At the end of the week, MotoGP will return to Brazil at the Autódromo Internacional de Goiânia – Ayrton Senna, in Goiânia, the capital of the state of Goiás, in the heart of Brazil. In fact, MotoGP has never raced there, nor have Moto2 and Moto3: during the three years it was held, from 1987 to 1989, only the 250cc and 500cc classes competed there.
The facility is located along Rodovia GO-020, in the Parque Lozandes area. The track is just 3.835 km long with 12 turns, featuring a mix of fast straights and more technical sections. It is the second-shortest circuit in the World Championship after the Sachsenring, but it includes a fast straight stretch of over one kilometer.
The history of the racetrack is also significant from a technical standpoint. Construction began in 1972, and the circuit was inaugurated on July 28, 1974. The racing design was developed by Silas Varizzo and Marcos Veiga Jardim, with Emerson Fittipaldi serving as technical advisor: from the outset, the track was designed with wide run-off areas and good visibility for spectators, two features that helped establish it as a national benchmark.
Over the decades, Goiânia has hosted top-tier Brazilian racing series, and its symbolic high point was hosting the first three Brazilian Grand Prix races of the MotoGP World Championship, from 1987 to 1989. For the return of MotoGP, MotoGP/Dorna, the government of Goiás, and Brasil Motorsport signed an agreement extending through 2030, accompanied by a major overhaul of the complex: work on the pits, track, control tower, medical center, spectator areas, upgrades to the run-off areas, and even widening of the track at strategic points.
On the sporting front, Goiânia has left a lasting impression. In 1987, the first 500cc race at the circuit was won by Wayne Gardner, while Dominique Sarron took the 250cc title. In 1988, Eddie Lawson won the 500cc race ahead of Gardner and Kevin Schwantz, while Sarron secured his second victory in the 250cc class. In 1989, in the last World Championship race held in Goiânia before its current return, the 500cc class was won by Kevin Schwantz ahead of Lawson and Wayne Rainey, while in the 250cc class, Luca Cadalora prevailed over Masahiro Shimizu and Loris Reggiani. And it is precisely the 1989 GP that remains one of the most significant results in the circuit’s history, because second place was enough for Lawson to clinch his fourth world title in the 500 class.
As for the Brazilians, the name to remember is Alex Barros. In the 1989 250cc class, he finished 10th after starting from 16th on the grid, and based on the available standings from the three World Championships held in Goiânia, this remains the best result achieved there by a Brazilian rider. That season, Alex finished the World Championship in 18th place. The year before, Barros had contested his only GP of the season in the 250 class, right here in Brazil, without scoring any points. It’s worth noting that Alex raced in every category of the World Championship, starting with the 80cc class and eventually reaching the 500cc class in 1990 with Cagiva, a team for which Mamola and Haslam also competed.
This year, rookie Diogo Moreira will make his debut with LCR-Honda.
Goiânia is a short track but one with significant historical importance: it began as a modern racetrack by 1970s Brazilian standards, has already had an important World Championship past, and returns to the calendar today with a thoroughly updated layout. It is not merely a geographical return of the World Championship to Brazil: it is also the recovery of a genuine piece of its history.