For the third time in the last four years MXGP title contention went down to the last Grand Prix, laps and minutes of the season. The 20-rounds of 2024 mixed severe weather with diverse tracks, terrain and conditions and heroic levels of speed and consistency: Red Bull KTM Factory Racing were at the heart of the action in the MXGP and MX2 classes with their works KTM 450 SX-F and KTM 250 SX-F models and three of the four riders tasted victory at some point in a campaign that began with the Argentine Grand Prix in March and finished with the Castilla la Mancha fixture on the last weekend of September.
By Adam Wheeler
What were the highs and the lows, the bravado and the blows of MXGP and the 67th year in the history of the FIM contest? Read on…
Echoes of 2021 for Jeffrey Herlings
2024 was the second year of the RAM Qualification race format offering world championship points; effectively giving riders sixty significant race starts for the season. The result saw the top three in the MXGP class log 996, 986 and 944 in the final table: the highest amount ever. The series was a three-way between Jeffrey Herlings, Tim Gajser and Jorge Prado and the trio finished on the podium together eight times from the 20 Grands Prix. As in 2021 – when the championship was decided in the final moto of the final Grand Prix and Herlings was able to triumph – 2024 contest went the same way. Jeffrey picked-up the bronze medal on this occasion after a solid term in which he only finished outside the top seven twice all year and gathered points in 59 of the 60 starts with the KTM 450 SX-F.
More career numbers for #84
Herlings sprayed podium champagne in 15 of 20 Grands Prix and raised his all-time overall win total by another four: meaning 107 now for the Dutchman and six more triumphs than Stefan Everts. Jeffrey was more prolific on Sundays compared to Saturdays. He won just two RAM Qualification races but passed the checkered flag in P1 13 times this year. Those achievements boosted his career tally beyond the 200 mark. He was the joint-second most successful racer in 2024 and perhaps the standout scene was amazing 1-1 performance at Lommel for the Belgian Grand Prix where he tracked back, attacked Prado and ‘owned’ the sand once more. His last GP victory came in September, fittingly, at his home round in Arnhem. Herlings bookended the year with 1st place in the last moto in Castilla la Mancha.
Making it all the way
2024 delivered Red Bull KTM’s third MXGP top three championship finish of the decade. Herlings, who also won Dutch and British domestic titles in what was a comprehensive calendar of competition, achieved one of his principal objectives by completing the full season. The Red Bull KTM stalwart had not started every Grand Prix since 2017 and erased some of the frustration of sitting on the sidelines with injury for all of 2022 and the second half of 2023. Jeffrey’s sole DNF from 60 in 2024 was down to a chain issue in the first moto of the swamp-like climate of Portugal for round five.
MX2 trophies for Belgium
Red Bull KTM Factory Racing watched all three of their MX2 racers – Andrea Adamo, Sacha Coenen and Liam Everts- climb the rostrum in 2024. It was the Belgian duo, Coenen and Everts, that contributed to the KTM 250 SX-Fs big win ‘pile’ however with two victories each, ensuring that KTM ruled the category in Italy, Portugal, Latvia and Indonesia. Latvia, in particular, was sweet for 17-year-old Coenen who not only lifted a GP trophy for the first time but stamped the occasion with P1!
Wearing the hard hits
MX2 would end in a rough way for Coenen (a leg injury sustained in practice in Sweden forcing him out of the last three events) and Everts, who fractured his neck in a blameless crash in China for the penultimate date of 2024. But Liam still secured P4 in the championship standings for the second year in a row and Coenen rose from 14th in his debut term in 2023 to 8th for 2024 and aced the largest amount of holeshots for the year. Defending champion Andrea Adamo was the 4th best rider of the year in terms of grabbing podium silverware (7) and four of those were as MX2 Grands Prix runner-up. He was 6th in the MX2 table. The trio won seven MX2 motos combined.
“Watching Sacha take his first Grand Prix win in Latvia was pretty special,” former Team Manager Harry Norton said on the 2024 highlights. “The kid has such a bright future. On the MXGP side I would say watching what Jeffrey did in Lommel was another special sight. It was an up-and-down year for the team overall and a challenge in many senses but we had our moments!”