On 10 September 1991, the history of the dream of thousands of motor racing fans in Catalonia began to be written, the history of a permanent track that inherited the legacy of landmarks such as Pedralbes and Montjuïc, and which already has thirty years of experience and unique moments.
To commemorate this milestone, Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya is preparing an event to celebrate its 30th anniversary before the end of the year, expecting the best conditions to guarantee maximum safety for all those attending the event.
There is a lot to celebrate, because talking about these years means talking about motor racing and motorcycling legends, as well as about the best competitions of these three decades. On 10 September 1991, the Circuit was officially inaugurated and a few days later, from 13 to 15 of the same month, the Inauguration Trophy-Spanish Super Touring Car Championship had the honour of inaugurating the competition at the Catalan track. Before the end of September, F1® made its world championship stop-over with the Spanish Grand Prix, showcasing the Circuit all over the world. In the following season, the premier class of motorcycling joined with the European Grand Prix and the venue also hosted the Olympic Games of Barcelona ’92, being the starting and finishing point of the 100 kilometres time trial.
Gradually, the Circuit wanted to incorporate events with its own hallmark, and it did so in 1995 with the 24 Hours of Catalonia Motorcycling race and the 24 Hours of Barcelona Car race in 1998. These events were combined with other competitions that aroused passions, such as the FIA European Truck Championship, the World Series by Renault, the DTM or the FIA World Rally Championship. More recently, this international projection has continued to evolve with the incorporation of the FIA Rallycross World Championship and the FIM Superbike World Championship, without forgetting prestigious championships such as the European Le Mans Series, the FIM CEV, the International GT Open or the GT World Challenge Europe, among many others.
Over the years, F1 World Champions such as Nigel Mansell, Alain Prost, Damon Hill, Jacques Villeneuve, Mika Häkkinen, Michael Schumacher, Kimi Räikkönen, Fernando Alonso, Jenson Button, Sebastian Vettel, Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton have stood on the top step of the podium; as well as Wayne Rainey, Mick Doohan, Alex Crivillé, Kenny Roberts Jr, Valentino Rossi, Casey Stoner, Jorge Lorenzo and Marc Márquez stand out among the 500cc and MotoGP™ champions who have won at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
Over the last three decades, the Circuit has also experienced an evolution in its facilities, such as the division of the track into two -the national and the school layout-, the elimination of the Nissan variant and the creation of the straight between turns 9 and 10, the construction of the scoring pylon located on the straight, the enlargement of the modern Main Grandstand, the creation of the RACC chicane or, more recently, the transformed turn 10.
As time goes by, the history of the Circuit is still an open book in which to continue writing pages during the next decades and where the track will continue to position itself as a worldwide benchmark. Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya will continue working to be a multi-purpose infrastructure at the service of society, motor sports, the world of sport in general and entertainment, incorporating new branches and events, with projects linked to sustainability and technological innovation.