How MX2 World Champion Guillem Farres fought his way to the top with Triumph

Where did that come from? Guillem Farres had already clearly demonstrated his speed and potential in his short career to date, and had even made a name for himself in the 250cc Supercross in the United States, but the 23-year-old had struggled to complete a full season at the highest level – until 2026, when he delivered a masterclass in consistency, leading the most laps, winning the most races and securing the most Grands Prix and podium finishes.

Farres secured his first world title last weekend in Australia – and the first for the Triumph factory team after just three years of racing with the TF 250-X. Farres, who hails from Manresa, is the first Catalan world champion and now joins the ranks of sportsmen such as Marc Márquez, Albert Arenas, Toni Bou, Josep García and Marc Coma; thereby adding motocross to the small country’s incredible motorcycling track record, alongside MotoGP, Moto3, trial, enduro and rally.

Farres has broken through a number of barriers – and broken a few bones in the process. He tried to gain a foothold in MX2, then had a go at AMA Supercross and motocross, and eventually signed for a fledgling Triumph team, but there were periods of uncertainty, pain and inner turmoil that he finds difficult to put into words. “Yes, I mean, 2022 was a bit of a rollercoaster: I changed teams, got a substitute ride and then found myself in MX2,” he said in an exclusive interview with Adam Wheeler. “There was a lack of continuity, including in my programme, because I didn’t have a mechanic and worked on my bikes myself. Some days it was a tuned bike, others a production model. I just made do with whatever was available at the time.”

Farres later that year made his way to the US and joined the long, ever-changing list of Star Yamaha riders. He made a name for himself with top-ten finishes and seemed to be securing his place until he broke his left arm at Thunder Valley during the third round of the 2023 motocross season. “I’d sacrificed a lot to go to the US, and I’d met lots of great people there, like Justin Cooper and Jillian, Levi Kitchen and so on. I stayed with them, and even today I’ve been speaking to Chase Sexton, because we all spent a lot of time together in Clermont, but it wasn’t an easy time,” he recalled. “I had to deal with a lot of problems, and there were also many internal issues at Yamaha following my injury. I went there feeling very happy, even though I wasn’t earning any money – it was simply a dream opportunity with a works team. Then I signed a contract, but a lot of things happened, and they didn’t really treat me very well.”

War 2026 die Nummer 1 in der MX2-Klasse: Guillem Farres

Foto: Triumph

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Solace and another chance came in 2024 with the Husqvarna works team, but in February of that year, eight months after the setback in Colorado, came the injury that would change everything.

“I’d completed two Supercross races and finished eighth and ninth,” he explains. “I’d had a good qualifying race, finishing in the top four, and that was at a time when the 250 East class was pretty strong. I was happy and training for Daytona. My family were planning to come to that race. I was riding through the whoops and the bike locked up. I think the hub was broken, but we’ll never know for sure. I had to have surgery straight away because my thigh bone was completely shattered and my leg was just hanging there.”

“I was still determined to be back in time for the outdoor season. I returned to Spain to work on my recovery – not to my home, but to Madrid. I slept whilst undergoing magnetic field therapy. Lucas Coenen was there, as were Ruben Fernandez, who was just recovering from his cruciate ligament injury, and Francisco Garcia. After a month and a half, my thigh bone was fine again, but I couldn’t bend my leg! I tried to sit on a motorbike – I always ride on the tips of my toes, which means you bend your leg more – and I couldn’t sit down because my knee wouldn’t bend. So I decided to have another operation, which improved the situation just a little bit.”

