It's been 37 years since Autodromo Ayrton Senna in Goiania, Brazil, hosted a MotoGP race. But after being fully refurbished, it was selected as the location for Round 2 on the MotoGP calendar this year. Everyone was stoked for the event, as MotoGP was returning to one of the biggest hubs for motorsport around.
Brazilian fans are among the most passionate of all motorsport fans.
But it's increasingly looking as if the race won't get to wave the green flag, as heavy rains and flooding have besieged the locale, causing big portions of the racetrack to be submerged. Crews at the track have done admirable jobs by drying the track out fairly quickly and moving big amounts of water every time the skies open up, but more rain is predicted.
And while no one wants to talk cancellation, especially after changing the dates for the Qatar MotoGP race so it can hopefully be held, and both Saudi Arabia and Bahrain's cuts by Formula 1 due to the ongoing war in the Arabian Gulf, there's definitely scuttlebutt that Brazil could get culled, or at the very least, moved to another time on the calendar.
"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," states the report from our siblings at Motorsport, adding, "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. 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."
Crews were seen working continuously to dry the track out, sweeping water off the track, and utilizing the sun and Brazil's ambient temperature, which at the time of writing sits at 82 degrees Fahrenheit. However, according to the State of Goias' , a flood and heavy rainfall alert remains in effect, with more rain coming, the heaviest of which will likely occur both on Thursday and today.
According to Motorsport's report, "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."
I'd call that pie-in-the-sky thinking, myself. Mother Nature suffers no one, and she'll humble your ass quickly. But for the Brazilian fans awaiting the MotoGP race, as well as for those affected by the flooding, downed power lines, broken infrastructure, and displaced lives, I hope the rain halts. We'll just have to wait and see.
