Giacomo Gariboldi (HRC): “The aim is to win championships!”

Honda and HRC set up their own ‘town’ at the recent Trentino Grand Prix. There were four lorries for the MXGP works team alone; one of them was an exclusive VIP enclave. Shoes had to be left at the door. Combined with the new, spacious and modern workshop in the Netherlands and a three-man rider line-up on the CRF450RW in the premier class (two of whom hold a combined total of seven world championship titles), HRC has never been so well equipped and focused on success.

The architect of this red empire is the Italian Giacomo Gariboldi, who invests in and manages the platform to satisfy HRC’s growing appetite for motocross glory, whilst Honda is once again approaching its former heights on both sides of the Atlantic. Thanks to a successful partnership with Tim Gajser between 2014 and 2025, which yielded five titles in the MX2 and MXGP classes, Honda never really faded from the limelight. However, the line-up featuring Jeffrey Herlings, Tom Vialle, Ruben Fernandez and Valerio Lata in MX2 – not to mention a team of nearly 40 staff and growing interest in the series from Japan – means that Gariboldi now heads the most powerful and lavishly resourced team in the sport.

I first met Giacomo in 2008. He had built up an ambitious junior team in the European Championship (at the time a separate competition, far removed from MXGP) and helped launch the careers of Christophe Charlier and Harri Kullas. Gariboldi’s vision for racing caught the attention of Yamaha’s management, and he was soon persuaded to make the move to Grand Prix racing. Budgets, priorities and political considerations led to a move to Honda – at a time when their 250cc programme still inspired little confidence. It was a new direction for the Italian team, but Gariboldi managed to snatch Gajser from KTM’s clutches in 2014. The Slovenian teenager was a future champion, even though he had a complicated family situation, but the combination of his rising star potential and Japanese curiosity, coupled with the potential of the CRF250RW in 2015, led to rapid success, and the relationship between Gariboldi and HRC began to flourish – even to the point where he could once again consider his own independent junior programmes equipped with Honda machines, and financed Livia Lancelot’s team out of his own pocket for three years – it was there that Hunter Lawrence contested his final MX2 season in 2018.

In 2026, there was much to discuss. Signing Herlings after 16 years with Red Bull KTM was a coup. Signing Tom Vialle from the USA after two 250-SX titles was also a clear statement. The fact that they managed to persuade HRC to field three riders and retain Ruben Fernandez (the 27-year-old is another Gariboldi project following two years in the MX2 pipeline and is competing in his fifth season in red this season) ensures continuity, having begun to help shape the CRF prototype from mid-2025 onwards. Lata and the new alliance with Marco Maddii’s team for MX2, as well as the young talents from the EMX, ensure that the team’s presence is even stronger and more scarlet.

Giacomo, it’s hard to imagine that HRC MXGP could be any bigger or better than it will be in 2026. Is that the dream?

Yes, with four riders, the new workshop, around 35 staff on the team… that’s a lot of work – almost like managing two teams – but that’s exactly what HRC deserves. They want to be at the top in both classes. We’re still struggling a bit in the 250cc class, but one day we’ll be right up there at the front there too. In the 450cc class, we’ve shown that we have three top riders who can compete for victory in every race. Everything has been built with the aim of winning championships, and that’s what you need to perform at the very highest level.

In the past, you supported Livia and ran your own 250cc programme because you felt that HRC was lacking in that area…

Yes, what we [HRC] were missing was a place for younger riders, which is why I set up those teams in the past. This year, we’ve reached an agreement with Maddii to make this happen, because at HRC we can’t bring in young riders from the European Championships and wait three years for them to be able to compete at the highest level. We need riders who can already compete for podium places. We’ve tried to bring someone in from the EMX over the last two seasons, but [the development phase] took too long. That’s why we’ve started working with Maddii, and the idea is that they’ll nurture some of the young talent in their team and pass them on to us, because we need someone for the 250cc class. It’s not easy because we don’t have a two-stroke; as a result, they always go to other manufacturers, who then sign the best riders. It’s possible to find decent riders, but not always ones who are ready to compete for the win.

What do you think of the current situation in the EMX250 and MX2? Is one class stifling the other?

I think we’re currently short of riders in the MX2, and the top two or three in the EMX250 can keep up with the pace of the MX2. To be honest, it’s like having a dual class. I think we should either leave the MX2 without an age limit and keep the EMX as it is. But having two classes with age restrictions is a duplication, like a carbon copy. I’d opt for just one class, but I don’t know if that’s in the federation’s best interests.

