MXGP victory for Herlings in Turkey as Red Bull KTM win both classes once more

MXGP entered the final three weeks and last three fixtures of the 2025 season with a trip to the flat, hardpacked Afyon circuit hosting the Grand Prix of Turkey. Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Jeffrey Herlings won for the second race in a row and for the fourth time with his 2025 KTM 450 SX-F. Simon Laengenfelder was the overall winner in MX2 with the KTM 250 SX-F – the sixth time the German has stood on top of the box in 2025 –as the series waved goodbye to European terrain. Red Bull KTM ruled both Qualification Heats and all four motos in Afyon.

  • Jeffrey Herlings owns the Turkish Grand Prix for the fifth time and raises his career win total to 111. The Dutchman went 2-1 in Afyon and stretches his podium streak to three on the bounce
  • Lucas Coenen finishes runner-up for his thirteenth trophy of his rookie MXGP season and wins the first moto in Turkey: his thirteenth 25-pointer of the campaign and the best tally of the entire field
  • P1 for Simon Laengenfelder and a tenth podium from 15 this campaign. The German wins the second moto after Sacha Coenen takes the first outing and finishes P3: the Belgian’s ninth trophy
  • A tough day for Andrea Adamo with small crashes and mistakes putting the Italian 9th overall in MX2
  • MXGP jets east for back-to-back events in China and Australia to finish the 2025 schedule. The Shanghai International off-road circuit is first on the list in two weeks

Red Bull KTM Factory Racing began the run-in to the MXGP and MX2 title disputes with the annual trip to Afyon and the purpose-built facility in eastern Turkey. Flat, jumpy, and formed from hard-packed soil, Afyon is a familiar (elevated) site for the Grand Prix paddock after its world championship inauguration in 2018.

On Saturday it was a Coenen brothers show for the Qualification Heats. Lucas started brightly under stormy skies and won the MXGP sprint for the seventh time in 2025. Sacha grasped a customary holeshot on the KTM 250 SX-F and rode clear to his maiden MX2 Pole. In MXGP Jeffrey Herlings was runner-up for a strong 1-2 for the Red Bull KTM squad. In MX2 Simon Laengenfelder was 6th and Andrea Adamo scored 10th after a brief tumble.

Sunday’s motos followed the same trend. Coenen holeshotted and won the first race as Herlings ran to P2. The teammates swapped roles in the second outing as Coenen had to come back from a top five start. Herlings had edged clear to go 2-1 and claim the overall and Lucas came very close to relegating from title rival Romain Febvre but took P3 and a 1-2 for 2nd on the day. Herlings now has four wins for the year and has two on the bounce after acing his home Grand Prix two weeks ago.

Sacha Coenen holeshotted and controlled the first MX2 moto. Laengenfelder rose from the top five to earn P3 by the end of the distance, and Adamo had to recover ground to P8. While Adamo labored again in the second race (P9 after a crash), Laengenfelder made a better start and was able to win (the tenth time in a moto this year). Coenen was 4th and climbed the lower step of the rostrum for his sixth champagne bottle from the last eight meetings.

A maximum of 124 points remain in 2025. Coenen is 26 from the red plate in MXGP and is guaranteed a top three classification in his maiden season while Herlings is 6th in the standings and with possibilities to rise to 3rd. In MX2 Laengenfelder fronts Kay de Wolf by 12 points and Adamo is now 62 from the peak of the table.

The 2025 EMX250 European Championship is over. Gabriel SS24 KTM team’s Max Werner finished 11th overall in Turkey. Gyan Doensen missed the trip due to his left leg injury and ends his first season in the competitive feeder class with P6 in the standings.

The penultimate Grand Prix of the year will fire into life on Saturday-Sunday 20-21 of September for only the third trip to China.

Jeffrey Herlings, 2nd and 1st for 1s overall in MXGP: “Super-pleased with this win. For a Dutch rider it’s a difficult track; one of the most difficult and very hard to pass but we managed to get it done and the weekend went better than I expected. We made some good changes for the elevation so a shout out to KTM for providing me with such a good bike. 111 now, so let’s go to China and to the final two. Let’s try and finish the year as strong as we can.”

Lucas Coenen, 1st and 3rd for 2nd overall in MXGP: “Not bad in the first moto. I took a good start but the first lap was a bit hectic. I settled in and focused on my rhythm. The track was slick and it was easy to make a mistake but I felt better and better. The second: not much to say. I had to come from the back and at one point I was sleeping. I was then a bit shy on the last lap. I’m young. It’s racing: I had an opportunity and I didn’t take it. I’ll keep learning. I’m looking forward to the last two races and we’ll do what we can.”

Simon Laengenfelder, 3rd and 1st for 1st overall in MX2: “I had a crash in the middle of the moto…so I’m really happy to be able to bounce back like this. Saturday was not great and it was quite tough to race here. I made a mistake with the first start but did better in the second, I think I was 3rd after the second corner. It was an intense track and you had to push everywhere. I like it when it was a bit more technical in the second race.”

Sacha Coenen, 1st and 4th for 3rd overall in MX2: “A really good first moto. I then had a good start in the second…but made some mistakes. It was pretty difficult so I’m happy to be on the podium. I’ve been working on my consistency, and it’s been going well.

Andrea Adamo, 8th and 9th for 9th overall in MX2: “You can have up-and-down moments through the year but this was not the time to have a bad weekend. Anyway, we move on, and we have two rounds to go so onto China and Australia.”

