MJC, and lies third in the series ahead of Fantic Factory Racing EMX’s Dane Bertram Thorius. Liam Bruneau will be alongside Goyer as a fan favourite for home glory, as he took a race win in Switzerland for TMX Competition KTM.
It’s the start of three straight weekends of MXGP action as the passionate French fans will pack out the venue to get close to the action! We’re back with a bang, and you are all welcome to come and join us!
The MXGP World Championship has been hailed as a “Battle of the Ages” between the new generation of young talent coming into the class, and the multi-titled past masters who still do not want to be beaten. The first five rounds came out almost even between the two factions, with a pair of GP victories each for series leader Lucas Coenen and his main chaser Jeffrey Herlings. Tom Vialle has tipped the balance with the overall win in Switzerland, while Tim Gajser scored a first race win for his new Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP squad last time out in Trentino. With many more still likely to join the party, the battle has only just begun!
Lucas Coenen, who speaks French as his mother tongue, has a great record in this country, taking the Qualifying Race win and a podium result from each of his last three GPs here. Only a determined pass from Romain Febvre denied him a perfect weekend at Ernée a year ago, and with the 2024 MX2 victory plus the 2022 EMX250 victory at St Jean d’Angely, he is a proven force on French terrain. He raced in EMX125 the last time we were at Lacapelle Marival, and scored just his second podium in the class with 5-3 finishes. The pressure will be applied by Herlings, but Lucas still holds that red plate and deservedly so.
Herlings has a mighty record in France with four GP victories at St Jean d’Angely, two at Villars-sous-Ecot, and one at Ernée, but his 2021 victory at this weekend’s track was his most recent here. As usual, “The Bullet” has barely taken any break at all with race wins in multiple countries between GPs, and fortunately he is still fighting fit and right in this title chase.
His teammate Vialle may be 21 points further back in third, but in his first MXGP class home round he cannot be counted out, especially as he won the last three GPs he contested on French soil, including a perfect Sunday here in 2021. As he again proved at the 2023 Motocross of Nations at Ernée, the French fans bring out the best in him, and they will be delighted to see him back in front of them at a GP!
Two of the elder statesmen, Gajser and Febvre, sit fourth and fifth in the Championship, having both been hit with big crashes in the opening rounds, and no doubt would have welcomed the time off to recover before round six. Gajser has taken four French GP victories, all at St Jean d’Angely, while Febvre has taken three top trophies on home ground, all on different circuits, including his very first win in the MXGP class back in 2015, as well as last year’s success at Ernée. His battle with Herlings here in 2021 was fantastic, and he needs to rise to the occasion again if he is to recover ground in his defence of that #1 plate.
Another with high hopes will be Maxime Renaux, who took a podium in Switzerland and lies sixth in the standings. His third overall at LaCapelle during his title year in MX2 remains his only podium on home turf, apart from his Open class victory at the 2023 MXoN.
Ruben Fernandez continues to impress for Honda HRC Petronas as he lies seventh in the standings, but he has Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing team leader Kay de Wolf just two points behind him, and looking good after a victory over Herlings on home sand last weekend. Neither man has enjoyed much success in France, but are very keen to change that situation!
In contrast, Andrea Adamo took his most recent GP victory in this country, at Ernée last year, so in his first French round in the MXGP class for Red Bull KTM Factory Racing, he could be a factor, especially in the Qualifying Race as he has not finished outside the top three in his last three French GPs.
Calvin Vlaanderen is behind Adamo, tenth in the Championship for the Red Bull Ducati Factory MX Team, and while his teammate Jeremy Seewer took a podium for the Italian manufacturer at Ernée last year, the team have struggled to get back up there so far in 2026. It will be intriguing to see how much they have improved with a four-week break to work on the machine. Seewer himself has taken two GP wins in France, and was fourth overall in his last trip to LaCapelle-Marival.
The other French points scorer so far this year is Thibault Benistant, who took his most recent MX2 GP victory at the 2023 MXGP of France, and won the MX2 Qualifying Race at St Jean last year, so with his French Team Honda Motoblouz SR Motul outfit enjoying their home round, he will be feeling fired up to get his first top result in the big class this weekend! There is also a return to action for Frenchman Benoit Paturel, standing in for the injured Isak Gifting at JK Racing Yamaha, and the former GP winner has stood on the podium twice on home ground in the MX2 class, so will also be keen to perform well on his return!
With a fired-up local crowd getting behind three real contenders, a pitched Championship battle re-igniting, and a tight circuit in which to tame the 450cc monsters, the MXGP class should prove to be thrilling at LaCapelle-Marival!
