Czech Republic Grand Prix

The Czech Republic Grand Prix is a MotoGP race that was first held in the 1965 500cc championship and is one of the European country’s most prestigious sporting events.

Initially run as the Czechoslovak Grand Prix, the race adopted its current name the Czech GP in 1993 after the country’s dissolution into the Czech Republic and Slovakia. It even marked the series’ return to the Automotodrom Brno after the race was not held in the 1992 season.

The 500cc world championship held intermittent visits to Czechoslovakia from 1965 to 1991 after including the Grand Prix which has roots going back to 1947. The Czech GP since 1993 was then a mainstay of the series to 2020, before returning to the MotoGP calendar in 2025.

History of the MotoGP Czech Republic Grand Prix

The city of Brno is the 500cc/MotoGP championship’s spiritual home in the Czech Republic, having staged every running of the Grand Prix since its maiden inclusion as part of the world championship in 1965. Brno’s streets also hosted the city’s first running of the meet in 1950.

Early editions of the Czechoslovak GP saw the round take place on 17.8 kilometres (11m) of public roads, with the track adopting the name of the Masaryk Circuit. But changes made in 1965 reduced the track’s length to 13.9km (8.6m) and it saw the 500cc championship arrive.

Further changes in 1975 also, again, reduced the track’s length to 10.9km (6.7m) as the FIM sought to improve the safety standards of staging the Czechoslovak GP on public roads. But it no longer became viable for the FIM to hold the race on public roads after the 1977 meet.

So, after a few years without a world championship round, Brno sought to erect a purpose-built track in 1985 and soon tempted the 500cc class to return in 1987. The Automotodrom Brno is set within the roads which once staged the race and continues to host the Czech GP.

Jorge Lorenzo, Dani Pedrosa and Marc Marquez led the Spanish success at the Czech GP

Mike Hailwood won the maiden running of the Czechoslovak GP as part of the 500cc world championship for MV Agusta in 1965. The Briton even returned to Brno to win again but on a Honda bike in 1966 and 1967, before Giacomo Agostini then won in four successive visits.

All four of Agostini’s Czechoslovak Grand Prix victories came with MV Agusta, but were split into pairs in 1968 and 1969 plus 1972 and 1973. Phil Read also then won twice in a row with MV Agusta at Brno. But the Czechoslovak GP fell off the 500cc calendar after the 1977 term.

It took a decade for Brno to bring the 500cc world championship back to Czechoslovakia for the 1987 Grand Prix, which Wayne Gardener won for Honda and revived the trend of riders winning in succession trips in 1988. Wayne Rainey also continued the trend in 1990 and ‘91.

Like Agostini 20 years earlier, Rainey even returned and won at Brno after a year away when the 500cc championship held the maiden Czech Republic Grand Prix in 1993. Yet it took until Valentino Rossi in 2008 and 2009 for any premier class rider to do a Czech GP double again.

Brno has regularly delivered a different winner each year, even if the same pilots are fighting for the top step of a Czech GP rostrum. Spanish trio Jorge Lorenzo, Dani Pedrosa and Marc Marquez won seven of the 10 Czech Grands Prix from 2010 to 2019 yet neither did a double.

Cal Crutchlow became the first British premier class race winner in 35 years at the 2016 Czech Grand Prix

Casey Stoner in 2011, Cal Crutchlow in 2016 and Andrea Dovizioso in 2018 split the streak of Spanish success at Brno. Crutchlow’s 2016 Czech GP win also made the LCR Honda ace the first British premier class race winner since Barry Sheene won the 1981 Swedish Grand Prix.

The 2012 Czech GP also saw Spanish duo Pedrosa and Lorenzo do battle at Brno in a fierce fight to the finish that the Honda hero won with a late dive into the final chicane on the last lap. Lorenzo tried to hang on around the outside but the Yamaha pilot drifted just too wide.

Brno also has a further slice of motorcycle racing history as it was at the 1996 Czech Grand Prix that future seven-time MotoGP and nine-time world champion Rossi won his first world championship race in the 125cc class. The Italian was 17 years old as he won with an Aprilia.

But after an uninterrupted run of 28 years from 1993, the Czech GP dropped off the MotoGP calendar after Brad Binder won with KTM in 2020. Brno city councillors said it could not pay the 100 million Czech Koruna (£3.3m) fee to repair the track without any extra state funding.

MotoGP organisers Dorna Sports also refused to lower the £7.5m hosting fee it took for the Czech GP to help Brno pay its repair build. So, the Czech GP faced an uncertain future, yet it would only stay off the schedule for four seasons before MotoGP returned to Brno in 2025.

What is the Automotodrom Brno like?

The Automotodrom Brno is a real, classic MotoGP track which also draws thousands of two-wheeled racing fans to visit the Czech Republic each year for the Grand Prix. Fans and riders also consider the Czech GP to be a classic MotoGP race thanks largely to the design of Brno.

Brno became a 5.4km (3.3m) circuit in 1987 when the former capital city of Moravia erected a permanent track to entice the 500cc world championship to return to Czechoslovakia after previously utilising public roads. The permanent Brno track has remained unchanged since.

MotoGP riders face an even share between eight right-hand and six left-hand corners during a lap of Brno, alongside constant elevation changes. Overtaking chances are also plentiful on a lap of Brno, with riders able to fight tooth and nail from Turn 1 and all the way back again.

Winners of the MotoGP Czech Republic Grand Prix

Below, MotoGP News lists every premier class rider to win the Czech Republic Grand Prix…