Circuito del Jarama

The Circuito de Madrid Jarama - RACE, formerly known as Circuito del Jarama and Circuito Permanente del Jarama is a motorsport racetrack located in San Sebastián de los Reyes, 32 km (20 mi) north of Madrid. It was home to the Spanish Grand Prix nine times between 1968 and 1981, and the Spanish motorcycle Grand Prix 15 times between 1969 and 1988.

Designed by John Hugenholtz (who also created Suzuka), the 3.850 km (2.392 mi) circuit was built by Alessandro Rocci in 1967 on arid scrub land.

History

It has a short main straight and most of the course consisted of tight, twisty corners so overtaking was extremely difficult. An example of this came when Gilles Villeneuve successfully defended his lead throughout the 1981 Spanish Grand Prix, despite a tail of four potentially faster cars. Villeneuve's turbocharged Ferrari 126CK, while powerful and fast on the straight, did not have as efficient ground effect aerodynamics as his pursuers - Jacques Laffite (V12 Ligier-Matra), John Watson (McLaren-Ford), Carlos Reutemann (Williams-Ford), and Elio de Angelis (Lotus-Ford) and was slower through the turns. This victory was to be the last one of Villeneuve's career.

Jarama hosted its last Formula One race in 1981 when it was deemed too narrow for modern racing. It still holds sports car, touring car and motorcycle races. The circuit was lengthened in 1991, and then upgraded in 2015.

In 1987, Jarama hosted Round 2 of the inaugural World Touring Car Championship for Group A cars, the 1987 Jarama 4 Hours. The race was won by Roberto Ravaglia and Emanuele Pirro driving a Schnitzer Motorsport BMW M3. Pole position for the race had been taken by triple Le Mans 24 Hour winner Klaus Ludwig in a Ford Sierra RS Cosworth turbo with a time of 1:31.434, while the fastest lap was by England's Andy Rouse (also in a Sierra Cosworth) with a time of 1:33.710.

Since February 2022, the circuit's name is changed as Circuito de Madrid Jarama - RACE.

Layout history

Events

Current

• May: F4 Spanish Championship, TCR Spain
• June: SuperCars Endurance Series Jarama Classic
• October: FIA European Truck Racing Championship GP Camiones de España

Former

• BPR Global GT Series (1994–1996)
• EuroBOSS Series (2008)
• European Formula Two Championship (1967–1969, 1971, 1983)
• European Touring Car Championship (1968–1972, 1974–1979, 1985–1986, 1988, 2001–2002)
• FIA European Formula 3 Championship (1977–1984)
• FIA ETCR – eTouring Car World Cup (2022)
• FIA GT Championship (2001–2002)
• FIM Endurance World Championship (1969, 1983)
• Formula 750 (1974, 1976–1978)
• Formula One
  • Spanish Grand Prix (1968, 1970, 1972, 1974, 1976–1979, 1981)
• Formula Renault 2000 Eurocup (1994, 1996, 1998–1999, 2001–2002)
• French Formula Renault Championship (1986, 1994)
• Grand Prix motorcycle racing
  • European motorcycle Grand Prix (1991)
  • FIM motorcycle Grand Prix (1993)
  • Madrid motorcycle Grand Prix (1998)
  • Portuguese motorcycle Grand Prix (1987)
  • Spanish motorcycle Grand Prix (1969, 1971, 1973, 1975, 1977–1986, 1988)
• GTR Euroseries (1998)
• IMSA European Le Mans Series (2001)
• International Formula 3000 (1986–1987)
• International Sports Racing Series (1997)
• Le Mans Series
  • 1000 km of Jarama (2006)
• Sidecar World Championship (1981, 1991)
• Superbike World Championship (1991–1992)
• Superleague Formula (2009–2010)
• TCR Europe Touring Car Series (2020)
• World Series by Nissan (1998–2004)
• World Sportscar Championship
  • 360 km of Jarama (1987–1989)
• World Touring Car Championship (1987)

Lap records

Klaas Zwart held the unofficial lap record with a lap of 1:16.994 with Jaguar R5 in a demonstration event in 2017. As of June 2024, the fastest official race lap records at the Circuito de Madrid Jarama - RACE are listed as:

Notes

References

External links

• Official website
• Circuito del Jarama at Google Maps