MotoGP riders wary of ‘super dirty’ Goiania track…

Heavy rain in Goiania has left MotoGP riders wary of a potentially “super dirty” track, although the true extent of the conditions will only become clear when practice begins on Friday.

MotoGP is making a long-awaited return to Brazil after a 22-year absence, with a heavily-renovated Autodromo Internacional Ayrton Senna hosting the second round of the season.

However, the race week began with severe weather on Monday, with parts of the track getting flooded and the tunnel to the paddock becoming temporarily inaccessible.

Another heavy downpour on Tuesday afternoon worsened the situation, while further rain is forecast for the remainder of the week.

Race organisers have been working hard to improve conditions, deploying multiple tanker trucks to dry the surface. A group of 30 prisoners have also been assisting with maintenance work as part of a state reintegration programme.

However, while the workers succeeded in drying up the asphalt and clearing any standing water, there is some concern over dirt and mud being dragged on to the track and getting deposited onto the surface.

Several riders got a first look at the conditions during Wednesday’s track walk.

“Let's see with this rain what will happen on Friday with the floods, because we can have a surprise,” said Honda rider Joan Mir.

“They say that on Tuesday the track was more or less ok, but [when] the floods came, the track became super dirty.

“So probably when the water goes [down], the [cleaning] is not done perfectly.

“When the floods come, they will bring some dirt on the track, and it can be difficult, but we will see.”

Tech3 rider Enea Bastianini admitted that riders could face a challenging start to the weekend on Friday, before bikes start laying down rubber on the track.

“To be honest, it's very dirty because the tarmac was completely red and probably the first practice will be very hard for us,” he said.

“But we need to enjoy it and try to do the best from the first practice.”

Yamaha’s Alex Rins stressed that it’s important to ensure the starting grid remains clean to avoid any drama during race starts.

“Sure, it's going to be just one [clean] line tomorrow,” he said. But [that is the] same as Qatar and Indonesia.

“Maybe the track looks a little bit more dirty than the other ones because of the rain and the mud. But they are cleaning [it] now.

“It's important, also for the practice starts, for the grid spots to be cleaned. But they are not going to stop working.”

Heavy rains over Brazilian circuit (Photo by: Uncredited)

The intensity of the rain earlier this week caught many by surprise, and the Civil Defence of Goiania even had to issue an alert in the city on Tuesday.

Pramac’s Jack Miller is confident that the track will offer good grip in a fully-wet race, but warned about slime-like patches forming in mixed-weather conditions.

“I think the hardest thing is going to be clearing the dirt off the track. New track, a lot of work going on, so it's to be expected I guess,” he said. “Obviously they're doing their best to try and clean it.

“I think the track itself in full wet conditions will have a lot of grip, just by looking at the asphalt. But it'll be tricky when you get that sort of half-wet, half-dry [scenario].

“When it's not quite enough water to keep the dirt patches wet, you start to get almost like a slime in the track, from where the dirt essentially starts to turn to mud. So that will be a tricky thing to adapt to. But the track itself, the asphalt looks really, really, really nice.

"And I believe it'll have a good grip in the wet. So, I'm all for a wet race. 31 laps around here in the wet, it's going to be a long time though.”

More rain is forecast on Friday and Saturday, although the race day is expected to be dry.

Ducati’s two-time MotoGP champion Francesco Bagnaia admitted that the situation was “pretty critical” on Tuesday, with the final two corners being his main cause of concern for the rest of the weekend.

Let's hope it doesn't rain anymore, because if it does, the conditions would be a bit difficult, especially before the last two corners, because it tends to flood, and on Tuesday, there was a pretty critical situation. I came here to the circuit and it was tough,” he told Sky Italy.

“But in any case, we're ready for anything, and the track is indeed nice."