Its the first of the year which means the MXGP news is rolling in. Jeffrey Herlings has officially signed with Honda HRC, leaving behind the Red Bull KTM team after 16 seasons together. Herlings is a five-time world champion and the winningest GP rider in history, but this new deal marks a multi-year agreement with Honda HRC. It is the first time the Dutchman will line up on Honda CRF450R and also the first time Herlings has raced anything other than a KTM during his professional career. He joins Tom Vialle and Ruben Fernandez as Honda’s third rider in the MXGP division.
“Obviously this is a big change for me, but honestly, I am so excited to join Honda HRC and ride a CRF450R,” Herlings said. “Having been around the paddock for a long time, you get to see how different teams and people operate, so once I found out that they were interested in signing me, it wasn’t a hard decision to make because I knew that I’d be joining an extremely professional and organised operation, that does everything it can to help a rider succeed. From today, to the MXGP of Argentina is just over two months so I don’t have a lot of time to adapt to this brand-new machine, but we are going riding right now and I’m like a kid at Christmas, just waiting to unwrap a new toy. I wasn’t sure I’d ever be in this position, but now that I am, I can’t wait to get started as a factory HRC rider.”
“The chance to sign a five-time world champion and leading GP winning doesn’t come about often, so we knew that when the opportunity arose, we had to make it happen,” said team manager Marcus Pereira de Freitas. “Immediately we could tell that Jeffrey was thrilled for the challenge and highly motivated to try and add to his list of accolades, so I think this is going to be a very exciting season for everyone on the team. It’s a new environment for Jeffrey and he won’t have as long as we all would have liked before the start of the season, but the #84 will be riding straight away and we can’t wait to see how he looks on a Honda CRF450R.”
