Senna Agius didn’t know exactly how many social media followers he had, but he did realise the number was increasing.
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It was December of 2024, and while the-then 19-year-old was coming off a first full Moto2 season where he first came to world championship prominence with his maiden podium finish at his home race at Phillip Island, he was hardly a household name.
But as his phone pinged with notifications of new followers, he quickly realised why.
Brazil had just been announced as coming back onto the MotoGP calendar for 2026, ending a two-decade hiatus from the world championship scene that began after the 2004 race in Rio, a year before Agius was even born.
The rebooted Brazilian Grand Prix was to be held at the Autodromo Internacional Ayrton Senna in Goiania, a track that had hosted the world championship for three years in the late 1980s, and one named after the legendary three-time Brazilian Formula 1 world champion.
Suddenly, it all made sense. Agius – his first name coming from his motorsport-loving dad Jono – was a rider Brazilian fans, re-engaged by the thought of the sport returning to the South American nation – suddenly wanted to know more about.
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Yes, they had Moto2 rising star Diogo Moreira, who was to claim the 2025 intermediate-class crown on the way to becoming a 2026 MotoGP rookie. They could half-claim Ducati’s Franco Morbidelli, the MotoGP veteran who races under the Italian flag, but has a Brazilian mother and has always leaned into his dual heritage.
But Agius was named after racing royalty, elevating him to a status that belied his years on the world championship scene.
“Yes, I’m named after Ayrton Senna, so that’s cool (to be) going there,” Agius told Fox Sports’ Renita Vermeulen on the ‘Pit Talk’ podcast, ahead of round two of the 2026 season in Brazil from March 20-22.
“When the Brazil race got announced, I got a load of social media following and likes from all these Ayrton Senna fan accounts.
“I’ve honestly never been anywhere close to that part of the world in my life, and the track looks super cool, a new facility for everybody. And where Ayrton Senna was from, so for me and my dad – it’s exciting.”
Excited is what Aussie two-wheel fans are about Agius’ prospects, after a 2024 that proved to be a launch pad for a 2025 campaign that featured a dramatic last-gasp victory at Silverstone, a pulverising win at home in Australia last October, and being increasingly seen by the sport’s insiders as Australia’s logical successor to Jack Miller when the 31-year-old Yamaha rider either decides he’s had enough or is squeezed off the grid in the coming years.
Knowing he now has the capability to race at the front of a cut-throat category where riders know they’re one category away from the main game has taught Agius plenty, and only increased his appetite to take that final small, yet giant, step.
“We learned a lot from the guys that beat us last year like Moreira winning the championship, how he went about things and what it takes in Moto2,” Agius, in his third season riding for the Liqui Moly Dynavolt Intact GP team, said.
PIT TALK PODCAST: Renita is joined by Australia’s Moto2 star Senna Agius to talk about his third season in the world championship, what he learned from the Thai GP and his expectations for 2026. Listen to Pit Talk below.
“It’s analysing myself and others, and understanding where I need to be better.
“In Moto2, with all the bikes being the same, at some point you just need to get on with the job with what you have. I’ve tripped up trying to find that perfect feeling … what separates the best from the rest is getting on with it when it’s not-so perfect, figuring out the strong suits and pushing the limits.
“It’s going to take more time on the limit for me to understand how to extract the maximum even when you’re not feeling good … with so many races and conditions and different tracks and whatnot, you don’t really have time to find that sweet spot. My teammate (Manu Gonzalez) was very good at that last year, he was always pretty fast straight out of the box.
“That’s just a different mentality and a different way of riding, and I think that’s what it takes. You need to be on the pace at all times and figure out how to adapt when things don’t feel quite right to get consistency.”
Do that, Agius feels, and rising rapidly from last year’s top-10 championship finish should be the result.
“Fight for the championship, and be in the mix,” he replied immediately when asked of his ceiling for the season, and how that could fast-track his MotoGP ambitions.
“I don’t want to be a name anymore who can sometimes be there, sometimes not. I’m ready to cement myself, have a great year and put myself in the spotlight. I can do it. I know I can do it, I’ve proved I can do it.
“It just comes down to results, nothing’s going to be handed to you. (MotoGP) is a tough category and I want to be there, but nothing’s going to be gifted to me unless I’m at the pointy end (of Moto2).”
SWEET AND SOUR IN THAILAND
The business end of the grid was where Agius found himself from day one of the 2026 season in Thailand, where the 20-year-old wasted zero time signalling his intent.
After being inside the top 10 across all three practice sessions in Buriram, Agius uncorked a stunning lap in qualifying to pinch pole position from Spanish rider Izan Guevara by 0.028secs, becoming the first Australian to start on pole in Moto2 since Remy Gardner in the Styrian Grand Prix of 2021.
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“That was something cool to tick off,” Agius said.
“I had a great Friday, great Saturday morning, (but) we were down on top speed all weekend on sectors one and two … I was losing three-tenths (of a second) on each straight for free, but it was between 90-100km/h, so nothing to do with getting off the corners.
“For the pole lap, I found a little slipstream out of turn one, and allowed me to use my strong suit in sector four. I went a little bit hot into the last corner and missed a little bit of time on the exit, but the speed I went into the last corner actually ended up helping me, because it’s not a very long run to the line.
“Pole was cool. I’ve always felt I’ve been a little bit unlucky going for pole position in the past, I’ve been close and something has always happened or someone with better track position gets us.”