MXGP – World Championship Top 10 Classification: 1. Lucas Coenen (BEL, KTM), 231 points; 2. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, HON), 227 p.; 3. Tom Vialle (FRA, HON), 206 p.; 4. Tim Gajser (SLO, YAM), 198 p.; 5. Romain Febvre (FRA, KAW), 191 p.; 6. Maxime Renaux (FRA, YAM), 178 p.; 7. Ruben Fernandez (ESP, HON), 146 p.; 8. Kay de Wolf (NED, HUS), 144 p.; 9. Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), 138 p.; 10. Calvin Vlaanderen (NED, DUC), 110 p.;
The MX2 class will see a resumption of the battle at the top between the factory Red Bull KTM pilots Simon Längenfelder and Sacha Coenen, which tightened up to have just three points in it after the MXGP of Trentino!
Defending MX2 World Champion Längenfelder returns to French ground after a dominant perfect Sunday at Ernée last season gave him the red plate for the first time in his title year. Despite Coenen’s win in Italy, the German knows that his best chances to make points are likely to be on circuits such as this one, and his home GP the weekend after.
Coenen himself will also know that, and despite a much more difficult history on French ground than his brother, he will carry that momentum from Trentino, especially after his podium last year at Ernée. It could be the chance for the young Belgian to make a statement!
Guillem Farres was a solid second overall at Trentino to lift himself up from fifth to third in the Championship, and the Spaniard is crying out for that first career GP win, despite only taking nineteenth and ninth overall in his two French GPs so far. Just two points behind the factory Triumph man is Liam Everts, whose precise throttle control should make him a threat for Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing, especially if the weather becomes a factor. Having scored just a single podium on French soil, back in 2023, he will be determined to hit the front after taking the chance to recover from a foot injury during the break. Bizarrely, Everts and Farres finished seventh and eighth overall in the EMX250 class last time we came to LaCapelle-Marival!
The Triumph Factory Racing Team will be hoping that Camden McLellan will improve on his French form, with a best GP of only eighth so far in this country, but from fifth in the points the South African will have rested from his big Swiss crash to possibly be a major factor in the class again.
The Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MX2 teammates Janis Reisulis and Karlis Reisulis sit sixth and eighth in the series, with the younger brother finishing on the EMX250 podium in both French rounds last year, including a double victory at St Jean! The rider between them, however, Mathis Valin, will be the main focal point for the crowd in MX2 as he goes for his first GP win after landing on the podium at Trentino for Kawasaki Racing Team MX2. The teenager has won twice before on home ground in the EMX ranks but didn’t have the best GPs in France last year. He could send the fans into raptures if he can challenge at the front!
Honda HRC Petronas’ Valerio Lata and DRT Racing Kawasaki’s Kay Karssemakers round out the top ten, and the Italian won the EMX125 class overall at the last visit to this circuit with 2-2 finishes. Taking fifth overall at Ernée last year, he is always at his best on these hardpack circuits. The Dutchman lines up for his first GP in France for over two years, and will have to hold back the challenge of Czech star Julius Mikula, only a point behind him for the Ošicka KTM Racing team after a career-best fourth overall in Trentino.
Local fans will also be cheering for the Maddii Racing Team Honda of Maxime Grau, who had his career-best race finish with seventh in Trentino, and there will be a host of wildcards and even GP debutants from across Europe as the EMX250 series takes a weekend off before returning in Germany.
The MXGP of France promises to deliver a weekend of thrills and spills on a circuit that suggests no obvious favourites! Be sure to join us across the weekend on MXGP-TV.com as we return to action at LaCapelle-Marival!
MX2 – World Championship Top 10 Classification: 1. Sacha Coenen (BEL, KTM), 35:01.180; 2. Guillem Farres (ESP, Triumph), +0:06.047; 3. Simon Längenfelder (GER, KTM), +0:09.299; 4. Julius Mikula (CZE, KTM), +0:10.923; 5. Karlis Alberts Reisulis (LAT, Yamaha), +0:12.939; 6. Janis Martins Reisulis (LAT, Yamaha), +0:18.121; 7. Mathis Valin (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:19.875; 8. Kay Karssemakers (NED, Kawasaki), +0:28.441; 9. Liam Everts (BEL, Husqvarna), +0:31.715; 10. Valerio Lata (ITA, Honda), +0:41.796;
TIMETABLE
SATURDAY
08:15 WMX Free Practice, 08:50 EMX125 Group 1 Free Practice, 09:20 EMX125 Group 2 Free Practice, 09:50 WMX Qualifying Practice, 10:30 MX2 Free Practice, 11:00 MXGP Free Practice, 12:20 EMX125 Group 1 Qualifying Practice, 13:00 EMX125 Group 2 Qualifying Practice, 13:40 MX2 Time Practice, 14:15 MXGP Time Practice, 15:00 WMX Race 1, 15:45 EMX125 Race 1, 16:35 MX2 Qualifying Race, 17:25 MXGP Qualifying Race.
SUNDAY
09:45 WMX Race 2, 10:25 MX2 Warm-up, 10:45 MXGP Warm-up, 11:30 EMX125 Race 2, 13:15 MX2 Race 1, 14:15 MXGP Race 1, 16:10 MX2 Race 2, 17:10 MXGP Race 2.
