After getting through a dry Saturday at the Circuito Municipal Jorge Prado, the rains came on Sunday to lash the Lugo venue that made conditions difficult for everyone involved at the MXGP of Spain.
However, this eighth round of the 2025 FIM Motocross World Championships did see sunshine later in the day, and the two Championship leaders showed why they are holding the red plates with supreme, if hard-fought, overall victories in their respective classes.
Frenchman Romain Febvre took his first ever GP victory in Spain, at his 11th attempt, with a 1-2 card for Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP, although a second race crash left him with a lot of work to do as Lucas Coenen won race two and took second overall for Red Bull KTM Factory Racing.
There was joy for the Spanish fans as Honda HRC’s Ruben Fernandez bounced back from a rough Saturday to claim third overall on the podium for the second week running.
The MX2 class saw overall victory for Kay de Wolf, in a similar fashion to Febvre’s day with a convincing first race win, then a battling second race to clinch the overall win for Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing with a fourth-place finish.
Andrea Adamo won race two to secure second overall, with fellow Red Bull KTM Factory Racing pilot Sacha Coenen earning his first podium finish since the opening round with 6-2 results.
The dark soil of the popular Lugo circuit delivered a thoroughly entertaining GP weekend and left an impact on the Championship situation in both classes.
As with the two practice sessions on Saturday, Febvre set the best time in the morning warm-up ahead of Jeffrey Herlings on the Red Bull KTM Factory Racing machine, and another Dutchman, Glenn Coldenhoff of Fantic Factory Racing MXGP.
Febvre showed his true intent immediately in the opening race, held on a drying circuit as the rain had finally come to a stop during the earlier first MX2 race.
Firing the Kawasaki into the first turn to claim his second holeshot of the season as Coldenhoff ran wide, he had the Aruba.it Ducati Factory MX-Team machine of Jeremy Seewer for close company, with Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP team-mates Maxime Renaux and Jago Geerts also nudging past Coldenhoff into third and fourth.
Sadly for Saturday’s qualifying race winner Geerts, he ran wide into some deep mud at the edge of the track and dropped down the order for an eventual finish of 15th. Febvre’s team-mate Pauls Jonass had already dropped his Kawasaki in the first corner, and had to fight back to an eventual eleventh.
Meanwhile, Fernandez and Coenen were running fourth and fifth until lap three, when Seewer had the first of many crashes that would drop him to 19th at the end of the race with a battered machine.
It was a case of trying to stay upright on the tricky surface that didn’t leave many passing options, but further back Seewer’s team-mate Mattia Guadagnini claimed tenth behind a spirited ride from JM Racing Honda’s Brent van Doninck, his first top 10 finish of the year.
Herlings was moving forward through the race to take seventh from Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP man Calvin Vlaanderen, while Fantic Factory Racing MXGP team-mates Coldenhoff and Andrea Bonacorsi held fifth and sixth from lap six onwards.
Try as he might, Coenen couldn’t get onto terms with Fernandez for third, and Renaux only closed to within four seconds of Febvre for the lead as the Kawasaki man saw it home safely in the final laps.
With a much drier circuit for race two, it was a case of reset and repeat for the Frenchman as he blasted to another holeshot in race two, this time with Vlaanderen and Seewer disputing second ahead of Fernandez and Coenen.
The Belgian teenager then pulled a stunning move around the outside of both Fernandez and Seewer on the opening lap to suddenly fire into third.
Guadagnini and Geerts were also in the mix, then came a bizarre game of falling Frenchmen as first Renaux from sixth, and then Febvre from the lead, made costly mistakes to undo their good starts.
Vlaanderen inherited the lead briefly, but on the final corner of the first full lap it was Coenen who made a forceful, slightly out of control move up the inside of the Yamaha man to take the lead, and at that time a possible Grand Prix winning position.
Febvre remounted in seventh, then passed Geerts and Guadagnini on consecutive laps, before taking four laps to get around former team-mate Seewer for fourth on lap seven.