Come Sunday, Agius’ quest to add a third Moto2 win to his CV hit a snag before the race even began. He knew something wasn’t right with his Kalex machine on the warm-up lap, which eventually had scary consequences.
With his bike’s electronic control unit (ECU) going haywire, Agius dropped spots in the early laps from pole until his bike slowed and was collected by the trailing machine of Colombian rider David Alonso, Czech rider Filip Salac also going down in an ugly incident that caused a red flag.
Alonso copped the brunt of the impact – the Colombian was fortunately diagnosed with no fractures after falling and being run over by Salac as the pair tried to avoid Agius’ slowing bike – but Agius, once his bike was repaired, had to take the race restart from the pit lane and, after a third restart following a subsequent crash involving Italian rider Luca Lunetta and Spanish rival Sergio Garcia, came home in a pointless 18th place.
“From the first lap of the race … there was a sluggish feeling, the bike was pulling off the first two sectors worse than the previous day,” Agius explained.
“I was using first gear off the hairpin that should have been second. All my shift points were really late, and that was just the first lap. I was a little bit erratic on the brakes and passing in, not crazy spots, but just riding a bit too aggressively at the beginning just to catch up the ground I was losing. And then, unfortunately, coming out of turn nine, the bike lost power.
“I didn’t expect it to just completely cut out and die on me, so I couldn’t react, and I’m on the middle of the track. Luckily David (Alonso) and Filip (Salac) are OK, because it could have been a pretty bad accident. I think I got away with it pretty unscathed, too.
“I pushed the bike back to the box when I saw the red flag … running in that heat, which was terrible. Credit to the guys, they did change the ECU – there was a fault code somewhere on a part of the bike, and once the bike registers a fault code it just shuts down. I was just trying to keep calm.”
Scoring zero points on a day where you’ve started from pole hurt, but relief came for Agius days later when the sport’s governing body, the FIM, conceded that it had made a timing error as the three-part race had not completed two-thirds of its 22-lap duration as originally thought. Half-points were awarded after an amendment, meaning Agius’ deficit in the standings to race-winning teammate Gonzalez is 12.5 points heading into Brazil, not 25.
“If you’re the winner, I understand you’ll be a little bit dirty that you didn’t get your points, but in the end a seven-lap race probably doesn’t deserve full points,” Agius reasoned.
“It limited the damage for us in the championship. Nobody should get really angry or upset about it, because there’s nothing in our control. The engines are all sealed, so there’s nothing independently that we’re doing different that’s failed, it’s just the equipment we’ve been given. I’m sure we will be rectified when we get to Brazil with new parts, or an understanding of what happened for future races.
“It something that’s happened to me before, last year. It seems to be to do with catastrophic temperatures, because everybody’s bikes are overheating.”
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ISLAND LOSS ‘BITTERSWEET’ BEFORE ADELAIDE INTRIGUE
Something that happened to Agius last year – but won’t happen for much longer – is a big change to the sport in Australia that has far-reaching, historical consequences.
On the eve of the 2026 season start, series promoters MotoGP Sports and Entertainment Group (formerly known as Dorna) dropped the bombshell that the Australian round of the championship, which has been held at Phillip Island from 1989 and continuously since 1997, would be moving to a street circuit in Adelaide from next year once the Island’s contract runs out following this October’s race.
It’s a change that, Agius concedes, leaves him torn.
After earning his first world championship rostrum visit at home in 2024, Agius was extraordinary at the Island last year, demolishing the field to win by 3.6secs in a display that screamed MotoGP rider in waiting, such was his level of dominance in a big moment.
Adelaide, though, offers something different for the sport as a whole, not just Australia. Bringing the racing to the people and turning the event into a festival in a metropolitan market is a new concept for MotoGP, and one that has Agius intrigued.
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“It’s bittersweet, but in the modern era you’ve got to separate what’s good for the sport and what’s good for, for lack of a better term, emotions,” he said.
“I’ve got so many like emotions connected to Phillip Island, and it’s not just because of success. I used to go there and watch (as a fan), and it’s not an unbiased opinion that Phillip Island is the greatest racetrack … the scenery, the track layout … from a motorsport point of view, it’s a little bit upsetting with the whole history behind it, and I don’t think we’re going to get back to race there at world championship level anytime soon.
“But the sport needs to evolve, and we look at other sports that are bigger like F1, and if Adelaide and the whole MotoGP calendar has that environment, it’s only going to grow the sport. Adelaide can be a massive turnout and a massive opportunity for Australian motorsport.
“It’s not fair to forget about Phillip Island – it’s the greatest race track and I don’t think you’ll be able to beat it – but it’s time to move on. If Adelaide brings the spectacle that it can be … it’s a big effort from and commitment from everybody, and I would just say congratulations to all involved. It’s a new chapter and I can’t wait to get there.
“I just hope it turns out well … being based in a city creates so much traction, it opens a new chapter for the sport. It wouldn’t surprise me if more cities up to build street circuits if it’s shown to be possible.”
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While Adelaide will almost certainly be the final act of the 2027 MotoGP season as next year’s calendar takes shape, Agius’ focus has a shorter-term feel.
When he heads from Sydney to Goiania next week, that uniquely famous motorsport maiden name in his passport, he knows it can’t help to be anything but a special experience to race at a track that features his own first name.
“I don’t know what it’s going to be like,” he said.
“Everyone’s going to be there for the Brazilian riders, with Morbidelli and Diogo but … I’ve got a couple of things lined up with Alpinestars, I’ve got some (merchandise) … I’m just so excited to get there.”