Ahead of the MX2 World Championship season, we take a look at the riders who are expected to mount a title charge in 2025.
There’s no better place to start than reigning champion, Kay de Wolf. Talent has never been in question for the Dutch sensation but he finally came of age last year and showed the world just why he’s been so highly rated since such a young age. He started the campaign with a real bang in Argentina last year with serious speed and whenever he needed it throughout the season he always seemed to have that pace not many 250cc riders in the world can live with. Going into the 2025 season, as defending champion, de Wolf has real pressure on his shoulders – he has a target on his back as everyone will be out to beat the reigning champion but don’t expect the Husqvarna rider to be bothered by anything. He’ll look to come out swinging in Argentina and if anyone beats de Wolf in the championship in 2025 then they’ll probably be champion!
His team mate, Liam Everts had a serious injury last year but has inked a deal with the Nestaan Husqvarna team this year. At the time of writing this article it’s not sure if he’ll line up in Argentina (a decision is expected to be made within the next couple of days). As he won’t be 100% ready even if he lines up it’s hard to really call him a title contender but one thing is for sure, he’ll continue to improve as the season develops and once he has that race rhythm back and is up to speed, he’ll be a front runner. The Nestaan Husqvarna team do a great job and it should be a great fit. In case you’ve been living under a rock he has also changed his number from #72 to #26 – a fresh start!
Aside from De Wolf, Andrea Adamo also knows what it takes to win a world title. He did it a bit differently to de Wolf as he only won two GP’s in 2024 but consistency can win titles. Last year there was big pressure on his shoulders and it just wasn’t his year. But there’s no doubt the Italian will be looking to prove many people wrong in 2025 so don’t be surprised to see him stand on the top step of the podium plenty of times. This off-season he always looks a lot more comfortable than he did at the start of 2024 so the signs are promising heading into the new season.
He hasn’t yet won a world title but Simon Längenfelder has plenty of podiums to his name so far – 19 in his MX2 GP career and counting. The German is so smooth, calculated and just lovely to watch. On his day he can beat anyone in the world. Last year in the second moto in Switzerland he dominated the field and no one could even see what way he went. Always consistent but perhaps hasn’t won enough GP’s yet so he’ll be looking to win more in 2025 and if he can figure out how to win GP’s consistently he could go on a real roll.
One of the most exciting riders in the class, Sacha Coenen always has you at the edge of your seat. Being so small means he gets great starts and he has unreal sprint speed so he is always on fire at the start of moto’s. If he can maintain that for the whole moto he’ll be a real handful for anyone. He won two GP’s last year back to back in Latvia and Italy (Maggiora). He doesn’t seem to visit the podium unless it’s for a GP win either. For 2025, he stays with KTM but moves over to the De Carli KTM team who seem to create winners so it should be a great fit for both.
KTM also have the very talented, Marc-Antoine Rossi but he had a complicated injury. After getting back on the bike before Christmas his knee still didn’t feel right so he had another surgery. It means the French talent hasn’t had as long on the bike as he’d have hoped going into the season. But there’s no question, as he gains bike time, fitness and adapts to MX2 he is one to keep an eye on. Joel Smets says he reminds him of Tom Vialle – big praise!
Yamaha go into the season with two riders entering their final year of MX2 GP racing due to the U23 age rule. Let’s start with Thibault Benistant. An EMX125 and EMX250 champion in the past and it felt like he was the only rider who could run with Tom Vialle and Jago Geerts when those two dominated MX2. However, things haven’t gone according to plan and he’s never really been able to challenge for an MX2 world title. This year will be his final chance and he’s training with Yves Demaria so it’ll be interesting to see if that is the change he needed to really mount a title charge.
Rick Elzinga will also be racing his final season in the MX2 GP’s. The Dutch rider never seems to have a strong off season. This time last year he was dealing with a broken back and going into round one this year he’s deal with a broken elbow which meant prep time has been limited. Like Benistant, he has changed trainers this year as well and is working closely with Alessio “Chicco” Chiodi. The Dutch talent hasn’t yet won a GP so that’ll be the goal this year.
The youngest rider at Yamaha is Karlis Reisulis and what a surprise he was last year. He actually started the season in the EMX250 championship but after injuries the Latvian had the chance to move up to MX2 and he turned a lot of heads. At the MXoN at Matterley Basin he finished second in the MX2 class – after having to race the B final. He’s just 19 years old so has plenty of potential for the future.
Triumph only entered the sport last year – quite unbelievably. What a job they done last year. They got podiums and Mikkel Haarup had the best season of his career so far but as he ages out so responsibility now falls on others. Camden McLellan enjoyed his first season as a factory rider last year and despite a mid season injury had some really good rides and got on the box at Riola. But he’ll want even more in 2025 – he is very ambitious so will be chasing GP wins.
Guillem Farres is back racing the MX2 World Championship after his stint in America. Racing Supercross was a learning curve for the Spaniard but now he’s back to his bread and butter – racing Motocross. Injuries haven’t been kind to him the past few years so the first goal will be to stay injury free and improve as the season develops. Clement Desalle has a big role at Triumph and it’ll be interesting to see what sort of impact he has on Farres.
HRC Honda have the promising Ferruccio Zanchi under the awning. This will be his second year racing the MX2 World Championship and looked fast in pre-season so the 18 year old will be looking to turn some heads. Finishing tenth in the standings last year and the best place rookie was solid. He has a bright future!
We have an MX2 GP rookies article coming soon as there’s some new blood entering the series.
We put together some stats for the current MX2 GP riders – it’ll be interesting to see how many new MX2 GP winners we get in 2025 as the current GP winners will be looking to add to their tally!