Geerts crashed again to end the race in fifteenth, and Guadagnini, under pressure from Jonass, Bonacorsi, and Herlings, dropped the Ducati in the waves to drop to ninth, but then a lap later had a violent crash exiting the first corner to leave him 18th, without a front fender, at the flag.
Jonass then took his turn to drop the bike from sixth, which was taken up by Herlings to the finish ahead of Bonacorsi, and they would finish sixth and seventh overall as well, ahead of Coldenhoff who struggled to 12th in race two.
Jonass would have to settle for ninth overall, ahead of the consistent Ben Watson, who claimed another top ten overall for MRT Racing Team Beta with 12-11 results.
Team Motul Honda Motoblouz SR rider Kevin Horgmo fought well to get to eighth in race two, and Seewer held on for fifth, but the most attention was on Febvre as he attacked home hero Fernandez for third, getting past on lap eleven, a move that put him back in control for the overall GP victory.
A pass on Vlaanderen for second on lap 15 of 17 just limited the Championship damage by a further couple of points, but there was no catching Coenen out front.
After a great Saturday for Yamaha, they would have to settle for fourth and fifth overall on Sunday for Renaux and Vlaanderen, with Fernandez’s 3-4 finishes enough to secure his second podium in succession, in each of his two closest GPs to home.
Febvre’s 23rd career GP win puts him level with Clement Desalle and Alessandro Puzar in the all-time record books, and gives him a 49-point lead over Coenen in the Championship, as Lucas has now moved past the absent Tim Gajser, who sadly has no date on his return for Honda HRC.
Febvre will continue to proudly wear the red plate to his home GP at Ernée in two weeks’ time.
Romain Febvre: “I was leading in the second race and crashed on lap two after the big tabletop. There was a tricky section with deep mud and bumps.
“I tried to switch lines mid-air and landed in the wrong spot. It was my mistake. Took me a while to get up and I was pretty far back, but I found good lines and came back to second.
“At first I didn’t think the overall was possible – I thought Renaux and Lucas (Coenen) were ahead. Then I saw the pit board and realised third might be enough. I pushed, passed Ruben, and got the overall. Really pleased with that. Now we go to Ernée (in France) which is always special for me, and I hope we get good weather this time.”
Photo courtesy Kawasaki
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RESULTS & STANDINGS AFTER ROUND 8:
MXGP – Grand Prix Race 1 – Top 10 Classification:
1. Romain Febvre (FRA, Kawasaki), 34:31.746; 2. Maxime Renaux (FRA, Yamaha), +0:04.151; 3. Ruben Fernandez (ESP, Honda), +0:09.823; 4. Lucas Coenen (BEL, KTM), +0:20.474; 5. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, Fantic), +0:29.809; 6. Andrea Bonacorsi (ITA, Fantic), +0:38.429; 7. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), +0:40.532; 8. Calvin Vlaanderen (NED, Yamaha), +0:54.326; 9. Brent Van doninck (BEL, Honda), +1:03.162; 10. Mattia Guadagnini (ITA, Ducati), +1:05.728
MXGP – Grand Prix Race 2 – Top 10 Classification:
1. Lucas Coenen (BEL, KTM), 33:41.734; 2. Romain Febvre (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:12.347; 3. Calvin Vlaanderen (NED, Yamaha), +0:16.019; 4. Ruben Fernandez (ESP, Honda), +0:20.726; 5. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, Ducati), +0:29.545; 6. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), +0:34.519; 7. Andrea Bonacorsi (ITA, Fantic), +0:36.907; 8. Kevin Horgmo (NOR, Honda), +0:38.739; 9. Maxime Renaux (FRA, Yamaha), +0:42.100; 10. Pauls Jonass (LAT, Kawasaki), +0:44.360
MXGP Overall – Top 10 Classification:
1. Romain Febvre (FRA, KAW), 47 points; 2. Lucas Coenen (BEL, KTM), 43 p.; 3. Ruben Fernandez (ESP, HON), 38 p.; 4. Maxime Renaux (FRA, YAM), 34 p.; 5. Calvin Vlaanderen (NED, YAM), 33 p.; 6. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 29 p.; 7. Andrea Bonacorsi (ITA, FAN), 29 p.; 8. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, FAN), 25 p.; 9. Pauls Jonass (LAT, KAW), 21 p.; 10. Ben Watson (GBR, BET), 19 p.
