MOTOGP RELEASES PROVISIONAL 2026 CALENDAR

Dorna has released their provisional MotoGP calendar for 2026. Broadly similar to this year’s schedule, the key addition is a round in Brazil, replacing Argentina in the first group of flyways. MotoGP’s return to Brazil, at the Goiania circuit (aka Autodromo Internacional Ayrton Senna), comes more than two decades after the last MotoGP round was held in the South American country.

Brazil’s on-again, off-again connection to MotoGP started at Goiania in 1987. Wayne Gardner was the inaugural winner in the 500cc class and Dominique Sarron victorious in the 250cc class, while the 125cc class did not compete. Goiania, in the central west region of Brazil, held a round again in 1988 and 1989, then was dropped from the calendar. After a two-year break, Brazil was back on the calendar in 1992, this time at Interlagos in what proved to be a one-off.

When racing returned to Brazil in 1995, it was at Jacarepagua, with all three classes running in an event rebranded as the ‘Rio de Janeiro Motorcycle Grand Prix’ instead of the Brazilian Motorcycle Grand Prix. This round ran annually until 2004, with Makoto Tamada (MotoGP), Manuel Poggiali (250cc) and Hector Barbera (125cc) the winners in the final year.

As the Jacarepagua circuit was demolished to make way for venues required for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio, MotoGP’s return to Brazil will be held at Goiania, which has been upgraded and resurfaced. MotoGP will most likely use Goiania’s 3.82km, 11-corner ‘mixed circuit’, which some riders, including Franco Morbidelli and Luca Marini, have already tested on.

The revived Brazilian GP will be held in March as part of the first group of flyaway races that includes the season opener at Buriram, CotA in the USA, and Lusail in Qatar.

The European portion of the provisional 2026 MotoGP calendar commences at Jerez in late April, followed by Le Mans. Catalunya (Rd.07) has been moved from September to May, with Mugello to be held earlier next year, too. Balaton Park in Hungary, which just held its first World Superbike round, and was scheduled to make its MotoGP debut in late August (Rd.09), moves ahead to a June date in 2026, as does Brno.

Assen’s slot in the 2026 calendar is virtually unchanged from this year, with the Sachsenring to be the final round before the summer break. Racing will resume at Silverstone in August (Rd.13), followed by Aragon, Misano and Spielberg. All have been bumped back from their position on this year’s calendar.

The second set of flyaway rounds will get underway at Motegi on 2 October (Rd.17), followed by Mandalika a week later. There’s a two-week break before the Australian GP (Rd.19) at Phillip Island, which is scheduled for 23-25 October on the 2026 provisional calendar. Sepang concludes the second set of flyaways a week later.

The 2026 MotoGP season will conclude with the Portuguese GP (Rd.21) and the traditional finale at Valencia, where the champion will be crowned.

The full provisional 2026 calendar is as follows: