Nico Gruetmann’s 2026 season has taken an unexpected turn. After impressing in the EMX250 championship last year, where he finished fourth overall and secured two podium finishes, the Swiss rider made the bold decision to bypass MX2 and move directly into the MXGP class.
Now competing as a full privateer, Gruetmann has found himself handling much of the workload alone, from preparing and rebuilding bikes to travelling across Europe and managing race weekends. Despite the obstacles, the talented Honda rider remains determined to continue chasing his dream of establishing himself at World Championship level.
At the German Grand Prix, Gruetmann opened up about his split from Meuwissen Motorsports Honda, the realities of racing MXGP on a stock bike, balancing budgets as an independent rider, and the surreal experience of lining up alongside childhood heroes such as Jeffrey Herlings, Pauls Jonass and Maxime Renaux. He also discussed his future plans, the support he receives from MX Academy, and why he still believes his best results are yet to come.
GateDrop: You had plans to race all the European MXGP races this year, obviously you weren’t in France last weekend, but you’re here in Germany and you’re here alone, not with Meuwissen Honda, so basically what led to that and you’re pretty much a full privateer now I believe?
Gruetmann: At the moment I’m a full privateer, I’m doing everything by myself and I’m here alone because two mechanics said they don’t come on Friday and we expect them to be here. I had a guy from Germany, Daniel, helping me out last minute here on Friday and practically do everything by myself now because the team didn’t really do what I expect a team to do. That’s why I try to do it now by myself, which stands out but it’s pretty difficult. I maybe overworked myself a little bit by rebuilding bikes and travelling everywhere by myself. I was preparing my race bikes and my practice bikes, everything by myself and the turnout was a little bit much.
I had a big crash yesterday in the qualifying warm up and now I’m dealing with a concussion so this weekend wasn’t really great either.
GateDrop: Obviously last year was really good with Cat Moto, you were with them for a few years, how hard is it whenever you go from a team like that, doing really good in EMX, to having to do everything yourself, that’s quite a challenge I’d imagine?
Gruetmann: It’s pretty difficult. It’s also quite a bummer because last year I finished fourth overall in the EMX250 Championship. I had two times a podium in the EMX250 class so I was hoping that something good was coming around. Now I’m actually really blessed with MX Academy helping me out their best and really standing behind my back and really having me.
On the other side, coming from a well-structured team and also already well-structured in the first year. I mean, they came and the team was built in three months and then we had a structure and with Pro Sports Allianz, with Andre from Pro Sports, everything was well structured and we just had one vision and that was to be on the podium. We had nothing to do apart from just riding our bikes and focusing on ourselves. If we wanted to get something to test on the bike, Andre just organised it and we had it. It’s really difficult because now I do the stuff by myself, so I have to take care of that and I already can feel, we make moves in the right direction but we lose some stuff on the other spots, so we try to go in the right direction.
GateDrop: For people that might be a little bit confused, that don’t know the sport that well, obviously the natural progress in the MXGP would be EMX250, MX2 and then MXGP, but you obviously decided to go straight to MXGP, obviously that’s probably because of your size and your build that you went with the 450cc. But can you just explain a little bit about that decision for the people that don’t know?
Gruetmann: I had the opportunity to stay on the 250cc, I had some offers for the MX2 World Championship. I have to say they were a little bit on the more expensive side, but it’s just because as soon as you go from the EMX to the World Championship, the bikes have to be so much better, especially with my height and weight. They need a lot more maintaining and also with Cat Moto, I could have stayed there for this year again. But the whole concept of Cat Moto is that everything they do and they give everything 100% so it would have been also the oversea GP’s. The oversea rounds are quite expensive, so I couldn’t afford that and I also thought that the 450cc is going to suit me better. I actually really like to ride with the 450cc and in the winter I was in a way better spot than I am now. I think if I go back to the speed I had in the winter I will be fine riding on the positions I was expecting to be in the beginning of the year. That’s when everything was going smooth, not perfect, but I’ll try to get everything aligned now again and then I think the results should come.
GateDrop: I mean going from the EMX250 class to MXGP, what is that jump like? When you turned up at the first MXGP, what was going through your head riding with those guys?
Gruetmann: It was really difficult, especially because the first one was in Spain, had a long travel and then I believe it was a qualifying race, I had an alright start, I started 19th and I made my way up to I think 12th or 13th, and then I was behind Pauls Jonass. That was the first time realised that I am racing with my heroes now on the track. Last year I rode the MX2 World Championship as a wildcard but they weren’t heroes.
I mean its guys like Pauls Jonass, Jeffrey Herlings, Maxime Renaux. Those guys are my heroes and all of a sudden being with those guys on the track means a lot. They barely make any mistakes, in EMX you will be behind one guy and he for sure makes some mistakes so now it’s not like that anymore. The speed is unbelievably high, those guys are really, really good.
GateDrop: Obviously the plan was to do all the European MXGP rounds, you weren’t in France last weekend so moving forward now with MX Academy, what are the plans, obviously you’re still going to do the full ADAC I’d imagine but in terms of GPs, do you know what the plan is yet?
Gruetmann: The plan with the GP’s is that I just want to do all of them which are reachable for me because now I do the stuff by myself, so I have to check out for the budget – some of the budget is already gone, let’s say. I have to check out where I can go with my budget, but the plan is to do all of them which are in Europe and which are in the range of 1500km, that’s where I would draw the line. There are still a decent amount of GP’s I want to do, but first I have to figure out that a mechanic. I don’t want to stay here all day on a Friday and have no one to wrench for me, because wrenching by myself is quite a tough thing to do at World Championship level.
GateDrop: I was talking to you yesterday and you said you might go to South Africa, is that something you can talk about or are you still waiting to see on that one?
Gruetmann: No, we are still waiting with that one. People in the background tried to get me there so I would also be really excited to there. I’m riding a stock Honda, so the only thing I have to bring over are my handlebars and my suspension. It would be cool to make the South African GP so we’ll see.
GateDrop: I mean riding a stock bike in the MXGP class, what’s that like against all the factory guys? I mean what’s it like when Herlings is coming around lapping you on his factory Honda? (laughs)…
Gruetmann: I think the 450cc is still good, it’s still enough power, but those guys just have a lot more torque so they can ride a little bit more on the calm side whereas I have to go with more revs. It’s good every time they lap you, or ideally they don’t lap me in the future anymore, but every time they lap you, you know where you should be, one lap ahead (laughs).
GateDrop: Let’s say a good team gets an injured rider tomorrow, are you technically a free agent now? Would you explore other opportunities if one arises?
Gruetmann: MX Academy are helping me out with whatever they can, and they support me in all sort of directions or whatever I need. Of course, if a team pops up, which is a solid team, a good team, a supportive team, I have to talk with them. MX Academy is behind supporting me and they are supporting me to try and be one of the top riders in the world. That’s what the goal is for and obviously they are a dealership in Switzerland and not a factory team. We are calculating with that we will race apart one day, but until then they are behind my back and supporting me.
