The favorites in the top MXGP class
After a short break, the riders of the 2024 Motocross World Championship can look forward to the next triple-header of races every week in August. After Uddevalla in Sweden and Arnhem in the Netherlands, the world's best motocross riders will come to Frauenfeld for the MXGP of Switzerland on August 24 and 25. Before the motocross world championship enters its home straight with rounds 15, 16 and 17 of a total of 20, we want to take a look at who will be among the favorites at the big, top-class stud festival in the canton of Thurgau.
In the top MXGP class, we are currently witnessing a three-way battle at the top between three riders who have already won several world championship titles.
The overall leader is currently Tim Gajser of Team HRC from Slovenia with 705 points to his name. Although the 2015 MX2 champion and four-time MXGP world champion (2016, 2019, 2020, 2022) has only won three of the first 14 Motocross Grand Prix in 2024, he has been a model of consistency so far.
Spaniard Jorge Prado is second in the standings. The rider from the Red Bull GASGAS Factory Racing team took the crown in the MX2 category in 2018 and 2019 and secured the title in the big class for the first time last year. He got off to a flying start this year with four GP victories in the first four races and then took three more wins this season. With his 681 points, he is 24 behind "TiGa243", which is less than a heat win would earn him, namely 25 points.
A further 14 points behind Jorge Prado (with a total of 667) is Jeffrey Herlings in third place in the standings. The Dutchman from the Red Bull KTM Factory Racing team is not only also a five-time world champion (2012, 2013 and 2016 MX2 as well as 2018 and 2021 MXGP), but also the record GP winner. Last weekend, "The Bullet" celebrated his third win of the season and 106th Grand Prix victory in total on his favorite surface, sand, in Lommel, Belgium. Jeffrey Herlings overtook (ten-time) record world champion Stefan Everts some time ago. Until then, the Belgian had also held this record for a long time with his 101 GP victories.
Although they are unlikely to have anything to do with the outcome of the 2024 World Championships, some of the riders ranked behind them also repeatedly put in very good performances and can break into the phalanx of the top three from time to time.
For example, Dutch rider Calvin Vlaanderen from the Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP Team, who is in fourth place in the standings, and fifth-placed Jeremy Seewer. For the 30-year-old Swiss rider, however, it is now also a matter of bidding a dignified farewell to his Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP, as according to media reports, the 30-year-old from Bülach is moving on to Ducati's latest adventure, the entry into the 2025 Motocross World Championship.
Another Dutchman, Glenn Coldenhoff from the Fantic Factory Racing MXGP team, is followed in seventh place by another former world champion, Romain Febvre. The Frenchman secured the MXGP title in 2015 and is still one of the world's top riders today. He was in third place in the standings for a long time this season, but a thumb injury forced him to miss four races in the meantime, causing him to slip down the rankings accordingly.
Latvian rider Pauls Jonass from the Standing Construct Honda MXGP team was hit even harder. The 2017 MX2 World Champion had just fought his way back to the top of the world rankings with his Grand Prix victory at the fifth round of the season in Portugal, when a fractured humerus and a dislocated shoulder from the start crash in Teutschenthal, Germany, forced him back into a long injury break and dropped him back to ninth place in the rankings. It is still uncertain when he will be able to return to the starting gate.
Valentin Guillod is currently in tenth place overall. The 31-year-old from Freiburg from TEAM SHIP TO CYCLE HONDA SR MOTOBLOUZ is currently experiencing his second spring and has already been able to set many an exclamation mark in this world championship season. On the Indonesian island of Lombok, for example, he finished a strong fifth overall among the many factory riders.
From a Swiss perspective, Kevin Brumann from Ehrendingen, who took the plunge from MX2 to MXGP as a 19-year-old last year, has also done remarkably well so far. With his German team SixtySeven Racing-Team, however, he does not take part in every Grand Prix, but almost always finishes in the points. He currently ranks 25th in the standings.
We will see how the top stars and Swiss riders fare at this year's MXGP of Switzerland on August 24 and 25 in Frauenfeld.
