Surprisingly fast MotoGP rookie Karel Abraham will race his maiden home grand prix this weekend at Brno in the Czech Republic.

Riding in his home race in the premier class for the first time this weekend, Abraham will have the expectations of the crowd upon him and the rookie acknowledged the significance of this round.

“Of course this is a really important GP for me as it’s my home race, there is a lot of pressure and nobody means it in a bad way,” Abraham said.

“We need to get a lot more experience than we have now, but with every lap we ride with the other riders we are doing that.”

Abraham has been a standout rookie this year in a single-rider team funded by his father, sitting 12th in the championship to date.

His best weekend to date this season came at the British Grand Prix, where he qualified sixth before racing to seventh on Sunday.