Heavy rain and flash flooding at the refurbished Autódromo Ayrton Senna in Goiânia threatened final preparations for the MotoGP Brazil Grand Prix, the first Brazilian round in 37 years. A storm that began Monday afternoon returned with force on Tuesday; by 5 p.m. local time the paddock access tunnel was submerged under more than 25 cm of water. Multiple sections of the circuit were waterlogged, including about 12 metres of asphalt in Turn 1, the final corner and the end of the main straight.

Local authorities issued emergency alerts and civil defense warnings as organizers, track teams and the Climate Crisis Office launched recovery operations. Crews used tanker trucks and manual clearing to drain standing water and remove mud, working through Wednesday after initial efforts the previous day. Organizers said they would repeat removal operations because further rain was forecast, noting the situation was time‑sensitive with roughly 48 hours until Moto3 FP1 at 9 a.m. local time on Friday.

By mid‑morning officials reported temperatures around 30°C and said the asphalt was practically dry in places, but they cautioned that an adverse forecast could still compromise the weekend and that drainage and safety conditions must be assessed before any schedule changes. Event organizers stressed they were not discussing cancellation and pledged to do everything possible to stage the Grand Prix, but acknowledged that localized flooding, damage to access routes and the ongoing forecast left the weekend’s staging uncertain.

The incident underlined the tight turnaround and high stakes involved in returning MotoGP to Brazil after more than three decades, as teams and organizers worked against time to restore the circuit ahead of round two of the season.

Sources