Everything we know about Goiania Circuit – MotoGP’s new Brazilian GP venue

This weekend’s Brazilian Grand Prix marks MotoGP’s first visit to the South American nation in more than two decades. The last time the premier class raced in Brazil was in 2004, when the now-demolished Jacarepagua circuit hosted the Rio de Janeiro Grand Prix for the final time.

In the ensuing years, MotoGP made several attempts to return to the world’s fifth-largest country. The closest it came was in 2019, when it struck a deal to stage the race at a brand new facility in Rio that was supposed to be built entirely with private funding. Construction of the proposed Rio Motorpark was scheduled to begin soon after, with the aim of hosting a grand prix in 2022. However, the project was cancelled a year before its planned debut and plans for MotoGP’s return to Brazil were once again shelved.

That changed around 16 months ago, when MotoGP announced its most concrete plan yet to revive the Brazilian GP. A five-year agreement was struck with Brazil Motorsport, the same company that organises the annual Formula 1 race at Sao Paulo, for a race at the Autodromo Internacional de Goiania.

In many ways, the contract marks a full circle for the Goiania circuit, which hosted the first three editions of the Brazilian Grand Prix from 1987-89. However, organisational issues led to the circuit being dropped from the calendar in 1990, while a one-off race at Interlagos in 1992 proved unpopular with riders.

It wasn’t until 1995 that Brazil became a regular fixture on the world championship calendar, when Autodromo Internacional Nelson Piquet began hosting the Rio de Janeiro GP. With the exception of 1998, the race was held annually for a decade until 2004.

No new contract could be agreed upon for the following year and beyond, and the track was eventually demolished to make way for new venues for the 2016 Olympics.

Previous winners in Brazil

Multi-million-dollar upgrade

To ensure the Goiania circuit meets the FIM’s rigid standards for MotoGP, the organisers have invested R$55 million (around $10m) to upgrade the facilities.

The entire track has been resurfaced, while the pit garages, paddock and medical centre have been modernised and a new control centre has also been constructed to support international-level competition.

The CBM (Brazilian Motorcycle Confederation) issued a national homologation after the circuit hosted a major domestic event earlier this month, while the final approval from the FIM is now considered a formality. The Champions Challenge race weekend also allowed organisers to test the new race control and electronic system, which reportedly functioned without issues.

Circuit characteristics

Located in the State of Goias, the Goiania circuit spans 3.835km and features just 14 corners. That makes it the second-shortest track on the circuit, behind only the Sachsenring (3.671km) in Germany. But while the Sachsenring is an anti-clockwise circuit, Goiania features nine right corners and five left turns. This has led some people to describe it as an ‘anti-Marquez’ circuit due to world champion Marc Marquez’s preference for left-hand corners.

Interestingly, the entire outer edge of the track from Turn 11 to Turn 4 is composed of right-hand turns. This means that when riders approach Turn 5 from the inside line, the left side of their tyres will be completely cold, posing a potentially dangerous situation.

Home advantage

Brazil’s return to the MotoGP calendar coincides with the arrival of LCR Honda recruit Diogo Moreira, who is the first rider to represent his country in the premier class since Alex Barros retired after 2007 with seven wins to his name.

Diogo Moreira, Team LCR Honda

Photo by: Gold and Goose Photography / LAT Images / via Getty Images

Moreira made a promising start to life in MotoGP at the season-opening Thailand Grand Prix, qualifying 15th on the grid – just one spot behind factory Honda rider Luca Marini – and scoring his first points with a 13th-place finish.

VR46 rider Franco Morbidelli also has Brazilian roots. The 31-year-old was born in Rome to Brazilian mother Cristina and Italian father Livio.

Moreira, Morbidelli and Luca Marini completed demo laps of the Goiania circuit in March last year when they made a short visit to Brazil between the Argentina and America rounds.

The Brazilian GP is expected to feature a full field of 22 riders, with Gresini’s Fermin Aldeguer set to return – pending a medical test – after missing the Thai opener due to a training injury he sustained in January.

KTM’s Pedro Acosta will head into the weekend as the championship leader after an impressive start to the season at Buriram, where he won the sprint and finished second in the grand prix. Acosta is closely followed in the standings by Thailand GP weekend Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia), while Raul Fernandez sits third in the championship.

Interestingly, none of the Ducati riders sits inside the top six places in the standings, with Aprilia and KTM monopolising most of the leading positions. The best-placed Ducati is Fabio di Giannantonio in seventh, with Marc Marquez only eighth after suffering a spectacular rear tyre blowout while fighting for a podium position at Buriram.

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– The Motorsport.com Team

Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: motorsport.com