Rain delays start of MotoGP Brazilian GP practice

The persistent rain falling on the Goiania Circuit has delayed the start of theMotoGP Brazilian Grand Prix weekend and raised concerns about whether the event can be completed normally.

The first practice session for the Moto3 class was scheduled to begin at 9am local time in Goiania (12pm GMT) on Friday, but the heavy rains that have been battering the area since Monday returned early in the morning, both in the city and in the area where the track is located - about 12 kilometres from downtown.

Upon arrival at the circuit, crews could be seen working intensely to clean the track, which was muddy in some spots, especially at the entrance to the finish line, where the pitlane entry is located. In addition to standing water, there was a lot of dirt that had been washed from the access roads onto the asphalt.

Water tankers and high-pressure hoses were cleaning the track with just one hour to go before the start of the first Moto3 practice session. However, the rain made an appearance again, starting off lightly before gradually becoming heavier.

Marc Márquez in the Ducati pit this Friday morning watching the rain develop

Photo by: Germán Garcia

Given this situation, the championship announced a rescheduling of Friday’s events, with Moto3 starting at 10am and Moto2 at 11am, with the session extended by ten minutes, as originally planned for a new track.

MotoGP's FP1 is now scheduled for 12:05pm local time, an hour later than originally planned. The extended one-hour session will be followed by start practice.

The main practice session has been cut short from 75 minutes to 60 minutes and will now start at 4pm local time.

Under the supervision of FIM MotoGP safety director Tome Alfonso and Loris Capirossi, who is in charge of overseeing rider safety at grand prix events, the decision was made to open the pit lane at 10am after confirming that the track surface was already in riding condition, even though it was wet.

The Honda pit preparing the bikes this Friday in Goiânia

Photo by: Germán Garcia

Moto3 starts in wet conditions

At 10am, the lights turned green for the Moto3 riders, though with light rain still falling on track, they were forced  to switch to wet-weather tyres and set-up. The first rider to head out was Veda Pratama, the Indonesian rider from Honda Team Asia, followed initially by a group of four riders, and then, within less than ten minutes, the rest of the Moto3 grid began to join them, comprising a total of 25 riders for this weekend.