With every victory comes another record. After completing a perfect 1-1 at the British Grand Prix, Jeffrey Herlings now sits on 118 Grand Prix overall victories. Yet after sealing his sixth overall win of the season at Foxhill, the Dutchman’s first thoughts were not about his own achievement, but about Lucas Coenen.
Having held a 68-point championship lead heading into the British GP, Coenen saw his advantage almost disappear after three DNFs, allowing Herlings to close the gap to just 11 points. Rather than focusing on the title fight, the Dutchman expressed his sympathy for his young Belgian rival, who was forced to withdraw through injury.
“First of all, I’m sorry for Lucas. I’ve had a lot of bad luck myself with mechanical problems. I would rather he had a mechanical issue than a health problem. I’m disappointed for him. As a rider who’s been around for a long time, I know exactly what it’s like. I’ve lost a lot of championships because of injuries. I’m not saying he’s going to lose the title, but it’s never nice to see someone get hurt. My thoughts are with him and I hope he’ll be fit next weekend so we can battle again.”
Although the results show a flawless Sunday for Herlings, his weekend got off to a difficult start after crashing in Saturday’s qualifying race. Forced to fight back from near the back of the field, he recovered to fourth before going on to win both motos on Sunday under heavy pressure from Tim Gajser and Romain Febvre.
“Overall, it was a good weekend. On Saturday I crashed in the qualifying race and restarted almost last before coming back to fourth. I actually felt better on Saturday than I did on Sunday. Even though I led every lap, I also had a bit of luck. I got two great starts, but I was under pressure in both races and managed to hold on.”
“The second moto was tough. The sun was really low, visibility wasn’t great, and then Pauls Jonass crashed. We first had a stationary yellow flag and then a waving yellow. Could we jump? I was leading and didn’t want to take any risks, so I decided not to jump. The others closed in because I slowed down a lot. I didn’t want to risk a penalty and lose valuable points.”
“I did everything I could this weekend and I feel like both I and the team did the job. I really want to thank Giacomo and everyone in his team, as well as Honda HRC, Petronas, the Japanese staff – everyone is doing an incredible job. You don’t win only on Sundays. These victories start on Monday. Now it’s on to Loket next week. I have both good and bad memories there, so hopefully this time I leave with good ones.”
Having already raced at Foxhill during a British Championship round in 2023, Herlings was delighted to see the iconic circuit return to the MXGP calendar in place of Matterley Basin, although he also recalled the tragic incident that overshadowed his previous visit.
“I raced the British Championship here in 2023. The track has changed a lot since then – they’ve done a huge amount of work on it. It was really cool to come back. The last time I was here, a photographer was sadly struck by Bobryshev and passed away, so we only raced one moto. I haven’t actually done many laps around Foxhill.”
“England feels like a second home to me because I raced the British Championship two years ago and I still do a few races here and there. I always enjoy coming here. I like the country, it’s an easy trip for us. We drive to Calais, take the train and arrive in England. This weekend, England treated me pretty well.”
Now approaching his 32nd birthday, Herlings knows time is no longer on his side, but his motivation remains as strong as ever. Despite already holding the all-time record with 118 Grand Prix wins, he still has one major target before eventually calling time on his legendary career.
“I’m not getting any younger, so it gets harder every year. Sometimes I miss 2013 and 2014 when I was winning by one minute or even one and a half minutes. Those days are gone now. Just winning is already a victory! But I’ve won the most Grands Prix this season, and I think this was my 118th. That’s more than anyone else in the sport and the number keeps growing. Unfortunately, the number of world titles doesn’t match the number of wins and podiums. It would be nice to win another title before I retire.”
After spending more than a decade with KTM, Herlings joined Honda HRC over the winter and believes he has found the perfect environment to challenge for another world championship. The transition, he says, has worked well for everyone involved.
“I don’t know if Honda adapted to me quickly, but we already had a strong connection from the start with Giacomo (Gariboldi), Marcus (Pereira de Freitas) and the people working on the bike every day. Less so with the Japanese because we only see them at certain races. It’s a much bigger group than I was used to at KTM, and personally I think it’s also a more professional group.”
Having previously turned down several offers from Honda during his career, Herlings explained why the timing finally felt right at the end of 2025.
“I had the chance to sign with Honda several times throughout my career, but I never took it. I could have earned more money, but I decided to stay loyal to Pit Beirer and KTM, and I have no regrets. We had some fantastic years together.”
“But after last season I felt it was time to move on. The Coenen brothers had arrived, Kay de Wolf was coming through, and the team I was riding for was falling apart. Ruben Tureluren had left for Nestaan because KTM didn’t want to keep him. We lost quite a few people and I felt that if I wanted to take another step in my career, Honda was the best place for me. I had offers from Yamaha, Ducati and several other manufacturers. I followed my heart, I chose Honda, and I don’t regret it.”
Herlings now heads to Loket with renewed hopes of reclaiming the championship red plate. After taking 57 points out of Coenen’s lead in Great Britain, the Dutchman trails the Belgian by just **11 points**, although Coenen’s condition ahead of the Czech Grand Prix remains uncertain.
