Losail International Circuit

Losail International Circuit
Location Lusail, Qatar
Time zone GMT +3
Capacity 8,000
Major events Qatar motorcycle Grand Prix
GP2 Asia, SpeedCar, SBK
8 Hours of Doha
FIA WTCC Race of Qatar
Length 5.380 km (3.375 mi)
Turns 16
Lap record 1:38.699 (Davide Rigon, Trident Racing, GP2 Asia Series, 2009[1])
View from the Grandstand

Losail International Circuit (also Lusail International Circuit) (حلبة لوسيل الدولية) is a motor racing circuit located just outside in the town of Lusail, north of Doha, Qatar.

Built in just under a year by 1,000 workers at the cost of $US 58 million, the track opened in 2004 to the inaugural Marlboro Grand Prix of Qatar, won by Sete Gibernau. In addition the circuit hosted the 2006 Grand Prix Masters of Qatar won by Nigel Mansell.

The track is 5.380 km in length, with a main straight of just over a kilometre at 1,068 metres. It is surrounded by artificial grass to stop the sand encroaching on the track. It happens to be somewhat similar to the Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir.

In 2007, Losail added permanent outdoor lighting for night races. At the time, the lighting of the Losail Circuit by Musco Lighting was the largest permanent venue sports lighting project in the world, a distinction that now belongs to another Gulf motorsport venue, Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi. The first night race in MotoGP history was the Commercialbank Grand Prix of Qatar in March 2008.

In February 2009, a GP2 Asia Series nighttime race took place. Best qualifying lap was achieved by Nico Hülkenberg in 1:35.741.[1]

The Superbike World Championship has visited Losail from 2005-2009 and 2014-present. In addition, the venue has hosted the opening round of the FIM Motocross World Championship since 2013.

Racing History

Since 2008, MotoGP has run under lights at Losail.

MotoGP

Year MotoGP 250cc/Moto2 125cc/Moto3
2004 Spain Sete Gibernau Argentina Sebastián Porto Spain Jorge Lorenzo
2005 Italy Valentino Rossi Australia Casey Stoner Hungary Gábor Talmácsi
2006 Italy Valentino Rossi Spain Jorge Lorenzo Spain Álvaro Bautista
2007 Australia Casey Stoner Spain Jorge Lorenzo Spain Héctor Faubel
2008 Australia Casey Stoner Italy Mattia Pasini Spain Sergio Gadea
2009 Australia Casey Stoner Spain Héctor Barberá Italy Andrea Iannone
2010 Italy Valentino Rossi Japan Shoya Tomizawa Spain Nicolás Terol
2011 Australia Casey Stoner Germany Stefan Bradl Spain Nicolás Terol
2012 Spain Jorge Lorenzo Spain Marc Márquez Spain Maverick Viñales
2013 Spain Jorge Lorenzo Spain Pol Espargaró Spain Luis Salom
2014 Spain Marc Márquez Spain Esteve Rabat Australia Jack Miller
2015 Italy Valentino Rossi Germany Jonas Folger France Alexis Masbou
2016 Spain Jorge Lorenzo Switzerland Thomas Lüthi Italy Niccolò Antonelli

World Touring Car Championship

Year Race Winner Manufacturer
2015 Race 1 Argentina José María López Citroën Total WTCC
Race 2 France Yvan Muller Citroën Total WTCC

Notes

  1. 1 2 Losail International Circuit, Qatar 2009 - GP2 Asia results - autoevolution.com

Coordinates: 25°29′24″N 51°27′15″E / 25.49000°N 51.45417°E / 25.49000; 51.45417

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