Herlings Claims Fifth Victory In Türkiye

MXGP entered the final three weeks and last three fixtures of the 2025 season with a trip to the flat, hardpacked Afyon circuit for 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, raising his career win total to 111. In MX2, Simon Laengenfelder was the overall winner, marking the sixth time the German has stood on top of the box in 2025. The conclusion of the Turkish Grand Prix meant the series waved goodbye to the European terrain, as it heads to Asia for the third time for this weekends penultimate Grand Prix of China.

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. On Saturday, it was a Coenen brothers show for qualifying with Lucas claiming the MXGP sprint for the seventh time in 2025 while Sacha grasped a customary holeshot and rode clear to his maiden MX2 Pole. In MXGP, Herlings was runner-up for a strong 1-2 and 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 P1 for second overall.

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.

Jeffrey Herlings, 2-1 for 1st 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, 1-3 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, 3-1 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, 1-4 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, 8-9 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.”