Jarama circuit

Aerial view of the Jarama Circuit in 2023.

The Circuito del Jarama (since February 2022, Madrid Jarama Circuit - RACE) is a 3850-meter long racetrack located in San Sebastián de los Reyes, in the northern area of the Community of Madrid (Spain). In the past, there was another variant of the 3,404-meter-long layout, prior to the extension on which its current layout is based.

It is accessed through the A-1 motorway at km. 28 and crossing the highway over a bridge, it is accessed through a private urbanization through a street with single-family houses on one of its sides. The entrance to the circuit can be from the grandstand area or the paddock area. The layout of the circuit continues to remain the same despite its long history, although the rest is being updated in a large work of reform and conditioning for future events.

There is currently a mandatory regulation of use that covers a limitation of noise for vehicles that roll on the track. Upon reaching a part of the route (Portago curve until approaching the Bugatti curve), vehicles have to avoid exceeding a decibel limit (90 dB), if these are generated by the mechanical characteristics of the vehicle. This regulation has been highly criticized by users of the circuit and people close to this world, since prior to the construction of the houses surrounding the circuit, it did not exist and, furthermore, it breaks with the objective of using a circuit.

History

Designed by John Hugenholtz (who also designed the Zandvoort and Suzuka circuits), the circuit was built by Alessandro Rocci in 1967 north of Madrid in an arid scrubland area, within the municipality of San Sebastián de los Reyes km 26 of the A-1, within the facilities of the Royal Automobile Club of Spain (RACE) in Ciudalcampo. This circuit was inaugurated on July 1, 1967.

On July 23, 1967, the 1st Formula 2 Madrid Grand Prix was held and four months later, on November 12 of that same year, the XV Formula 1 Spanish Grand Prix, a non-scoring race for the World Championship but in which the cream of the time participated. The podium of that pioneering race was occupied by Jim Clark (Lotus-Ford), who had already won the previous F-2 test, Graham Hill (Lotus-Ford) and Jack Brabham (Brabham-Repco).

A year later, on May 12, 1968, the 16th Spanish Grand Prix was held, already qualifying for the World Cup, which ended with a dream podium: Graham Hill (Lotus-Ford), Denny Hulme (McLaren -Ford) and Brian Redman (Cooper-BRM). Unfortunately, the winner of the previous two years, Jim Clark, who died in an accident a month earlier, did not participate. In 1969 the Formula 1 Madrid Grand Prix was held, but it had a majority of Formula 2 and Formula 5000 cars.

From 1969 to 1975, the Montjuïc circuit entered the scene and alternated with Jarama in the organization of the Formula 1 World Championship. Starting in 1975, the year in which a serious accident brought the urban circuit to an abrupt end Barcelona in F1, Jarama received all the prominence and was, between 1976 and 1981, the permanent headquarters of the Spanish Formula 1 Grand Prix. The last race of the highest specialty in Madrid took place on June 21, 1981 directed by Alessandro Rocci, when it was deemed too limited for modern racing.

In 1981, driver Gilles Villeneuve, at the wheel of his Ferrari 126CK, achieved his last victory in Formula 1 in what was the last race in the category on this circuit. For the following season, the Circuito de Jerez would be in charge of hosting the test. In any case, the Jarama continued to organize F2, F3, F3000 and sport prototype races, among many other disciplines.

Monument to Angel Nieto at the Jarama Circuit

The Spanish Motorcycling Grand Prix of the Motorcycle World Championship was held fifteen times at Jarama between 1969 and 1988. This world championship raced four additional Grand Prix on the circuit: the 1987 Portuguese Grand Prix, the of Europe in 1991, the Grand Prix of the International Motorcycling Federation in 1993, and the Madrid Grand Prix in 1998. The last two were created to replace canceled grands prix (South Africa and Portugal), and meant that Spain hosted three of the fourteen dates of each year (together with Jerez and Catalonia).

