Jeffrey Herlings marked his 31st birthday in style by claiming his 112th career Grand Prix victory. But to secure the Shanghai hat-trick – his third clean sweep of the season – the KTM factory rider had to dig deep in punishing conditions. With temperatures soaring above 30°C and suffocating humidity, the Chinese GP turned into a furnace where the heat became the riders’ toughest opponent.
“I feel like a chicken that’s been left on the barbecue for an hour – I’m absolutely cooked,” joked the Dutchman after sealing his fifth GP win of the year. “Honestly, it’s incredible. I’m from the Netherlands, most of us come from Europe, and we’re just not used to weather like this. At least I’m not. I only arrived on Friday afternoon, and when I stepped off the plane – wow, what a shock. On Thursday I was still at home training in 12 or 13 degrees, and coming here was brutal.”
Herlings left no stone unturned in Shanghai, topping five of the six sessions. He claimed pole in qualifying, won the Saturday heat race, set the fastest time in warm-up, and went on to dominate both motos on Sunday, also recording the fastest laps in the races. It was a flawless weekend for the Red Bull KTM star, who is already looking ahead to Darwin, where the forecast predicts similar scorching conditions for the season finale next weekend.
“For me, speed wasn’t the problem – the heat was,” Herlings admitted. “Tim [Gajser] put me under pressure all weekend, every single moto. We had some great battles, and I’m happy to come out on top. From the outside it might have looked easy, but this was one of the toughest wins I’ve ever had. I just hope I can get more accustomed to the heat before Australia, because it looks like it will be another hot one. I’ll stay out here in the heat for the week, do some training – not on the bike, obviously – just to adapt physically. Hopefully it’ll feel a bit easier when we line up in Darwin.”
Since returning from a collarbone fracture sustained just before the Finnish GP, Herlings has looked increasingly like his old self, reigniting debate around his absence from the Dutch squad for the upcoming Motocross of Nations in Ironman. In Shanghai, however, he preferred to set that aside and instead addressed another hot topic: the number of riders lining up behind the gate.
“This is my third GP win in a row, which I really didn’t expect. As I said, I only got back on the bike the Thursday before Lommel after my injury – so it’s been just six weeks on the bike. That’s not an excuse, but you do feel it after being off for five weeks. To win three in a row now, I’m super happy. I’ve been pushed every weekend – Lucas in Arnhem, Romain in Turkey, and Tim here in China. It’s not easy, it just shows how high the level is.
Yes, maybe there were only 20 guys on the line this weekend, but they were 20 quality riders. Sure, maybe four or five stood out, but all the factory guys were there. People say that half-empty gates don’t look great, but at least it’s safer with fewer lappers – and the ones that are here are strong. In some ways, that’s a positive, even if of course we’d all like to see more privateers making it.”
This year’s Chinese GP was held on a brand-new layout, which didn’t win over the entire paddock. But after a weekend like Herlings’, it’s hard to find much to complain about.
“The track? Maybe just install air conditioning around it!” he laughed. “The layout was fine. With the weather, it created lots of different lines. The real problem was just the heat. The track itself was good – sometimes in Europe they’re no better than this. Nothing major needs changing, really. Maybe just a few more air-con units in the changing rooms! But overall, everything was fine for me.”
