Circuit de Barcelona – Catalunya – Spain

The Circuit de Catalunya is located 20 km north-east of Barcelona. It was inaugurated in September 1991 and in that same year it hosted the Formula 1 Grand Prix. The World Motorcycling Championship arrived in the following year and the Catalunya GP continues uninterruptedly today on this splendid track.

The tragic accident in the 2016 Grand Prix which cost the life of the young Iberian centaur Luis Salom, led to a review of the layout.

In fact, before curve 10 the same variant used by F1 cars is used, greatly increasing the escape route. The escape route for curve 12 has also been expanded, by moving all the stands in that section. Also in 2018, the circuit was completely resurfaced, so all the records refer to that year.

In the last configuration, the circuit measures 4627 meters and has 6 curves to the left, 8 to the right and a main straight of 1,047 meters in length.

A lap of the track

At the end of the long straight, near a small hill, you can reach a speed of about 340 km / h and face the most demanding braking section of the track: in about 300 meters you decelerate by about 240 km / h! At the first curve to the right immediately follows a left to be connected. Wrong exit from turn 1 determines a low travel speed of turn 2 and the following turn 3. Near the beginning of turn 3, a wide right with a slightly variable radius, begins the second sector of the circuit.

A short straight leads us to turn 4, a right 180 °. A return straight leads us to turn 5, a rather slow narrow left. At the exit of turn 5, the accelerator opens and when bending we head towards the fast left 6, where the third sector begins. As soon as you exit from 6, the braking off of turn 7 begins, a left of about 90 °. A quick change of direction out of the 7 projects us towards turn 8, a right hand just mentioned, to be tackled in full acceleration.

After a small straight we reach turn 9 a wide 90 ° to the right. At the exit you face a straight where the last sector of the track begins and at the end of which we find curve 10, a very slow left which leads to the variant that has always been used by Formula 1 cars. favorable for overtaking.

Leaving 10 we find a small straight before curve 11, a left which immediately follows curve 12, a wide right with a constant 180 ° radius. A small straight section leads into curve 13 which is followed by a straight section, which projects us towards the last curve of the track, the 14 always on the right.

These last curves are fundamental in order to reach the maximum speed on the long straight, so they must be suitably connected.