Heavy rain and flooding hits Autodromo Ayrton Senna ahead of MotoGP Brazil GP

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 it last hosted grand prix motorcycles. 

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 impacted areas.

The alert reached locals across the capital, with phone notifications informing of a “risk of sudden and heavy flooding during the rains". 

According to local media, teams from the Climate Crisis Office are already mobilised and working on the streets of the city, carrying out preventive monitoring and follow-up inspections at points that are considered critical. The city council reported that the objective of these tasks is to reduce risks, provide guidance to the population and act quickly in case of incidents.

Teams are at the track attempting to clear away the water

Photo by: Diário do Estado

The rain continues

At the Goiania circuit, work is being carried out intensively to have everything ready for the start of the Brazilian Grand Prix, which will begin this Friday with Moto3 FP1 at 9AM local time.

After Monday’s rain, work teams with tanker trucks began removing the water from the track early on Tuesday. By mid-morning, the asphalt was practically dry as ambient temperatures hit 30 degrees and the sun filtered the clouds.

On Wednesday, the operation will be repeated to try and keep the track dry. However, rain forecasts remain throughout the week, and the accumulation of water could, in the end, complicate the second grand prix of the season.

Nobody in Goiania wants to hear talk of suspension of the event, even less after the recent announcement of the relocation of the Qatar GP to the end of the season. There are 48 hours left before the on-track action begins and the organisers trust that the rain will break and everything can be ready for MotoGP to compete again in Brazil.