Laengenfelder And Defending

Defending MX2 World Champion, Simon Laengenfelder of the Red Bull KTM Factory Racing team, hasn’t shown pressure being a problem, in the opening three rounds of the MX2 championship of 2026. The German, who took victory in Darwin, Australia last year and arrived in 2026, with a big number one on his KTM machine.

Last weekend in Switzerland, Laengenfelder was consistent, while not great and his 4-1-3 from the Saturday and Sunday was more than enough to beat his rivals, although just. Under really difficult track conditions, the KTM factory rider showed a lot of maturity to come home with the Grand Prix victory.

“A good one! Tough conditions and it wasn’t an easy race – passing, and the backmarkers were tricky - but I liked it out there today. It’s usually what we find here. Yesterday was hard but I made it happen today and we got the red plate back.”

A week earlier in Spain, it was more of taking his time and not making too many errors and again, his 4-3-3 results was everything a champion has to do to defend his championship. Beaten by Triumph factory rider, Camden McLellan wasn’t that big an issue, as the current MX2 champion feels he can get on top of McLellan more often than not.

“I was feeling good but not perfect and to beat Camden? There was no chance today. I didn’t take any risks and got into my rhythm. Not too bad, and some decent championship points and each one counts. This is not an easy class. I always try to give my best but sometimes you have to accept the position.”

And the opening round in Argentina, a disappointing qualification race, where he scored zero points, finishing 22nd and not a great start to his defence, he came back with 1-1 on the Sunday to win the Grand Prix and head to the second round in Spain, with the red plate on his number one KTM machine.

“A great weekend but I wouldn’t say perfect. Yesterday hurt. I was perhaps being too aggressive…but I came back from the outside to take that 1-1. Super-happy. The bike was working great, and a lot of work went into this. I really want to thank the KTM team.”

Now, a weekend off and time to regroup and refocus on the next round, which will be played out in Sardegna, around a very, very deep sand circuit. In 2025 he won the Saturday qualification race and then finished fourth overall on Sunday, with 3-6 results, and you get the feeling, he will be more than happy to get those types of results again and remain consistent as he goes for world title number two.