Autódromo do Estoril

The Circuito do Estoril or Autódromo do Estoril (Estoril Circuit), officially known as Autódromo Fernanda Pires da Silva, is a motorsport race track on the Portuguese Riviera, outside of Lisbon, owned by state-run holding management company Parpública. Its length is . It was the home of the Formula One Portuguese Grand Prix from 1984 to 1996. The capacity of the motorsport stadium is 45,000. The circuit has an FIA Grade 1 license.

History

Estoril, a vacation-destination beach town located west of the Portuguese capital city of Lisbon has had a motor racing dating back to the 1930s, with a street circuit used in 1937 for a local race. The current Estoril circuit was built and completed in 1972 on a rocky plateau near the village of Alcabideche, from Estoril, the town lending its name to the circuit. The course has two hairpin turns, noticeable elevation changes, and a long start/finish straight. Its original perimeter was , and the maximum gradient is nearly 7%. Monsanto Park, another street circuit in Lisbon hosted a variety of motor racing events in the 1950s, including the 1959 Portuguese Grand Prix, an event it shared briefly with the Boavista street circuit in Porto.

Its first years saw many national races, as well as an occasional Formula 2 race. However, the course soon fell into disrepair due to the owning company having been taken over by the state between 1975 and 1978, and a significant redevelopment effort was needed before international motorsport returned in 1984. In the 1980s, the Rally de Portugal also had a special stage at the circuit.

Estoril became a popular event on the F1 calendar, the setting for many well-known moments including Niki Lauda winning the championship, his third and final, from McLaren teammate Alain Prost by just half a point by finishing second to Prost at the 1984 Portuguese Grand Prix; three-time world champion Ayrton Senna's first F1 win in 1985; Nigel Mansell's notorious black flag incident and subsequent collision with Senna in 1989; Riccardo Patrese being launched airborne in a near-backward flip after colliding with Gerhard Berger on the main straight in 1992; and Jacques Villeneuve overtaking Michael Schumacher around the outside of the final turn in 1996.

Throughout the years, Estoril has had numerous problems with safety, failing safety inspections on more than one occasion. After the death of Ayrton Senna at the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix, a chicane was added which increased the circuit length to . Estoril sometimes has strong winds. Many teams were fond of using Estoril for winter testing.

Estoril was dropped from the F1 calendar for the 1997 season, though it continued to play host to top-level single-seater, sports car and touring car events, including the FIA GT Championship, the DTM and the World Series by Renault. A new redesign of the parabolica turn which saw its length reduced to was implemented in 2000 in order to obtain FIM homologation.

On 3 September 2000, the Autódromo do Estoril held its first Portuguese motorcycle Grand Prix, an event held annually. On 23 October 2005, the circuit hosted the third round of the first ever A1 Grand Prix racing season, with both races in the event being won by the French team. The track hosted Superleague Formula series events in 2008 and 2009.

In 2020, due to rescheduling of major international sport series due to COVID-19 pandemic, Estoril hosted the final race of 2020 Superbike World Championship (after hosting the series in 1988 and 1993) and the final race of 2019–20 FIM Endurance World Championship (after hosting the series in 1987 and 2000).

Lap records

The official race lap records at the Circuito do Estoril are listed as:

Events

; Current

* January: GT Winter Series
* April: Estoril Welcome Spring
* May: Superbike World Championship, International GT Open, Euroformula Open, FIM CEV Moto3 Junior World Championship
* September: Acdme I Race Weekend
* October: Sidecar World Championship, Estoril Classics
* November: SuperCars Endurance Series, 250KM Estoril Winter 'Fun in the Sun', Acdme II Race Weekend

; Future

* 24H Series ''12 Hours of Estoril'' (2023)
* F4 Spanish Championship (2017, 2023)

; Former

* A1 Grand Prix (2005)
* Auto GP (2004, 2014)
* Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters (2004)
* European Formula Two Championship (1975–1977)
* European Le Mans Series ''4 Hours of Estoril'' (2011, 2014–2016)
* European Touring Car Championship (1977–1978, 1985–1988, 2001–2003)
* European Touring Car Cup (2006)
* European Truck Racing Championship (2003)
* FIA GT Championship (2000–2003)
* FIA Sportscar Championship '' FIA Sportscar Championship Estoril'' (2002–2003)
* FIM Endurance World Championship ''12 Hours of Estoril'' (1987, 2000, 2020–2021)
* Formula Chrysler Euroseries (2001)
* Formula 3 Euro Series (2004)
* Formula One '' Portuguese Grand Prix'' (1984–1996)
* Formula Renault Eurocup (2005, 2007–2008, 2016)
* Grand Prix motorcycle racing '' Portuguese motorcycle Grand Prix'' (2000–2012)
* IMSA European Le Mans Series ' Estoril 1000km'' (2001)
* International Formula 3000 (1985, 1994–1996)
* International Touring Car Championship (1995–1996)
* Porsche Supercup (1994, 1996)
* Stock Car Brasil (1982)
* Superleague Formula (2008–2009)
* TCR International Series (2016)
* World Touring Car Championship '' FIA WTCC Race of Portugal'' (2008)
* World Touring Car Cup '' FIA WTCR Race of Portugal'' (2021)

Major event winners

Motorcycling - Portuguese Grand Prix

Notes

References

External links

Satellite picture at Google Maps.
*
Audio walkthrough of the track, for use with games.

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Rally de Portugal
Superbike World Championship circuits
Sport in Estoril
Sports venues in Lisbon District
World Touring Car Championship circuits
Sports venues completed in 1972
1972 establishments in Portugal