MXGP – World Championship – Top 10 Classification:
1. Romain Febvre (FRA, KAW), 386 points; 2. Lucas Coenen (BEL, KTM), 337 p.; 3. Tim Gajser (SLO, HON), 305 p.; 4. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, FAN), 277 p.; 5. Ruben Fernandez (ESP, HON), 261 p.; 6. Maxime Renaux (FRA, YAM), 259 p.; 7. Andrea Bonacorsi (ITA, FAN), 223 p.; 8. Calvin Vlaanderen (NED, YAM), 201 p.; 9. Kevin Horgmo (NOR, HON), 195 p.; 10. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, DUC), 179 p.
MX2 – Grand Prix Race 1 – Top 10 Classification:
1. Kay de Wolf (NED, Husqvarna), 34:41.232; 2. Liam Everts (BEL, Husqvarna), +0:01.638; 3. Thibault Benistant (FRA, Yamaha), +0:15.171; 4. Ferruccio Zanchi (ITA, Honda), +0:38.306; 5. Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), +0:42.941; 6. Sacha Coenen (BEL, KTM), +0:50.569; 7. Camden Mc Lellan (RSA, Triumph), +0:56.244; 8. Simon Längenfelder (GER, KTM), +1:23.628; 9. Valerio Lata (ITA, Honda), +1:28.925; 10. Mathis Valin (FRA, Kawasaki), +1:30.926.
MX2 – Grand Prix Race 2 – Top 10 Classification:
1. Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), 34:30.697; 2. Sacha Coenen (BEL, KTM), +0:02.191; 3. Simon Längenfelder (GER, KTM), +0:03.808; 4. Kay de Wolf (NED, Husqvarna), +0:06.977; 5. Thibault Benistant (FRA, Yamaha), +0:07.679; 6. Liam Everts (BEL, Husqvarna), +0:10.181; 7. Camden Mc Lellan (RSA, Triumph), +0:11.098; 8. Rick Elzinga (NED, Yamaha), +0:25.719; 9. Karlis Alberts Reisulis (LAT, Yamaha), +1:01.969; 10. Ferruccio Zanchi (ITA, Honda), +1:03.194.
MX2 Overall – Top 10 Classification:
1. Kay de Wolf (NED, HUS), 43 points; 2. Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), 41 p.; 3. Sacha Coenen (BEL, KTM), 37 p.; 4. Liam Everts (BEL, HUS), 37 p.; 5. Thibault Benistant (FRA, YAM), 36 p.; 6. Simon Längenfelder (GER, KTM), 33 p.; 7. Ferruccio Zanchi (ITA, HON), 29 p.; 8. Camden Mc Lellan (RSA, TRI), 28 p.; 9. Rick Elzinga (NED, YAM), 21 p.; 10. Valerio Lata (ITA, HON), 21 p.
MX2 – World Championship Classification:
1. Kay de Wolf (NED, HUS), 380 points; 2. Simon Längenfelder (GER, KTM), 365 p.; 3. Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), 359 p.; 4. Liam Everts (BEL, HUS), 313 p.; 5. Thibault Benistant (FRA, YAM), 271 p.; 6. Sacha Coenen (BEL, KTM), 264 p.; 7. Camden Mc Lellan (RSA, TRI), 241 p.; 8. Ferruccio Zanchi (ITA, HON), 203 p.; 9. Cas Valk (NED, KTM), 196 p.; 10. Valerio Lata (ITA, HON), 182 p.