“I carried on for another month,” he continued. “A lot of strain and pain. People were literally pushing my leg down so I could bend it, and I was crying out in pain. The day after wasn’t good. At that time, Husky were urging me to come back and race … and I couldn’t even sit on the dirt bike. So I agreed to go back and continue my recovery in America. They sorted out my visa, but when I arrived in London, I couldn’t fly because of a problem. That’s when I lost it a bit and said, ‘I’ve had enough, I’m not going back.’ I went back to Madrid and rang the physiotherapist to arrange another operation to remove the metal rod. We gave it a go, but they couldn’t remove it because it was a special rod from the US that required a special tool. They realised it was easier to leave it in, as bone had formed over it. They left it in but thoroughly cleaned the surrounding area, and that’s when I started to feel an improvement, and things went a bit better. That’s when I started talking to Triumph.’

Farres didn’t (and doesn’t) feel he has anything left to achieve in the USA. “I had offers from other good teams, but I felt I didn’t belong there,” he said with a shrug.

At first, it was difficult to find a place in the World Championship. “I was waiting for the operation and phoning up teams,” he explained. “Actually, quite a few of them, and they’d say something like, ‘Maybe, but we don’t know.’ So basically, they weren’t interested. But from the very first moment I spoke to Triumph, they were fully on board. I’m grateful for that, and it’s been brilliant to grow with them.”

After Triumph had surprisingly announced publicly that it was expanding its range from attractive naked bikes and retro-style road bikes to motocross and enduro, one of the company’s best strategic decisions was to sign a contract with Thierry Chizat-Suzzoni’s team. Triumph had established itself as a major motorsport brand by taking on the role of Grand Prix engine supplier for Moto2 from 2019 onwards, but the off-road sector was a leap into the unknown. Chizat-Suzzoni’s team, led by technician Vince Bereni, missed out on winning the MXGP World Championship by just a few points in 2021 with Romain Febvre, having represented Kawasaki’s works team for almost a decade. The cosmopolitan crew, based in the Netherlands, was pipped to the post by Kimi Räikkönen’s IceOne team in the race to secure the green bikes for 2022, but took the helm at Triumph, began testing and development, and quickly set its sights on achieving serious results from 2025 onwards. The family-like atmosphere, which Febvre valued highly, was just right for Farres, and the set-up was making progress.

“For me, Triumph isn’t just a team, it’s like a big family,” he said. “Vince is the one who trusts me and has taken a shine to me. Then there’s our boss, Thierry; I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone like him in my life. It’s a very ‘human’ team, and I’m really glad to be here. It’s not just about business, and that’s why I feel at home here. Of course, we take things very seriously and get all the work done, but at the same time we try not to lose sight of the fun in it all.”

Farres used the 2025 season as a baseline. He finished 8th in the MX2 series with one podium finish, but then set out timetables and targets last winter – supported by input from the test rider, now his coach and adviser, former MXGP winner and runner-up Clement Desalle, as well as the close relationship the team had built with his South African team-mate Camden McLellan. The team grew stronger. “What really raised my standard was riding a full season for the first time in three or four years and competing in two races every other weekend. And then, of course, the work I did with Clement over the winter,” said Farres analytically.

“It’s not just about motorcycling – Clement also had a lot to show and teach us as people. Having Camden as a team-mate is brilliant because we really push each other when we’re riding. We always do everything together, and there are good days and bad days. I think we’re both sensible and mature enough to use this [dynamic] to our advantage. If Camden beats me convincingly in practice one day, it doesn’t affect me. It helps me improve my performance, and the same goes the other way round.”

Desalle, who had always been a very hard-working and headstrong rider, took on the challenge of to fine-tune the riders just as diligently as he had worked on the TF 250-X (and on the factory TF 450-X for its MXGP debut in 2027; a bike on which Farres will make his debut when he moves up to the premier class).

“By the end of 2025, I could see that they’d ‘got the hang of’ a few things, and I thought we could make further progress over the winter,” the Belgian told us. “I also saw that they were growing closer together. It was really positive to see what they’d learnt – not just in training and on the bike, but also off the bike, in life.”

“It was part of the plan to get them to work together as much as possible,” he added. “They’re open-minded and have the right character for it. I spoke to them at a race not too long ago, because when they work together, I can see them making progress as a team.”

