Brad Binder “can see MotoGP coming back to Kyalami”

The MotoGP World Championship may be running at a record 20 rounds, stretching from Argentina to Japan, but there is still currently no event on the African continent.

Peter McLaren

18 Jul 2023

Brad Binder, KTM MotoGP Sachsenring 2023

Ten motorcycle grands prix were held in South Africa between 1983 and 2004, the opening four events at Kyalami before Welkom took over in 1999.

MotoGP hasn’t been back since Valentino Rossi’s famous debut victory as a Yamaha rider in the 2004 season-opener.

But with home rider Brad Binder fighting at the front for KTM and younger brother Darryn in Moto2 a South African return would surely prove popular.

Perhaps most significantly, Kyalami is also rumoured to be seeking a return to the F1 calendar, where it last appeared in 1993.

If the track can be upgraded to meet the standards required for F1 it would likely only need minimal bike-specific tweaks to also host MotoGP.

Brad Binder, who has ridden some demo laps at Kyalami, told Crash.net:

“For me the actual layout is fantastic and the facility itself - like the pits, the control tower - is just as good if not better than we have at some tracks where we race at the moment.

“The main thing is that for sure they need to add a bit of run-off.

“The walls are slightly too close in a couple of areas and for them to have MotoGP back there, the biggest thing they're going to have to do is try and add a little bit of run-off.

“But other than that, I can definitely see MotoGP coming back one day. That’d be good!”

Kyalami last hosted a World Superbike round in 2010, while COTA, Silverstone, Red Bull Ring, Barcelona and Qatar currently host both MotoGP and F1 Grands Prix.