Image: Russell Colvin.

MotoGP has officially locked in its Australian round for the 2026 season – the final year of the championship’s 1000cc era – with Phillip Island retaining its traditional late-October slot at the Victoria-based grand prix circuit.

Scheduled between October 23-25, the Phillip Island round will be round 19 of the 22-race season, and remains one of the most anticipated events on the MotoGP calendar.

The 2026 Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix will mark the 30th time the MotoGP World Championship has visited Phillip Island, with the first being in 1989 during the 500cc era. To date, Australia has hosted a round of the series 34 times, including six events at Sydney Motorsport Park (formerly Eastern Creek).

Phillip Island will once again form part of the championship’s late-season swing through Asia, following visits to Japan and Indonesia, before heading to Malaysia the weekend after the Australian round. The season then returns to Europe for the final two races – Portimao in mid-November, followed by the season finale in Valencia, Spain, from November 20-22.

Elsewhere on the 2026 calendar, MotoGP will return to Brazil for the first time since 2004. The Brazilian Grand Prix at Goiania’s Autodromo Internacional Ayrton Senna will be held as round two on March 20-22, replacing Argentina, which drops off the schedule temporarily – set to return in 2027 at a newly renovated venue near Buenos Aires.

The 2026 season takes off in Thailand in early March, followed by a series of fly-aways including Brazil, the Circuit of the Americas in the USA, and Qatar, before the championship settles into its traditional European core.

The Hungarian GP remains on the calendar for a second year at Balaton Park, but shifts to a June 5-7 slot, while the British GP moves back to August after a somewhat unsuccessful late-May spot this year.

Despite earlier doubts over its future, the Aragon GP stays on the calendar and will run as a standalone event from August 28-30. A final European double-header wraps up the summer action with Misano and Austria, with the Red Bull Ring shifting from its ‘usual’ August date to September 18-20.

In total, eight back-to-back rounds are scheduled for the 2026 MotoGP World Championship, promising a tightly packed and thrilling final season for the litre-capacity machinery.