The motorbike was competitive in terms of starting power and reliability (and even outperformed the KTMs and Husqvarnas that had long dominated the 250cc class) and was already superior to the Honda, Yamaha and Kawasaki machines. In 2026, Farres and Mc Lellan secured a combined total of 11 Grand Prix victories and 26 podium finishes, and stood on the podium together at eight Grands Prix. 2026 became Triumph’s year, with Bereni as technical director.

“He has a huge influence on the motorbike and is the one who makes changes to the frame,” revealed Farres. “I see him more as an engineer. We’re also lucky to have Gunther Geerts from KYB working on our suspension, and he gets on brilliantly with Vince. When they make decisions, they do so as a group. Vince is incredibly clever, and the way things work at Triumph is different; I’ve seen other factory teams, but the way Triumph functions as a group is something quite special. It’s demanding, but also brilliant. I’ve got perhaps ten different Triumphs, but I know that when I get on any one of them, it’ll feel like the same motorbike.”

Farres’ consistency at every Grand Prix (and across a wide variety of tracks and under a wide range of conditions) proved decisive, as McLellan was hot on his heels right up to the end. He combined precise technique with moments when he had to open the throttle wide. “I think, in a way, my riding style is a bit like [Jorge] Prado’s, in terms of the trial-style technique of riding on tiptoes and standing up,” he remarked. “But Jorge is really smooth with the throttle and has a lot of momentum. I’d say I’m a mix of Jorge and Ruben; Ruben is sometimes very aggressive, but can also keep the rhythm. I’m a mix.”

The only tricky moment was a double crash in the qualifying round in Sweden at Round 15. “During the second crash, there was a motorbike lying in the landing zone, and I tried to do a wheelie, but it was too late to do anything else,” he recalled. “Luckily, I was fine.” Farres was able to compete on Sunday – he looked like an extra from a film bar-brawl scene – and his fourth place proved valuable in terms of points.

Guillem now joins the very short list of Spanish Motocross World Champions; a list that Jorge Prado opened in 2018 with the first of two MX2 titles, followed by two MXGP titles in 2023 and 2024. Alongside Ruben Fernandez, who is winning titles for HRC in MXGP, Farres, who is causing a sensation in MX2, Oriol Oliver, who is enjoying a satisfactory first season on the 450, and Francisco Garcia, who is dominating the EMX250 – as well as other riders climbing the EMX rankings – Spain is clearly on the up.

“I think we’re capable of it,” nodded Farres. “We’ve got some good tracks, good people around us and good conditions in winter. Okay, in summer you might have to go elsewhere, but I love seeing Spanish riders do well in this sport. Back in the day, there was [Javier] Garcia Vico or [Jonathan] Barragan, but that was about it. Now Spanish riders are a regular feature at the Grands Prix.”

The Spaniards’ ability to excel at various levels and on different surfaces is also down to the priorities and measures taken at grassroots level. The Spanish federation has sought to nurture talent in this way. The growing influence of Spain in motocross has also been noticed elsewhere.

“In all sports, the same rule applies: if you do a good job at grassroots level, the results will follow naturally,” said MotoGP Grand Prix winner and 2025 World Championship runner-up, Alex Márquez. “Perhaps this shapes an entire generation. Prado, or riders such as [José] Butrón or Vico in his day, or Barragán, may also have shown how one needs to work and that it is possible to achieve this. I remember Guillem – I think it was when he was recovering from his injury in America and undergoing rehabilitation in Madrid – that he trained with us for many, many days. He didn’t have a motorbike or a team, but then he found this opportunity and is now doing a brilliant job.”

In the coming weeks and months, Farres’ newfound confidence may be accompanied by a very slight limp. He is set to compete for his country at the Motocross of Nations, along with the associated media and promotional commitments, but his debut on the 450cc class is also firmly on the agenda.