21.03.2026
MotoGP 2026 - Round 02 of 22, Ayrton Senna International Circuit, Brazil – Qualification and Sprint
MotoGP landed in Brazil for the first time in more than two decades for round two of the 2026 world championship and Red Bull KTM Factory Racing earned a best finish of P9 in the Sprint at the revamped Ayrton Senna International Circuit in Goiânia.
Highlights and key moments from Saturday at the Ayrton Senna International Circuit:
- The short but quick layout hosted Grand Prix racing again after the last event in 1989 but unstable weather conditions created an unpredictable weekend of action
- Pedro Acosta continues to lead the world championship standings after a 9th place finish in the Sprint and capturing the final Saturday point
- The KTM GP Academy watched Valentin Perrone take his Red Bull KTM Tech3 KTM RC4 to 2nd spot in Moto3™ qualification
MotoGP received a wet welcome in Brazil as torrential downpours complicated the schedule at the renovated Ayrton Senna International Circuit. Practice sessions finally got underway but complicated the time needed by riders and teams to discover the 3.8km course, as well as set their bikes up accordingly for the 15-lap Sprint on Saturday and 31-lap distance on Sunday.
World Championship leader Pedro Acosta entered Q2 directly on Friday but a tricky qualifying session on Saturday saw the Spaniard also take a trip into the gravel and left him precious few minutes to log another lap-time. Pedro recovered for P9 on the grid. In the Sprint, which was delayed for track maintenance, Acosta initially suffered wheelspin but then fought hard for the same ranking and the last point.
Brad Binder qualified 21st. The South African made a decent getaway from his grid slot and battled inside the top 13. He eventually crossed the line with 15th.
Enea Bastianini improved his feeling from Friday’s erratic weather. The Italian was 22nd after qualifying and gained positions to finish 17th in the Sprint. Red Bull KTM Tech3 teammate Maverick Viñales began the Sprint from P20 and fell out while trying to recover adversity on the first lap.
Despite the changeable skies and variable forecast, the Brazilian Grand Prix is expecting a typically noisy and passionate (sold-out) attendance on Sunday. Moto3 begins at 16.00 CET, Moto2 at 17.15 and MotoGP at 19.00
Pedro Acosta, 9th in qualification, 9th in the Sprint: “A mistake in qualifying but it looks like the corner was quite tricky because many guys made the same mistake as me. It’s true that the biggest mistake of the race was that I spun a lot on the grid. I think I would have had a good pace if I had a better start. Our pace should be around 4th, if we are optimistic.”
Brad Binder, 21st in qualification, 15th in the Sprint: “Just missing a bit of pace. Not much more to say. In the race I got a great start and was up to 12th place but then I could not do anything from there. Anyway, there is definitely big room to improve on our base for tomorrow. All things considered I think we can do a good job, at least better than today.”
Enea Bastianini, 22nd in qualification, 17th in the Sprint: “Yesterday was a very difficult day and today much better but also because the conditions were better. Too many mistakes in the race and at the moment I can’t play on the bike. The target tomorrow is to fight for some points but it’s a difficult situation for me because I don’t want to fight for points, I want to fight for something different! I like the layout here. I hope to see the track in a better condition for the future because it is very good.”
Maverick Viñales, 20th in qualification, DNF in the Sprint: “I am quite happy with the day, to be honest, because I could ride the bike quick and I could feel some positives after Thailand. It is just that we need to build up the bike again because I feel very low edge grip. Obviously, I don’t like to be where we are… and now we have a big challenge to work towards.”
Aki Ajo, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing Team Manager: “For sure we are not satisfied about the performance today and it has been a really challenging weekend for everyone here because of the weather conditions on Friday and the changing surface practice by practice. It was the same for everyone… but it doesn’t help for adaptation to this new track. We expected our quali performance to be a bit further forward and this then affected the Sprint. The positive is that we see our base setting is not too bad but we have to analyze the data, and then consider the same starting positions for the longer race on Sunday.”
Grand Prix of Brazil photographs can be found HERE
Results Qualifying MotoGP Grand Prix of Brazil
1. Fabio Di Giannantonio (ITA) Ducati 1:17.410
2. Marco Bezzecchi (ITA) Aprilia +0.070
3. Marc Marquez (ESP) Ducati +0.081
9. Pedro Acosta (ESP) Red Bull KTM Factory Racing +0.624
20. Maverick Viñales (ESP) Red Bull KTM Tech3 1:18.176 (Q1)
21. Brad Binder (RSA) Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 1:18.237 (Q1)
22. Enea Bastianini (ITA) Red Bull KTM Tech3 1:18.479 (Q1)
Results MotoGP Sprint Grand Prix of Brazil
1. Marc Marquez (ESP) Ducati 19:41.982
2. Fabio Di Giannantonio (ITA) Ducati +0.213
3. Jorge Martin (ESP) Aprilia +3.587
9. Pedro Acosta (ESP) Red Bull KTM Factory Racing +9.096
15. Brad Binder (RSA) Red Bull KTM Factory Racing +15.528
17. Enea Bastianini (ITA) Red Bull KTM Tech3 +22.706
DNF. Maverick Viñales (ESP) Red Bull KTM Tech3
KTM GP Academy
Pole Position was set by Joel Esteban for the Moto3 hoards, and the KTM GP Academy was in the heat of the dispute for the first rows of the starting grid. The Ayrton Senna International Circuit was a fresh test for every rider, but Valentin Perrone proved up to the task of the 14-turn trajectory with mostly right-hand corners. The Red Bull KTM Tech3 racer (and podium finisher at round one in Thailand) took his KTM RC4 to the 2nd fastest lap-time for a space on the middle of the front row.
Red Bull KTM Ajo’s Brian Uriarte was fast in both the wet and dry and ended a sunny late qualifying in 6th, half a second from Esteban. Fellow rookie Rico Salmela was 9th, narrowly ahead of Alvaro Carpe in P10 and the top of the fourth row.
In Moto2™ Red Bull KTM Ajo’s Collin Veijer sped into the top ten during Practice for direct Q2 status as Jose Antonio Rueda ranked P27. The Moto2 qualification sessions were adjourned to Sunday morning with the delays to the Saturday schedule.
Results Qualifying Moto3 Grand Prix of Brazil
1. Joel Esteban (ESP), KTM 1:26.241
2. Valentin Perrone (ARG) Red Bull KTM Tech3 +0.206
3. Hakim Danish (MAL) KTM +0.207
5. Marco Morelli (ARG) CFMOTO Aspar Team +0.319
6. Brian Uriarte (ESP), Red Bull KTM Ajo +0.594
9. Rico Salmela (FIN), Red Bull KTM Tech3 +0.749
10. Alvaro Carpe (ESP), Red Bull KTM Ajo +0.759
11. Maximo Quiles (ESP) CFMOTO Aspar Team +0.772
Results Practice Moto2 Grand Prix of Brazil
1. Tony Arbolino (ITA) 1:23.709
2. Manuel Gonzalez (ESP) +0.170
3. David Alonso (COL) CFMOTO Inde Aspar Team +0.366
9. Collin Veijer (NED) Red Bull KTM Ajo +0.735
21. Daniel Holgado (ESP) CFMOTO Inde Aspar Team +1.505
27. Jose Antonio Rueda (ESP) Red Bull KTM Ajo +2.643
PRESS CONTACT
Evangelia Sissis
PR Manager MotoGP
+43 676 665 2742
evangelia.sissis@ktm.com