 

Results MXGP Turkey 2025

 

1. Jeffrey Herlings (NED), Red Bull KTM Factory Racing, 2-1

2. Lucas Coenen (BEL), Red Bull KTM Factory Racing, 1-3

3. Romain Febvre (FRA), Kawasaki, 3-2

4. Tim Gajser (SLO), Honda, 4-4

3. Ruben Fernandez (ESP), Honda, 5-5

 

Standings MXGP 2025 after 18 of 20 rounds

 

1. Romain Febvre (FRA), Kawasaki, 885 points

2. Lucas Coenen (BEL), Red Bull KTM Factory Racing, 859

3. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED), Fantic, 638

4. Ruben Fernandez (ESP), Honda, 557

5. Calvin Vlaanderen (NED), Yamaha, 528

6. Jeffrey Herlings (NED), Red Bull KTM Factory Racing, 522

 

Results MX2 Turkey 2025

 

1. Simon Laengenfelder (GER), Red Bull KTM Factory Racing, 3-1

2. Kay de Wolf (NED), Husqvarna, 2-2

3. Sacha Coenen (BEL) Red Bull KTM Factory Racing, 1-4

4. Guillem Farres (ESP) Triumph, 6-3

5. Mathis Valin (FRA) Kawasaki, 4-6

6. Liam Everts (BEL) Husqvarna, 5-5

9. Andrea Adamo (ITA), Red Bull KTM Factory Racing, 8-9

 

Standings MX2 2025 after 18 of 20 rounds

 

1. Simon Laengenfelder (GER), Red Bull KTM Factory Racing, 833 points

2. Kay de Wolf (NED), Husqvarna, 821

3. Andrea Adamo (ITA), Red Bull KTM Factory Racing, 771

4. Sacha Coenen (BEL) Red Bull KTM Factory Racing, 648

5. Thibault Benistant (FRA), Yamaha, 575

7. Liam Everts (BEL), Husqvarna 538

KTM NEWS

TOM VIALLE AND RED BULL KTM FACTORY RACING CLINCH THIRD IN 250SMX FINALS

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Tonight's 2025 SuperMotocross World Championship (SMX) Final saw Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Tom Vialle clinch third overall for the weekend and 250SMX standings following a dramatic season-ending round at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Two-time MX2 World Champion and reigning 250SX East title-holder Vialle qualified fifth fastest onboard his KTM 250 SX-F FACTORY EDITION, before racing to a strong fourth-place finish in the opening moto. In Moto 2, Vialle progressed at a rapid rate throughout the race after a troubled start, finding himself running as high as P2 with the clock counting down. Ultimately, third in the final SMX race of the year contributed to the Frenchman earning third on the podium in Las Vegas, and delivering P3 in the series classification. The 2025 SMX season marked another convincing year for the 24-year-old, who claimed his second-consecutive 250SX East Championship in Supercross, as well as fifth in the Pro Motocross 250MX point standings. Tom Vialle: “The track was really fast today and I had a tough start in Moto 2, but I pushed hard until the very end! I'm pretty satisfied with third in the SMX Championship – I feel like I maximized what was possible for today. Overall, I'm happy with the way that I have ended my 250 career, I pushed as hard as I could in that second race, and I was satisfied in the end with how it worked out tonight." Equipped with the KTM 450 SX-F FACTORY EDITION in the 450SMX division, Chase Sexton qualified sixth as he adapted to the unique four-lane, dragway-based layout, which featured a range of hybrid-style conditions and obstacles to complete the SMX post-season. In Moto 1, Sexton completed the first lap in sixth before eventually crossing the finish-line in P7. While running inside the top-five in Moto 2, the 25-year-old would unfortunately crash heavily during the latter stages of the moto, later confirming a mild concussion and a weak shoulder that he will have further evaluated this upcoming week. Sexton's 2025 SMX season was highlighted by finishing second in the 450SX standings at the conclusion of Supercross, however, he would go on to miss a large portion of 450MX outdoors. Despite his incident in the Las Vegas SMX Final tonight, he was ranked eighth in the series. Results 450SMX Class – SMX Final 1. Jett Lawrence (Honda) 2. Hunter Lawrence (Honda) 3. Eli Tomac (Yamaha) 6. RJ Hampshire (Husqvarna) 9. Justin Barcia (GASGAS) 10. Justin Hill (KTM) 14. Chase Sexton (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) Standings 450SMX Class 2025 after 3 of 3 rounds 1. Jett Lawrence, 166 points 2. Hunter Lawrence, 151 3. Eli Tomac, 135 7. RJ Hampshire, 109 8. Chase Sexton, 92 10. Justin Barcia, 86 12. Justin Hill, 62 19. Malcolm Stewart, 20 22. Aaron Plessinger, 14 Results 250SMX Class – SMX Final 1. Jo Shimoda (Honda) 2. Seth Hammaker (Kawasaki) 3. Tom Vialle (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) 8. Lux Turner (KTM) 22. Ryder DiFrancesco (GASGAS) Standings 250SMX Class 2025 after 3 of 3 rounds 1. Jo Shimoda, 167 points 2. Seth Hammaker, 144 3. Tom Vialle, 127 12. Lux Turner, 56 16. Ryder DiFrancesco, 41 22. Julien Beaumer, 15