Image: Supplied.

Honda HRC has confirmed Jeffrey Herlings has signed for the MXGP World Championship team in a multi-year commitment from 2026, the five-time world champion lining up alongside Tom Vialle and Ruben Fernandez.

Herlings arrives at HRC following a career at Red Bull KTM Factory Racing, where he won three MX2 titles (2012, 2013, 2016), and a pair of MXGP crowns in 2018 and 2021.

“Obviously this is a big change for me, but honestly, I am so excited to join Honda HRC and ride a CRF450R,” Herlings explained. “Having been around the paddock for a long time, you get to see how different teams and people operate, so once I found out that they were interested in signing me, it wasn’t a hard decision to make because I knew that I’d be joining an extremely professional and organised operation, that does everything it can to help a rider succeed.

“From today, to the MXGP of Argentina is just over two months so I don’t have a lot of time to adapt to this brand-new machine, but we are going riding right now and I’m like a kid at Christmas, just waiting to unwrap a new toy. I wasn’t sure I’d ever be in this position, but now that I am, I can’t wait to get started as a factory HRC rider.”

HRC MXGP general manager Marcus Pereira de Freitas stated: “The chance to sign a five-time world champion and leading GP winning doesn’t come about often, so we knew that when the opportunity arose, we had to make it happen. Immediately we could tell that Jeffrey was thrilled for the challenge and highly motivated to try and add to his list of accolades.

“I think this is going to be a very exciting season for everyone on the team. It’s a new environment for Jeffrey and he won’t have as long as we all would have liked before the start of the season, but the #84 will be riding straight away and we can’t wait to see how he looks on a Honda CRF450R.”