In addition to Formula 1 and the Motorcycling World Championship, the Jarama circuit hosted until the end of the XX century numerous international car and motorcycle championships: the World Endurance Championship from 1987 to 1989, the BPR Global GT Series (from 1994 to 1996), the GTR Euroseries (in 1998), the FIA Sport Prototype Championship (in 1997); European Formula 2 (in 1967, 1968, 1969, 1971 and 1983), International Formula 3000 (in 1986 and 1987); the World Touring Car Championship (in 1987); and the Superbike World Championship (in 1991 and 1992). In the 2000s, his international activity was reduced to the World Series by Renault (from 2000 to 2004), the FIA GT Championship (in 2001 and 2002) and the Le Mans Series (in 2001 and 2006; the 2001 race He was also a scorer for the American Le Mans Series).

The European Truck Championship is a very popular circuit competition.

Currently, the Jarama hosts the European Truck Racing Championship and various national championship events, such as the Spanish Truck Racing Championship, the Spanish Gran Turismo Championship, the Mitjet series and the Spanish Resistance Open, as well as local events such as the Touring Car Race Trophy and the Motorcycling Race Trophy. On the other hand, the Jarama has been the venue for the Comunidad de Madrid Rally, scoring for the Spanish Rally Championship and in the past it was used by other events such as the RACE Rally of Spain to hold speed tests.

In turn, the circuit is rented for different events throughout the year (dynamic tests, commercial recordings, RACE driving courses, etc.), and organizes events for fans throughout the year (Jarama Vintage Festival, Jarama Fan Club). Currently, there are also several appointments a year in which anyone can drive their car in order to make driving on the circuit within reach or access in person to enjoy the special atmosphere of these days of great movement.

In October another event is held aimed at classic and pre-classic cars by clubs, called Open Day, where part of the grandstand is reserved for each club and they access the circuits by batches and by clubs.

The Circuit

El Jarama has a 3850 meter long route with a width of 12 meters, with inclines and descents, banked curves. The facilities are spacious, with a large parking area and plenty of boxes. The asphalt is regular, in areas it is somewhat bumpy, on days when there are races, especially trucks and cars, it is quite dirty with tire remains due to braking.

Jarama Paddock Club

Currently the circuit is immersed in a great renovation and improvement work in order to surpass the experience around this mythical layout and to turn the circuit into a convention center, a place of leisure and enjoyment for all motor lovers. The Jarama 2021 Project began in early 2014 and included three phases, until completion in 2021. The Jarama control tower was the first point of execution. Although the structure (with the three upper floors) was preserved, the actions focused on modernizing the facility from the base to the top floor, maintaining the tower as an iconic element of the Circuit and with several multipurpose rooms where meetings, presentations or events can be held..

After this first building, the Jarama Paddock Club complex has two other multi-purpose buildings. The old press room, located above six modern boxes, allows companies to hold events of more than 300 people, with views on both sides of the paddock room and the main track. A terrace at the top completes this facility.

Finally, the third building, completed in 2020 and adjacent to the previous one, is the most spectacular due to the dimensions of the new boxes, with a height of more than six meters, where industrial vehicles can enter, through the multipurpose room with capacity for more than 500 people and on the upper terrace, with a panoramic view of the Circuit never seen before.

Latest record

The current record of the circuit is aboard a Formula 1 jaguar R5 in 2014 that did a time of 1'16''994, the last one to break it was Marc Gené with a record of the latest version of the Jarama with a time of 1'17.282 with the F2007 champion during the Martini Legends 2008. However, the official record of the circuit is in 1'20.011 by Yelmer Buurman, made in the first race of the Superleague Formula held on November 8, 2009.

Winners

Motorcycling World Championship

Jorge Martínez, Champi Herreros and Angel Nieto in 1986.

