This weekend’s return to MotoGP action at Brazil’s Goiania circuit faces yet another significant setback, forcing a major reshuffling of the Saturday schedule.
Days of heavy rain at the circuit appear to have caused a sinkhole to open up on the start-finish straight following MotoGP’s qualifying session.
Photographs seen by The Race have confirmed the extent of the damage done to the circuit, with workers ending up up to their waists in a pit right on the middle of the track’s main straight.
MotoGP’s team bosses were understood to have attended a crisis meeting with organisers, in an attempt to work out what happens next. It was initially decided that Moto3 and Moto2 qualifying were being postponed – with MotoGP prioritising getting the premier-class sprint in on Saturday.
FIM MotoGP safety officer Tome Alfonso was quoted as describing the issue as “a depression in the track surface caused by soil movement”.
“It is off the racing line and we’re already repairing the problem. If everything goes well, we should be able to have the MotoGP Sprint today,” he said.
MotoGP subsequently announced the race would get going 20 minutes past the original schedule, before changing the target to 35 minutes and then finally over an hour.
The situation comes as a fresh blow to the first weekend at Goiania in 30 years, following heavy rain overnight on Thursday that caused fresh flooding to the track and delayed Friday morning’s track action.