What does Honda say about this?

They didn’t used to have much interest in the 250cc class. For them, the 450cc was the ‘Formula 1’ of motocross, and that’s where they wanted to win. But a few years ago they really started to get behind the 250s, and the new bikes are on their way … I think they want a rider who performs well on a 250, and they’ve realised that to secure a good 450 rider, they need to start at a younger age to win over the next champion. That’s how it worked with our riders like Gajser. I’ve always been pushing HRC towards the 250s.

Your teams have always had a project, whether it was with Christophe, Ruben or Tim. This year you’ve really gone all out with recruitment. What was it like to secure these top champions? It must have been a completely different experience for you and the rest of the management, given that Tim had been with the team for a decade…

We decided to turn over a new leaf. Our results in recent seasons had relied on just one rider, and we needed to show that we could win Grand Prix races and championships with more than just one. So we opted for two champions, and of course it wasn’t easy to find them! We were lucky, as Jeffrey and Tom’s contracts were just coming to an end. We seized the opportunity, and after working with top riders for so many years, you know how to deal with [this sort of athlete] and what they need. So it wasn’t really difficult for us to put them in a position where they could perform to their full potential – even though we didn’t yet know their personalities and habits – but we very quickly realised what they needed. I spent time with Jeffrey from day one to get to know him, and it paid off, because I believe we put him in a position where he could perform straight away – and the results proved that. It was exactly the same with Tom: right from the very first test. It was all about gathering the best people around him and making sure he felt at home. The team did a brilliant job.

Was it interesting to see Jeffrey up close after he’d been a rival for so many years?

It was strange… even now, after a few Grands Prix, I think ‘Wow!’ when I see the number 84 on a Honda. It’s a bit like a dream, because he was a rival and our opponent for so many seasons, and we had to battle against him every time, hoping he wouldn’t perform well. Now that he’s with us, it’s exactly the other way round, and it still feels a bit strange… but I’m also delighted every time I see him on a CRF. The same goes for Tom. I’ve seen him on a KTM throughout his entire career, and the fact that he’s now riding a Honda and doing so well… it’s hard to imagine.

What’s he like? Tom is one of the quickest learners in world motocross…

He’s very shy. Very professional. Extremely focused on what he’s doing. He doesn’t shy away from a fight. He’s used to that after his experiences with [Haiden] Deegan in the US. He’s an admirable chap and, on top of that, a lovely person. Jeffrey is someone who’s completely different from how I’d imagined him… and Tom was also a brilliant find for the team. Looking at his career, it only took him one season to settle in, and then we wanted to be in the running for the title the following year. So we said: ‘Take it easy this year, we’ve got no targets … just see where you stand’, and he’s exceeding all expectations. Incredibly good. We’d expected to be fighting for the title with him next year, not this one.

Tim Gajser: Can you say anything about the decision to go your separate ways?

After twelve seasons, we’d won quite a lot: five titles and over 50 Grands Prix. I think it was the right time. The relationship between a team and a rider is never meant to last a lifetime, and we’d already spent a long time with him. How many others have stuck it out for that long? Perhaps only [Tony] Cairoli with [Claudio] De Carli. The decision was made following a few disappointing results over the last two or three seasons. We’d expected… well, when you pay so much money for a rider… of course, winning is never easy, but you expect to win titles, and when that doesn’t happen, it’s a disappointment. I think – and you could sense this in Japan too – that it was time to embrace new experiences and new champions.

What exactly are your day-to-day responsibilities?

I’ve never been as heavily involved as I have been this year. I’ve talked about working with the riders, but also about my collaboration with the management in Japan regarding contracts and the future. I’m really pleased that they value my ideas. I try to give them an insight into what’s going on in the paddock and with the riders, so that they can use this feedback to make decisions about Honda’s future [in the MXGP]. I also try to involve everyone in the team in a way that allows them to perform well, and to have the right people in the right roles – without, however, interfering in their work, because I don’t want to be the one who does everything myself. I think that when you hire someone for a specific task, you do so because you rely on them and trust them. I believe we now have the best team we’ve ever had at HRC. Everyone is keen to get involved. You can really feel the enthusiasm of everyone in the team … and there are plenty of us. We’ve also had more visits from senior management, and I think they’ve now caught the motocross bug – which wasn’t the case in the past, when the focus was more on MotoGP. That makes a huge difference and is the reason why we now have four riders instead of just two, as we used to.