Last year proved to be a dream campaign for Simon Längenfelder as he clinched the MX2 World Championship in dramatic fashion at the final round of the season in Australia.
Heading into the 2026 campaign, the German was widely tipped to defend his crown and initially looked set to do exactly that as he was in fine form. Längenfelder enjoyed an excellent start to the season, winning three of the opening four GP’s and finishing runner-up in Spain, meaning he had not missed the podium during the first four rounds.
However, his fortunes have dramatically changed since round five at Arco di Trento. Since then, the Red Bull KTM rider has failed to return to the podium and has not finished higher than fifth overall. It has been a frustrating period for the reigning world champion, who has now dropped to fourth in the championship standings, 59 points adrift of championship leader Sacha Coenen – a scenario few would have predicted after his impressive start to the season.
Reflecting on another difficult weekend, Längenfelder admitted that despite showing good speed out of the gate, he simply lacked the pace to challenge at the front.
“A tricky weekend. I came to Italy feeling good but the start crash in the Quali race set me back. Still, I could come back to 11th and the pick was not too bad for the Sunday races. The holeshots were the only positive because I needed another level to go with those guys. I made the wrong decisions. Not the best riding or feeling so hard to come out of it. I won’t stop fighting”, Längenfelder stated in a KTM press release.
With plenty of rounds still remaining in the 2026 MX2 World Championship, Längenfelder has time to turn his season around. However, if he is to mount a serious title defence, he will need to rediscover the form that saw him dominate the opening part of the campaign and begin closing the gap to Coenen as quickly as possible.
