The MXGP of Great Britain may prove to be one of the defining rounds of season 2026, with Honda HRC Petronas’ Jeffrey Herlings delivering a perfect 1-1 scorecard while series leader Lucas Coenen left Foxhills empty-handed. With the championship margin now down to just 11 points, Herlings speaks to the media following his dominant weekend in this Debrief feature.

Image: Supplied.

A 1-1 result

Yeah, first of all, I feel really sorry for Lucas [Coenen]. I’ve had bad luck with my DNFs, but I’d prefer him having a broken bike instead of having any issues with his health. So I feel really gutted for him because, as a sportsman and an athlete who’s been doing this for a long, long time, I’ve lost a lot of championships with injuries. I’m not saying he’s going to lose, but it’s never nice to see anyone get hurt – that’s what I mean. All my prayers go with him, and hopefully by next weekend he’s fit again so we can have some normal old-school battles again. For the rest, it was good. Yesterday, obviously, I had a crash and then came from more or less last back to fourth. So I was feeling really strong, and I actually felt like I rode better yesterday than I did today. Today, I was leading every single lap. Really, luckily I took two holeshots, led every single lap, and had pressure in both motos. I managed to hold them off. Obviously, the second moto was a bit sketchy. The sun was quite low, and at one point Pauls Jonass had a crash and there was a yellow flag. Then the next one was a waved one, so could you jump? Could you not jump? I was leading and didn’t want to make any mistakes, so I decided not to jump. Then I felt like they came close, and I was going really slow just to not have any risk of getting points deducted or anything like that. Coming back, I did all I could this weekend, and I felt like I did a really good job. The team has done a good job, and I want to give it up to Giacomo [Gariboldi] and all his crew, his team, and obviously Honda HRC Petronas, the rest of the team, the Japanese side, everyone together, for doing an awesome job. It’s not like we just win on Sunday. We win races on Monday. We put our heads down and get to work. We’re off to Loket in five or six days now, I’ve had good memories there, I’ve had bad memories there, but hopefully we go for a good one this time.

Being back at Foxhills

Yeah, I did [a race] here in 2023. Obviously the track changed a lot, back then it was just hard and baked – now, a lot more work has been put into the track, but it was great coming back here again. Obviously, the last time I was here, a photographer unfortunately got run over and sadly passed away, so we only did one moto. So I don’t have so much time on this track, but I feel like England is my second home almost because I did the British Championship two years ago. I do, every now and then, some races over in the UK, so I always enjoy coming here. I like the country. It’s quite an easy trip for us, so, I really enjoy it – I feel England was good to me this weekend.

Wins harder to come by

Like we said when we came here, we’re getting older, so it’s not getting any easier. Yeah, definitely. I miss those days in 2013 and 2014, winning by a minute, a minute and a half. Those days are gone. If I’m winning, that’s already a victory. But hey, I’ve got the most GP wins so far this year. I’m not even sure how many I’ve got now. Like 118, 119, somewhere like that. I need to check it. It’s more than anyone has ever had, and it’s quite special. It keeps going up, but unfortunately the championship doesn’t match with the wins, the moto wins and the podiums. It would be nice, before I retire, to have at least one more championship at some point.

Image: Supplied.

Adapting to Honda HRC Petronas

Yeah, I don’t know how quick they adapted to me, but obviously me and Giacomo already had a really good connection from the beginning, and also Marcus. Obviously, that’s the people I work with on a daily basis. The Japanese side is a bit less, you just see some of them at races, but those are the people, together with all the mechanics and the daily crew, we work with.
Straight away, I felt at home, it’s a way bigger group than I’m used to with KTM and, from my side, I personally think it’s more professional. I’ve had the chance to come to Honda multiple times in my career and I never really took the chance. Even though, at times, I could have made more money with Honda, I always decided to stay loyal with Pit [Beirer] and with KTM. I have no regrets on that side, I had a really good time with them – just after last year, I felt like it was time to leave. There was Lucas coming up, Kay de Wolf coming up, and the team I was in was kind of falling apart. A good guy I was working with left to Nestaan at some point because KTM didn’t want to keep him under contract. We lost multiple more people, and I just felt like if I wanted to make another step in my career, Honda was the best place. I had offers from Yamaha, Ducati, many brands, and KTM last year, and I actually chose the one that my heart felt like I wanted to go to, and that was Honda – I have no regrets so far.

Thoughts on the track

To be honest, I think yesterday was a bit better. Luckily, I didn’t have to pass anyone today, but yesterday it’s not on many tracks that you can go from almost last to fourth. When you go to Lommel or Arnhem, those deep, rough sand tracks, you can make a big difference, but mainly on hard-pack tracks. I think yesterday was a bit more of a race to pass than today. Today, it felt like they watered a bit less in the morning, so it was less deep. Coming back to your question, it’s an awesome track. I really enjoyed it. I already enjoyed it in 2023, and I enjoyed it today. It’s quite special. It is unique with the uphills and downhills. I’m quite happy it’s back on the calendar. It’s a bit less fast than Matterley, with fewer big jumps, so I think that’s also quite good. Even though Matterley was a nice track, it’s good to have this one on the calendar, and I heard it’s coming back again next year, so I’m looking forward to returning here.