MXGP Magnificence – Austria's Annihilation

The connection between Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing and Kay de Wolf is one of the thickest in sport. It stretches back to 2019 when de Wolf, the current EMX85 champion, entered the Grand Prix pyramid on the TC 125. The EMX structure is celebrated worldwide and credited as the reason why such prominent stars are being produced across Europe, yet the Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing outfit is one of the few to craft a talent from lap one of that process.

Red Bull KTM Factory Racing can boast about dedicating the same amount of time to Jorge Prado – the EMX125 winner in 2015 and then MX2 champion just three seasons later – but even that is not a true example. Prado bled orange across that period, but did not find 250F success until he was relocated to the De Carli Racing portion of the KTM Factory Racing organization. The color was the same, but the personnel and team structure shared no resemblance to the set-up that he entered the class with.

Kay de Wolf is a proof of concept for not only Infront Moto Racing, but the Pierer Mobility Group too. It is also the first time that a KTM AG rider has established such deep roots to a non-orange manufacturer. There are a lot of unique elements to ponder when it comes time to dissect the MX2 championship that was secured at the Grand Prix of Castilla-La Mancha, a title that marked the first triumph for the Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing team too. 

Managed by Rasmus Jorgensen, one of the most prolific leaders in off-road, the team has soared to a new standing and hosts two seats that are in high demand within the FIM Motocross World Championship. It is obvious to the naked eye why that is: The time that was put into de Wolf speaks to their patience and understanding, a quality that has been lost on both sides of the Atlantic, and the fact that Lucas Coenen was as exceptional as his teammate in the 2024 FIM Motocross World Championship underlines the fact that this squad deserves just as much credit as the riders who steer the machinery.

The dynamic FC 250 duo ensured that no other manufacturer could embrace success, even those within the same Pierer Mobility Group fold. 14 of 20 pole positions, 29 of 40 moto wins and 16 Grand Prix victories point to the sheer dominance that Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing enjoyed. Such superiority is almost unprecedented, as there are just a handful of examples of one manufacturer producing near-perfect performances each week. It is of no surprise that the other cases involve the Red Bull KTM Factory Racing effort, winners of 14 of the last 17 MX2 championships.

2018 – MX2

Like the prior example of the path that Jorge Prado took from EMX125 to MX2, the 2018 FIM Motocross World Championship is not a true comparison to what has occurred over the last 10 months. Prado (the eventual victor) and Pauls Jonass (the outgoing champion) decimated their peers in Red Bull KTM Factory Racing colors – the two were able to leave it all on the track and live separate lives off of it, thanks to the fact that they worked from different tents and teams. Prado was beneath the De Carli Racing banner, the Italian wing, whilst Jonass operated under Dirk Gruebel's watchful eye in a team that was based out of Mattighofen, Austria. 

The fact remains that Red Bull KTM Factory Racing, as both teams were labeled, dominated the MX2 class with 32 moto victories out of a possible 40 and 17 of the 20 Grand Prix wins. The Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing squad accounted for two of the missing triumphs, thanks to Thomas Kjer Olsen and Thomas Covington winning one apiece, and Team HRC's Calvin Vlaanderen took the other. The fiery battle came to a crescendo at the Grand Prix of Turkiye, when Prado and Jonass collided. The latter, then 30 points down, suffered a torn ACL in the fall, which had a drastic impact on his 450F debut that next season.

2014 – MX2

A true inter-team competition occurred in the 2014 FIM Motocross World Championship – Jeffrey Herlings and Jordi Tixier operated from the same Red Bull KTM Factory Racing tent and finished four points apart at the end of the 17-round championship. The eventual deficit is misleading, however, as this was not a titantic battle where the pair swapped wins and red plates from one side of the KTM truck to the other. Herlings won 22 of the 26 motos that he raced and led by 145 points when he withdrew with a broken femur with four rounds to run. Tixier did not win at all until after that incident: he finished with three moto wins and two Grand Prix victories.

It was at the last fixture, the Grand Prix of Leon in Mexico, where KTM had to battle internal strife for the first time. Herlings took to the track with a broken femur in an attempt to protect his 23-point advantage but fell just short. Tixier overcame the pressure to capitalize and captured the last Grand Prix win of his career – how timely. It was a curious case: It had already been confirmed that Tixier was set to take the number one plate to Kawasaki. The Grand Prix has been bookmarked as a momentous occasion and one of the tensest showdowns in the sport's history.

Thanks to Jeffrey Herlings' dominance, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing won 25 of the 34 motos and 14 of the 17 Grands Prix. The other winners included Arnaud Tonus of CLS Kawasaki Monster Energy, Max Anstie of BikeIt Yamaha Cosworth and Romain Febvre of Wilvo Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing. It is odd to ponder the fact that Tonus and Tixier won for the first and last times in their respective careers that season, whilst Febvre claimed a clutch maiden win at the penultimate round that thrust him into a Yamaha Factory Racing seat in 2015.

2011 – MX2

Much like the aforementioned 2014 season, Ken Roczen and Jeffrey Herlings tussled from beneath the same tent in the 2011 FIM Motocross World Championship. Tommy Searle of CLS Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki lurked in the distance but stole victories in just two Grands Prix and four races. Gautier Paulin of Monster Energy Yamaha Factory Racing won a sole moto too, which left Red Bull KTM Factory Racing with 25 moto wins out of a possible 30 and 13 of 15 Grands Prix victories. These numbers make for one of the most impressive seasons from a two-man team – hardly surprising with a duo as rare as Roczen and Herlings.

It was in 2011 that the Pierer Mobility Group introduced De Carli Racing into the structure for the first time, but the team was exclusive to the MXGP class. It was in 2018, when Prado strived for solitude and felt uncomfortable sharing space with his title rival, that the lines first became blurred and the two teams became prominent in both classes. The structure became clearer in 2022 – De Carli Racing sat beneath the GASGAS banner – but the teams will revert back to their former state when the 2025 FIM Motocross World Championship explodes.