A big rendez-vous of the MotoGP™ World Championship is just on the horizon, as the Red Bull KTM Tech3 team is heading to the Circuit of Barcelona-Catalunya for round 15, the Grand Prix of Catalonia, home soil to many riders. Barcelona will also mark the start of the last back-to-back weekends in Europe, and will be followed by the San Marino Grand Prix, before the championship heads to Asia for the awaited end-of-season oversea tour. In-form Enea Bastianini will be looking to bring the positives from the last few rounds to Catalonia, as he hopes to transform his recent progress into concrete points on enemy territory. Maverick Viñales will join us this week for his home round, as he will look to re-evaluate his physical condition following an extra two weeks off-track dedicated to his shoulder injury recovery.

Grand Prix of Catalonia

The pace was there in Hungary all weekend for Enea Bastianini: another direct Q2 ticket on Friday and a best season qualifying result of 4th promised wonders at Balaton Park, but things didn't go our way in both sprint and race, with crashes in the opening laps, and zero point scored at the end of what was a solid weekend. Enea will be hungry for more as he approaches Catalonia, and his confidence from the last rounds will certainly see him fight amongst the top on his KTM. On the other side of the garage, Maverick Viñales will be with us for his home round, and the Catalan will be willing to test his physical conditions after two extra weeks of recovery following his anticipated return to the action at the Austrian Grand Prix. The number 12 will be looking to complete a full race weekend, to be able to approach the end of the championship in the best conditions possible.

Soooo, get ready for another action-packed weekend as we will begin our Catalan GP campaign on Friday with Free Practice 1 at 10:45 local time (UTC+2), followed by the Practice session in the afternoon at 15:00 LT. Saturday will be busy as usual, with FP2 at 10:10, followed immediately by the qualifying sessions, from 10:50. In the afternoon, lights of the Tissot Sprint will go out at 15:00 LT. The next day, they can do it all over again, on the long distance, with the main event scheduled to start at 14:00, for 24 laps!

ENEA BASTIANINI: "I am very keen on Barcelona race weekend because we have left Hungary with more hunger for better results after our two crashes in the opening lap of both sprint and main race. Balaton was really positive anyway in terms of performance, our pace was competitive and we could get our best qualifying result of the season. So, we are looking forward to reaching Catalunya and seeing what we will be able to do on this track with our bike. It is an interesting layout, with a lot of flow, strong hard-braking points but with also many acceleration areas. I am confident that we can keep building from the last rounds, all very positive for us."

MAVERICK VIÑALES: "We have had two more weeks of recovery since the Austrian GP, which has been a real benefit for us. We have increased the level and intensity of the training, and every day we got stronger and stronger. It is important for us to be at the Catalunya GP this week, my home race, because it is going to help us evaluate all the work done recently with all my team and see where we are at. We won't be at our 100% this weekend for sure, but the target is to understand our condition on the bike. We will have to take the weekend session after session, starting with the feeling on Friday morning, and then we will go from there. Either way, I am super excited to meet the team again!"

NICOLAS GOYON, Team Manager: "We are approaching the last back-to-back rounds in Europe before the flyaways, and we start first with the Grand Prix of Catalunya, in Barcelona. It is a track very well known by all MotoGP riders, so it is usually a very competitive race weekend. It is known for its very low grip, but Enea Bastianini is very good when it comes to managing his tires in these conditions, so it can be an advantage for him. He left Hungary frustrated, with zero points, after reaching his best 2025 grid position, but a huge step forward was made in the last 3 rounds, and we are now confident that Enea has the potential to place his bike at the front now more constantly. Nevertheless, Catalunya’s track is different from the last few circuits, so it will be interesting for the Italian to understand his level on this type of layout. Maverick Viñales is joining us this week, and he will be giving it another try this week in Catalunya, after he was given extra recovery time after his attempt in Austria. We know he won’t be at 100% since he is still recovering, but the aim is to be able to complete a full race weekend in order to prepare for the end of the championship in the best way possible."

ABOUT THE TRACK

In 1989, through the joint collaboration of the Catalan Autonomous Government, the Montmeló Town Council and the Royal Automobile Club of Catalunya (RACC), work began on giving one of Europe’s most beautiful cities a state of the art race track to match. The Circuit de Catalunya opened on the doorstep of Barcelona in September 1991 and welcomed its first international event that same month, hosting the Spanish F1 Grand Prix. It went on to host the European Motorcycle Grand Prix and in 1995 became home to the Gran Premio de Catalunya. Considered to be one of the best designed circuits of the recent era, the Circuito de Catalunya won the much coveted IRTA ‘Best Grand Prix’ trophy for 2001 and has a general admission capacity of 104,000 spectators. Over the last years, the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya has become a major stop of the calendar of both F1 and MotoGP™ championships, and it is one of Europe's most exciting motorsport venues, known for its numerous opportunities of overtaking.

TRACK RECORDS

All Time Record: 2024 - A. Espargaro (SPA) - 1'38.190 - 170.7 km/h
Best Race Lap:  2024 - P. Acosta (SPA) - 1'39.664 - 168.2 km/h
Best Pole: 2024 - A. Espargaro (SPA) - 1'38.190 - 170.7 km/h
Top Speed: 2023 - A. Espargaro (SPA) - 356.4 km/h