“Good format” - MotoGP riders welcome 2025 Buriram opener, Brno return

The top four in the MotoGP standings have welcomed the 2025 calendar shake-up, which includes Buriram in Thailand as the season-opener and the return of Brno in the Czech Republic.

The full provisional line-up is yet to be released but Buriram looks set to join India and perhaps Indonesia in being brought to the start of the season, breaking up the usual run of flyaway races from mid-September to the end of October.

Brno meanwhile is back on the calendar for the first time since 2020.

“For the first time we will go to Thailand not in the thunderstorm period, so it could be good!” smiled title leader Francesco Bagnaia. “And Brno, is one of the best tracks we ever had. So I'm very happy about riding again in Brno.”

Title rival Jorge Martin admitted he is eager to see the full 2025 event line-up.

“I'm really looking forward to know the complete calendar because they are giving us some clues!” he said. “Thailand for sure is a nice track. It will be hot, but as always. And Brno, I really like. I never rode with the MotoGP, but I think it will be a nice track for us.”

MotoGP bikes previously rode in Thailand early in the year, during a mid-February pre-season test in 2018. While the chance of rain was reduced, the temperatures were hotter than at Sepang a few weeks' earlier...

“Starting from Thailand will be very hot and complicated physically,” said Enea Bastianini. “At the start of the season you have to arrive very prepared but it will be good. And Brno is one of my favourite tracks.”

Eight-time world champion Marc Marquez backed MotoGP’s growing shift to Asia and the decision to divide the Asian flyaways into two groups.

“I think it's a good format, a bit different, because now [2024] we concentrate on the Asia area at the end - September, October,” said the Gresini Ducati rider.

“We know that it's an important market for all the brands…. And it will be important to split two times.

“I like this. We will have [Asian] races in the beginning of the season and then in the end."

The 2025 Thai season opener, expected to be held on the first weekend in March, has received a further boost with the news that home Moto2 star Somkiat Chantra will make history by racing in the MotoGP class next season.