The rider market continues to heat up as we edge closer to the end of the 2025 season. One of the latest rumours from the paddock concerns Ruben Fernandez and his future with Honda HRC.
Coming into this season, both Fernandez and Tim Gajser were in the final year of their contracts with the factory Honda squad, meaning there was plenty of uncertainty about the team’s future line-up. It has already been widely reported that Gajser is expected to make the switch to Factory Yamaha for 2026, bringing an end a hugely successful partnership with Honda that has delivered multiple MXGP World Championships.
There have also been question marks around Fernandez. The Spaniard has grown into the role of full factory rider and has established himself as a consistent frontrunner in the premier class. However, with Jeffrey Herlings and Tom Vialle strongly linked with Honda HRC for 2026, the assumption was that Fernandez could have been searching for another ride.
However, we understand that Honda appear to have settled on a new strategy. Rather than letting Fernandez walk away, the team are now expected to retain him alongside Herlings and Vialle — expanding their MXGP effort to a three-rider line-up for 2026. If confirmed, it would be a major move for the Japanese manufacturer, signaling a serious intent with their MXGP efforts.
The knock-on effect of this approach looks set to be felt in MX2. If resources are shifted towards the three-rider MXGP project, it’s understood Honda will only run one full factory rider in the MX2 class for 2026 – Italian talent Valerio Lata, who already has a contract in place. Unfortunately for Ferruccio Zanchi, this means his two-year spell as a factory MX2 rider is likely to come to an end.
From Fernandez’s perspective, the decision to keep him onboard makes perfect sense. The Spaniard has been enjoying one of his strongest seasons to date in 2025, despite shouldering much of the responsibility for Honda in MXGP while Gajser was sidelined through injury earlier in the year. He has risen to the challenge impressively, regularly battling inside the top five and currently sits fourth in the World Championship standings with just two rounds remaining. The prospect of seeing Fernandez, Herlings, and Vialle under the same awning would be an impressive rider line up to take on MXGP.
Fernandez has also been chosen to represent Spain at the Motocross des Nations event and with no Jorge Prado he’ll be the team leader alongside Guillem Farres and Francisco Garcia.
As always in the world of motocross, nothing is set in stone until the ink is dry on the contracts, but the signs are pointing towards Fernandez remaining red for at least another year.
We’ll keep you updated as and when we hear more around the MXGP paddock.
