Herlings – Perfect In Argentina

It seems as though, Jeffrey Herlings continues to put on a show. Making his Grand Prix debut on the Honda HRC Petronas factory bike, the Dutchman put together a 1-1 performance and show us once again, he might just be the fastest man on the planet.

It was something special as he worked hard for his victories and had to battle team-mate, Tom Vialle (also making his HRC debut at GP level) and defending world MXGP champion, Romain Febvre. In typical Herlings fashion, his starts were average, but he still managed to run these two down and get the victory.

“Going one-one in my first outing for Honda HRC PETRONAS is great,” Herlings said. “And a big thank you to everyone in the team who has worked so hard in these couple of months to help make this happen. It wasn’t easy, because in race one I got a bit of arm-pump after grabbing the holeshot, but I studied Tom’s lines and then made the pass near the end of the race. Then race two, it was a bit chaotic with the restart, but I felt I judged my energy levels well and was able to close the gap and then made the pass again near the end. Going one-one and taking the red-plate is about as good as it as it could have gone today, so I’m hoping to keep this going.”

If he stays fit and we all cross our fingers for that, “The Bullet” has every chance of adding world number six to his tally and maybe another 10 or more GP wins to his 113. We tipped him to win last week, I said he might even win easily and while 1-1 might look a little easy, it wasn’t. He had to fight through the pack on many occasions, make his way to the front, on a circuit that might not have been that easy to make up ground, but he did it anyway.

“Yes, it wasn't easy, that second moto I was second and somebody smashed it in there and I was 8th or 10th at the start, and passed all the top guys. Kept my energy for that second moto. Going 1-1 is pretty special and for the team, I want to thank them, Honda, Gariboldi, they worked hard for this. We had a small problem after the crash (on Saturday), on the bike, but today 1-1 and the first moto was easier than the second one. I look forward to the next one.”

The Saturday, Herlings showed he had the speed and being quickest in the sessions was blown by a bad start and then a slip over in the qualification race. We all know that Herlings is a diesel and a short Saturday race isn’t going to show us his best speed.

“The day went really well, right up until the start of the qualification race. I was fastest in free practice and fastest in timed practice, but then I didn’t get a good start in the qualification race, and it went downhill. I was battling hard on those opening laps but made a mistake on the start straight and went down. I worked my way back up through to field to 12th but not really the first race I wanted.”

Now, in a little over a week’s time, Herlings will head to Spain, for round two of the 2026 MXGP championship and around what is a sandy circuit, he will feel comfortable and confident of adding to his 113 GP wins. What the future brings for the rider known as “The Bullet” is unknown, but one this is sure, the world will be watching.

Photo credit: Full Spectrum Media