Round three of the 2026 FIM Motocross World Championships was held under the first wet conditions of the season today, as the Schollenholz circuit was drenched with overnight rain that continued intermittently until the second half of Sunday’s GP race programme. The conditions made the tricky circuit all the more challenging and produced a uniquely dramatic day at the MXGP of Switzerland Presented by iXS! Mastering the mud to take his first Grand Prix victory in the MXGP class was Tom Vialle, with a clear win in race one for Honda HRC Petronas, backing it up with a fight through the field in race two during a GP that was full of mixed fortunes across the board!
There was joy for Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP with their first double podium since Finland in August 2022, as Maxime Renaux and Tim Gajser took second position in either moto and backed it up amongst the chaos to take second and third overall. Red Bull KTM Factory Racing teenager Lucas Coenen kept the red plate as Championship leader thanks to a runaway win in race two. The red plate in MX2 did change hands, however, as reigning World Champion Simon Längenfelder took it back for Red Bull KTM Factory Racing with a 1-3 scoreline, while the Triumph Factory Racing Team enjoyed another race win for Guillem Farres, who took second overall ahead of Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing’s Liam Everts, who scored his first podium result of the season. There were strange stories everywhere in both classes, as enthusiastic fans braved the conditions to give us a fantastic atmosphere for the tenth MXGP event in this part of the country!
The experienced riders topped the timings in the muddy Warm-Up session, with Tim Gajser fastest ahead of his long-time rival Romain Febvre on the Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP machine. Norwegian Kevin Horgmo was a happy third for Team Honda Motoblouz SR Motul. Lucas Coenen grabbed his first Fox Holeshot Award of the season as the pack fired into race one, but Tom Vialle was immediately alongside the Belgian, forcing into the lead through the second corner, a move that was to prove vital to the day’s outcome! Determined not to follow, with Jeffrey Herlings snapping at their heels in third for Honda HRC Petronas, Coenen took an outside line into the third corner of the race, and it went badly wrong! The deep rut hooked his chain from its sprocket and sent the teenager flying over the handlebars! On picking up his machine, he saw that it was not going anywhere. The help required to refit the chain broke the long-standing regulation on outside assistance, and he was disqualified from the race, although he continued until the finish, clocking the fastest lap on his second angry circulation!
This made it a Honda HRC Petronas 1-2, as Herlings defended his second position from Febvre. Maxime Renaux was in fourth ahead of Red Bull KTM Factory Racing rider Andrea Adamo, although the third factory Honda of Ruben Fernandez used a fast line down the back straight to pass the Italian. Amazingly, Herlings suffered a similar issue to Coenen, and although he didn’t crash, this was now another bike going nowhere fast. In a golden opportunity to make points on the series leader, “The Bullet” was relegated to a zero score of his own! Four laps later, it was Febvre’s turn to deal with adversity, as one of the deep ruts ripped his left foot off the peg through the corner after the finish line. He dropped to fourth behind Renaux and a flying Fernandez, and those positions were kept to the flag.
Kay de Wolf moved forward to take a fine fifth for Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing, and after Adamo suffered yet another chain problem, Alberto Forato took sixth for Fantic Factory Racing MXGP. Febvre’s Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP stablemate Pauls Jonass took seventh ahead of Horgmo, Gajser, and Calvin Vlaanderen in tenth, the top rider for the Red Bull Ducati Factory MX Team. Vialle’s 45th career GP race win was his first in the MXGP class, and put him back on top of the Championship at the end of the race, as he finished over ten seconds clear of Renaux and Fernandez.
