In the midst of MXGP title chase, Febvre already planning a fresh start with Ducati

After seven seasons with the Kawasaki Racing Team on the KX450-SR in the MXGP World Championship, 2025 FIM Motocross gold medal winner Romain Febvre will depart the organization at the conclusion of the 2026 MXGP season. Second in points following the recent Belgian round at Lommel, the 34-year-old Frenchman will be joining the Red Bull Ducati Factory MXGP Team for the next two seasons.

Set to trade in his factory Kawasaki KX450-SR (Special Racer) for the Ducati Desmo450 MX for the 2027 MXGP season, it’s a brave new world for Febvre. Currently chasing leader Jeffey Herlings in MXGP points,and with rounds in Sweden, The Netherlands, Turkey, China and Australia to come, Febvre still has unfinished business to attend to before moving on. He took some time out from testing and training to address such a comprehensive change at this point in his storied career.

“We’re trying to ride and to figure out something. We need to start better than what we are starting now because we have had some issues starting on the front," he said. "We’ve had some difficulties starting from the front and we feel like the team has made some steps with it over the last few months, but we are still a little bit short on the start. We are trying some different things to be better. We have the same configuration as last year, but we’ve made progress on the starts. Like the Hondas are always at the front, so yeah, we have to catch up a little bit there.”

Having amassed four straight podium finishes heading into the MXGP of Flanders at the sandy Lommel circuit, Febvre posted up off-song 4-13 moto scores for ninth overall in Belgium.

“Yeah, it was going pretty good,” he said. “The first moto didn’t go so good for me. Second moto I was happy to be in the top three, but then I had a crash with two laps to go. And then finally on the last lap, I had the bike issue. It was mixed emotions. It’s not the first time that it happened, so we’ve had a few issues with the bike. That’s not really good, but that’s how it is. It’s an electrical problem. It happened once in Italy in Arco di Trento, but now it’s not the same thing. It’s a different thing with the battery. Something went wrong with the battery.”

Despite that, Febvre, who has earned seven podium finishes thus far this year, is pleased with how things are going this year.

“Yeah, sometimes it could have been a little bit better, but honestly, I’m happy to be second at the moment in the championship because I had three motos with zero points,” said Febvre. “I had two mechanical issues and at the beginning of the year, at the second GP in Spain, I crashed in the second moto and then I did not finish. To have all that and to still be second in the points, yeah, I’m pretty happy with that, for sure. Even if this weekend I lost almost 20 points to Tim Gajser, overall I’m happy. I’m happy with P2 in the championship.

“Jeffrey is really good this season,” continued Febvre, weighing in on his primary championship rival. “For sure he is really motivated because he changed teams and he wants to show that he’s really good with that bike. He has a lot of motivation and as we know, he is one of the best when he is in shape. It seems like he’s gained on confidence and now it is up to us to try to beat him.At Lommel he was really good in the sand. Hopefully in Sweden I can battle with him. I’m trying. Like I said, I think in Sweden it can be possible. Then we go back in the sand at Jeffrey’s home GP in The Netherlands. It will be tough to beat him there. After that we have Turkey and China and Australia, which I like. Hopefully I can battle with Jeffrey to try and win a Grand Prix.”

In the meantime, Febvre will begin to make the transition from the Kawasaki Racing Team over to the Red Bull Ducati Factory MXGP Team.

“Yeah, I’m really excited,” he said. “I changed because I feel I need it just to get the motivation going. It’s a new challenge. The bike has never won anything yet. I’m excited about this. It’s actually why I did this. To get some new motivation and to know some new people has been great.

"The bike should be fine. We will see how it’s going. I think Ducati was looking to get a rider with a lot of experience to try and improve the bike because I feel like they were missing some people to guide them. They want to know what is good and what is not good. I believe I can help them and to try to solve the bike for myself and to be competitive. For almost my entire career I was on two brands with Yamaha and Kawasaki, so now I feel like it was the time to change. It’s a new challenge. Ducati is a big brand, so for sure they want to try and win as fast as possible. Yeah, it’s going to be fun to be part of the project. It will be a lot of work over the winter to fix and develop the bike. I’m looking forward to it and hopefully we can be competitive straight away from the first round next year.”

And does Febvre think he can accomplish that fast enough to make a run at the MXGP world championship with Ducati in 2027?

“Yeah, for sure that’s the goal,” he answered. “It was exciting to reach the world title again last year. That was the ultimate goal. Now I’m second in the championship. I’m quite consistent when I’m not injured and I’m looking forward to next year to have a new challenge and hopefully I can make some history with the new bike.”