The enduring union between Red Bull KTM Factory Racing and multi-time FIM Motocross World Champion Jeffrey Herlings will continue beyond the 2023 MXGP campaign and stretch on another two years.
The 28-year-old inked another contract extension with the decorated factory crew after visiting the Motorsport headquarters in Munderfing, Austria last week.
Herlings initially signed for Red Bull KTM early in 2009 to make his FIM MX2 Motocross World Championship debut as a 15-year-old for the 2010 season.
During a 13-year competitive period to-date the KTM stalwart has won 99 Grands Prix with both 250 and 450 machinery and gathered three MX2 titles (2012, 2013 and 2016) and two MXGP crowns (2018 and 2021), including one of the most dominant displays in MXGP history in ’18 and with a last-round-last-race success in ‘21 where three riders still had a chance of grabbing the No.1 plate during the final laps of the event in Mantova, Italy.
Herlings, the most successful Dutch rider in the history of the sport, missed the entire 2022 MXGP schedule due to a pre-season injury but is now in the throes of training and testing preparation for the 2023 calendar that will begin on March 12 at Neuquen, in Argentina.
Herlings will face his seventh term in the MXGP class and with the KTM450 SX-F.
The fresh renewal for 2024 and 2025 will take Herlings from the age of 14 to 30 in Red Bull KTM Factory Racing colours and elongate a memorable partnership to a total of 17 years at the highest level.
“We’ve been together for a long time and I believe I am now the longest-serving Red Bull KTM athlete as this will be my 15th year and from when I first signed in 2009,” said Herlings.
“We now have another two years together and maybe more to come. It’s great. Me, Pit and Robert have been very close during this time and have a great connection and together with Valentina [Ragni, Team Coordinator] these have been the people around me since the beginning and for all those 15 years. We’ve been working really good together and we all want the same goals.
“I’m happy and thankful to extend the contract again and it’s great after a dark period in 2022 that the team and the company still have trust in me. I didn’t want to move, I’m happy where I am, and I love the group.”
Italy’s Tony Cairoli, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing Team manager, a nine-time former world champion a former rival of Herlings, said: “Of course I’m really happy that Jeffrey has re-signed with the brand and the team. He’s a big star for us and for the sport so it’s really nice that such a big talent stays in KTM.
“He will come into the season after a difficult year so we will have to build into 2023, but Jeffrey is such a big champion and will win again, like he did in the past. I don’t think any team could wish for a better rider and we’re pumped to continue.”
There are now just weeks to wait before round one of the 2023 MXGP season kicks off in Argentina on March 10.
© Photo by Andy McGechan, BikesportNZ
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