At last – it’s here! The long-anticipated first round of the 2026 FIM Motocross World Championships takes place this weekend as the YPF Infinia MXGP of Argentina hits the new venue of the Bariloche MX Race Track! With more GP winners than ever before lining up for the premier MXGP class, the excitement and intrigue as to who will emerge victorious at each and every round is set to make this an explosive season of racing at its very best! For the very first time since both classes were conceived, both MXGP and MX2 World Champions will be easily identifiable with the #1 plates that they will be looking to defend, but for just how long will they stay on those shiny new red backings? There are many out to dethrone them!
The new venue sits just 85km south of the old Villa La Angostura circuit, in the Patagonia region near the border with Chile. The nearby city of San Carlos de Bariloche lies on the south shore of the Nahuel Huapi glacial lake which laps the feet of the Andes Mountains. It is doubtlessly one of the most outstanding areas of natural beauty on the planet. The city itself is the third most visited city in all of Argentina, relying on tourism thanks to its legendary hiking trails, ski resorts and water sports facilities. It is also famous for its chocolate, so many of the team members’ families will have placed their orders for gifts already! It becomes the sixth circuit to host Grand Prix Motocross in the South American nation, which hosts its 18th MXGP event, and the season opener for the sixth time.
After last year’s event was held in sweltering conditions, this more southern region is much further from the equator, promising a milder climate and a softer surface than in Córdoba. The track plan and images suggest a similar fast layout with elevation changes, and will hopefully be just as popular as the previous Argentine circuits we have enjoyed! As the season opener in a time zone just four hours ahead of mainland Europe, there should be a huge demand for coverage on MXGP-TV with a perfect prime-time viewing schedule to kick start the 2026 World Championships!
The line-up for the MXGP class is simply breath-taking in 2026. To summarise, there are eight World Champions with 18 titles between them. 15 of the riders have got Grand Prix winner’s trophies in their cabinets, with a total of 317 victories to their names – enough for nearly 16 full seasons of GP wins! There are incredible stories wherever you look in 2026. So let’s start at the top! Reigning World Champion Romain Febvre will brandish the well-earned #1 plate on his Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP machine, after taking his second world title a record ten years after his first in a consistent season that saw him hold back his chasing rivals from round seven onwards.
Although he has liked both of the Argentine circuits he’s raced on, he has won only one Qualifying Race and one GP race in his eight trips to the country, finishing second overall at each of the last two visits. Do not put it past the crafty Frenchman to go one better and keep his #1 on a shiny red plate! Second in 2026 was the rider who has won more GPs than anyone over the last two seasons on his way to the silver medal in first the MX2 class, then MXGP! Lucas Coenen has changed nothing but his number for 2026, as he now runs with the #5 on his Red Bull KTM Factory Racing steed, and the Belgian will look for nothing less than title success in his final campaign as a teenager! However, his three visits to Argentina have not been too kind to him, with an MX2 Qualifying Race win in 2024 giving him his only career red plate so far, but a crash on race day took it away from him instantly. Will he get another this time around?
