Pecco Bagnaia reveals biggest challenge about new Balaton Park MotoGP circuit

Ducati’s Pecco Bagnaia says MotoGP riders will face an interesting challenge adapting to the low-speed Balaton Park Circuit when the Hungarian venue hosts its first grand prix later this month.

After being a reserve venue on the calendar for a number of years, the freshly-updated Balaton Park track will make its MotoGP debut as the 14th round of the 2025 season on 24 August.

Ducati held a private test at the 4.15km circuit earlier this week, giving all six of its riders the chance to familiarise themselves with the layout ahead of MotoGP’s first visit to Hungary since 1992.

Factory rider Bagnaia sampled the track aboard a Ducati Panigale V4 R road bike and described it as “very narrow” and “slow”, but still “enjoyable”.

“First impressions are it’s a different kind of track compared to the rest,” he said. “It’s very small, very narrow. You are very slow on all corners. So it’s different.

“We are just training and with the Panigale we are enjoying it a lot. Let’s see with the GP [bike], how we can adapt to such a slow speed. But in any case the layout is quite different but enjoyable.”

Bagnaia’s teammate and points leader Marc Marquez had a similar opinion about the latest track on the MotoGP calendar, as he gave Balaton Park a big thumbs up.

The six-time MotoGP champion is expected to go well around the track, with its left-heavy layout playing to one of his trademark strengths.

“The first impression of Balaton Park, it was quite interesting,” he said. “It’s a very different race track with a lot of stop and go, [a lot] of tight corners. 

“It was difficult to understand, especially the brake point. But as soon as you get it we start to enjoy it. And the asphalt is super good. It’s a different race track but we enjoy it.”

Michelin had already held a tyre test at Balaton Park in June with actual MotoGP machinery, but only test riders were allowed to ride on the track.

The Hungarian venue hosted its first major international races last month, with the World Superbike Championship visiting the venue on 26-27 July.