Track in Brazil’s MotoGP faces tricky conditions due to approaching rain storms

Motorsport photo Heavy rain in Brazil has brought flooding to the refurbished Autodromo Ayrton Senna in Goiania, which is set to host round two of the 2026 MotoGP season this weekend. Although forecasters predicted that rain would hit Goiania in Brazil all week, nobody expected the volume of water that fell to be significant as it has been. The rain pummelled the Autodromo Ayrton Senna in Goiania, which has been completely refurbished to host a new MotoGP Brazilian Grand Prix – 37 years after the last iteration of the race.

On Monday afternoon it started to rain heavily as a storm hit the region, and this continued in varying degrees of intensity throughout the whole night. The track awoke on Tuesday to find the access tunnel to the paddock was completely flooded and inaccessible, and water had accumulated on grassy areas around the track. However, the track itself and the pit lane showed some patches of dampness, but without pools of water accumulating.

On Tuesday, the rain stopped offering a brief respite for the crews at the track, but returned with great intensity in the afternoon. The already waterlogged ground meant that, by 5PM local time, the access tunnel was completely flooded with more than 25cm of accumulated water. Areas of the track were also waterlogged yesterday, both in the last corner leading onto the finish, and at the end of the straight.

In Turn 1, the accumulated water completely covered the 12m of asphalt. At 5PM local time on Tuesday (21:00 CET), Civil Defence of Goiania issued an emergency alert due to risk of sudden and heavy flooding in the city, recommending that people avoided moving through the impaceted areas. The alert reached locals across the capital, with phone notifications informing of a “risk of sudden and heavy flooding during the rains".