Circuit de Catalunya Racetrack

Situated at Montmelo in the north of Barcelona, Circuit de Catalunya Racetrack is the official track for Formula One Spanish Grand Prix. The Circuit is known to test the best of drivers since it has some really sharp corners which appear suddenly after a long straight track. The total length of the circuit is believed to be 4,627 km and it has as many as 13 turns.

Circuit de Catalunya Racetrack was constructed in 1991 and is popular among the racing fraternity as ‘Barcelona’ even though the circuit is located in Montmelo and not in Barcelona. The official opening of Circuit de Catalunya Racetrack was held with much fanfare on October 3, 1986. Five days after the opening, the circuit hosted its first race, the Spanish Touring Car Championship, which was won by Luis Pérez Sala, an ex-F1 driver. The racing day was marked by heavy rain but drew crowd in large numbers nonetheless.

One of the criticisms against Circuit de Catalunya Racetrack is that the sharp curves have lost their edge due to over familiarity among the drivers since so test drives are conducted on the tracks by Formula Drivers. The track can prove to be quite difficult especially while overtaking due to the turbulence created by the leading car. This creates a problem even when two cars come in close contact with each other. The direction of the wind over the circuit is known to change throughout the day, leaving prior preparations as ineffectual to some extent.

Some of the names of the championships held in Circuit de Catalunya Racetrack are Motorcycling Catalan Championships, Truck Grand Prix, Motorcycling Catalan Championships, World Series by Renault, Speed Spanish Championship and many others.