Madrid Motorcycle Grand Prix

Year	Circuit	125 cc		250 cc		500 cc
		Pilot	Builder	Pilot	Builder	Pilot	Builder
1998	Jarama	Lucio Cecchinello	Honda	Tetsuya Harada	Aprilia	Czech	Honda

FIM Motorcycle Grand Prix

Year	Circuit	125 cc		250 cc		500 cc
		Pilot	Builder	Pilot	Builder	Pilot	Builder
1993	Jarama	Ralf Waldmann	Aprilia	Tetsuya Harada	Yamaha	Alex Barros	Suzuki

Spanish Motorcycling Grand Prix

Year	80cc		125cc		250cc		500cc
	Pilot	Builder	Pilot	Builder	Pilot	Builder	Pilot	Builder
1988	Stefan Dörflinger	Krauser	Jorge Martínez	Derbi	Sito Pons	Honda	Kevin Magee	Yamaha
1986	Jorge Martínez	Derbi	Fausto Gresini	Garelli	Carlos Lavado	Yamaha	Wayne Gardner	Honda
1985	Jorge Martínez	Derbi	Pier Paolo Bianchi	MBA	Carlos Lavado	Yamaha	Freddie Spencer.	Honda
1984	Pier Paolo Bianchi	HuVo-Casal	Angel Nieto	Garelli	Sito Pons	JJ Cobas	Eddie Lawson	Honda
Year	50cc		125cc		250cc		500cc
	Pilot	Builder	Pilot	Builder	Pilot	Builder	Pilot	Builder
1983	Eugenio Lazzarini	Garelli	Angel Nieto	Garelli	Hervé Guilleux	Kawasaki	Freddie Spencer.	Honda
1982	Stefan Dörflinger	Kreidler	Angel Nieto	Garelli	Carlos Lavado	Yamaha	Kenny Roberts	Yamaha
1981	Ricardo Tormo	Bultaco	Angel Nieto	Minarelli	Anton Mang	Kawasaki

Year	50cc		125cc		250cc		350cc		500cc
	Pilot	Builder	Pilot	Builder	Pilot	Builder	Pilot	Builder	Pilot	Builder
1980	Eugenio Lazzarini	Iprem	Pier Paolo Bianchi	MBA	Kork Ballington	Kawasaki			Kenny Roberts	Yamaha
1979	Eugenio Lazzarini	Kreidler	Angel Nieto	Minarelli	Kork Ballington	Kawasaki	Kork Ballington	Kawasaki	Kenny Roberts	Yamaha
1978	Eugenio Lazzarini	Kreidler	Eugenio Lazzarini	MBA	Gregg Hansford	Kawasaki			Pat Hennen	Suzuki
1977	Angel Nieto	Bultaco	Pier Paolo Bianchi	Morbidelli	Takazumi Katayama	Yamaha	Michel Rougerie	Yamaha
1975	Angel Nieto	Kreidler	Paolo Pileri	Morbidelli	Walter Villa	Harley-Davidson	Giacomo Agostini	Yamaha
1973	Jan de Vries	Kreidler	Chas Mortimer	Yamaha	John Dodds	Yamaha	Adu Celso-Santos	Yamaha	Phil Read	MV Agusta
1971	Jan de Vries	Kreidler	Angel Nieto	Derbi	Jarno Saarinen	Yamaha	Teuvo Länsivuori	Yamaha	Dave Simmonds	Kawasaki
1969	Aalt Toersen	Kreidler	Cees van Dongen	Suzuki	Santiago Herrero	OSSA	Giacomo Agostini	MV Agusta	Giacomo Agostini	MV Agusta

Formula 1

Events that were not part of the Formula 1 World Championship are indicated in a pink background.

Spanish Grand Prix

Year	Pilot	Builder	Date	Results
1967	Jim Clark	Lotus-Ford	23 July	Results
1968	Graham Hill	Lotus-Ford	12 May	Results
1970	Jackie Stewart	March-Ford	19 April	Results
1972	Emerson Fittipaldi	Lotus-Ford	1 May	Results
1974	Niki Lauda	Ferrari	28 April	Results
1976	James Hunt	McLaren-Ford	2 May	Results
1977	Mario Andretti	Lotus-Ford	8 May	Results
1978	Mario Andretti	Lotus-Ford	4 June	Results
1979	Patrick Depailler	Ligier-Ford	29 April	Results
1981	Gilles Villeneuve	Ferrari	21 June	Results

Madrid Grand Prix

Year	Pilot	Builder	Date	Results
1969	Keith Holland	Lola-Chevrolet (F5000)	13 April	Results