The Motorcycle World Championship with its premier class MotoGP will return to Brno in the Czech Republic from 2025 – New contract runs up to and including 2029
The Motorcycle World Championship will once again hold an annual Czech Grand Prix in Brno from the 2025 season. As announced by MotoGP promoter Dorna Sports on Wednesday, a five-year contract has been signed with the Automotodrom Brno for the period 2025 to 2029
“We are delighted to announce our return to Brno,” said Dorna CEO Carmelo Ezpeleta, referring to the 5.4-kilometer natural circuit as a “classic with a fantastic layout that has provided some truly memorable MotoGP moments in its long history”.
In August 1996, Valentino Rossi took his first world championship victory in Brno, back then in the 125cc class. Other unforgettable moments include Max Biaggi’s wheelie that literally almost backfired after his victory in the 500cc race in 1998, the duel between Valentino Rossi and Sete Gibernau for the MotoGP victory in 2003, the duel between Dani Pedrosa and Jorge Lorenzo for the MotoGP victory in 2012, Cal Crutchlow’s first MotoGP victory (2016) and the first MotoGP victory for both Brad Binder and KTM (2020).
2020, when Binder triumphed, was the last time the Motorcycle World Championship came to Brno. It will return in the 2025 season after a four-year break. “We are looking forward to returning and offering even more,” says Ezpeleta, recalling that the Czech Grand Prix ‘was the best-attended Grand Prix of the year several times’.
Karel Hubacek, the track manager at Brno since Karel Abraham (father of ex-MotoGP rider Karel Abraham) sold the facility, added: “I am pleased with the successful conclusion of the negotiations, which is the result of a constructive approach by all parties involved.”
“I would like to thank the Automobile Club of the Czech Republic and Dorna Sports for their sincere support of the idea of returning our circuit to the World Motorcycle Championship calendar,” said Hubacek.
Petr Fiala, the Prime Minister of the Czech Republic, also had his say on the occasion of the newly signed five-year contract. “Motorcycle racing has a tradition on the Masaryk Circuit in Brno that goes back to the 1950s,” he says, thinking back to the legendary street circuit that was used until 1986.
Today’s Automotodrom Brno was used by the premier class of the motorcycle world championship for the first time in 1987. The first winner back then was Wayne Gardner on the 500cc Honda. The circuit was a permanent fixture on the racing calendar until 2020 (the only exception being 1992). Brno therefore also witnessed the transition from the 500cc to the MotoGP class (2002).
“MotoGP is a prestigious racing series that brings tens of thousands of visitors from all over the world, including many from abroad, to the Czech Republic and especially to South Moravia. I am very pleased that we have managed to continue this tradition and that the MotoGP race will return to Brno after five years,” said Fiala.
It has not yet been officially announced when exactly the Czech Grand Prix will take place in 2025. According to rumors, the traditional August date could be revived. The British Grand Prix at Silverstone has been moved from the beginning of August to the end of May for 2025. The 2025 MotoGP calendar is still a long time coming
