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There are four major FIA
licensed motor racing circuits in
Portugal, located, at Porto and
Braga to the North, Estoril in
central Portugal, and at
Portimão to the south in the Algarve. All four of these tarmac circuits
host a variety of leading international championships including the
World Touring Car Championship featuring Portugal's very own Tiago
Monteiro, the FIA World GT Championship and the World
Superbike Championships.
And, although
Portugal
doesn't currently feature on the prestigious FIA Formula One
calendar it is hoped with the opening and licensing of the
Autódromo Internacional do Algarve the country is one
step closer to seeing a Portuguese Grand Prix being back on the agenda
and racing line up.
The first ever Grand
Prix event to take place in Portugal was in 1951 in sports cars on the
street circuit
Boavista at Porto. To the
delight of the 100,000 strong crowd it was won by the Portuguese driver
Casimiro de Oliveira at the age of 34. It took another seven years
before Portugal became a host of the single seater Formula One Grand
Prix. The event, which also took place on Porto's Boavista Circuit, saw
British driver Stirling Moss taking the chequered flag.
Portugal continued to
host a round of the FIA Formula One Grand Prix alternating between the
street circuits of Monsanto in Lisbon, Cascais and Boavista until it was
moved to
Autódromo do Estoril. It has
been well over a decade though since
Portugal
hosted a round of the FIA Formula One Grand Prix. The last ever
Portuguese Grand Prix was held at the Autódromo do Estoril near Lisbon
in September 1996 with Canadian Jacques Villeneuve on the top step on
the podium.
But
motorsport in
Portugal isn't just about circuit racing. There are
just as many fixtures off road as there are on in
Portugal. Perhaps the most
prominent of these is the Rally of Portugal, which has been a regular
fixture on the World Rallying Championship calendar since 1973.
The Rally of Portugal
began in 1967 and although originally set on a mixture of gravel and
tarmac, it is now held only on gravel roads. The Rally of Portugal is
set over 17 stages with a special stage taking place (in 2011) in
Lisbon.
And rallying fans in
Portugal
were rewarded in 2006 when Lisbon became the starting point of
the world famous Dakar Rally endurance race. Firework displays, concerts
and open air events were held at various locations up and down the
country as the racers progressed. The fanfare was just as enthusiastic
in 2007 though despite careful planning the Dakar Rally was cancelled in
2008 due to terrorist threats and the event now takes place in South
America.
There are, of course,
many other of kinds of motorsport including hill climbs, sprints, trial
biking, motorcross and quad biking events held all over
Portugal as well, just about
every weekend throughout the year. So if you're living here in
Portugal or are just visiting on holiday but want to get some high
octane action you won't be disappointed.
The best way to stay
informed with up coming motorsport and bike sport events is to contact
the
Automóvel Club de Portugal and
the
Federação de Motociclismo de Portugal. |
