Works on Valencia street circuit well underway

The works on the new street circuit at Valencia, where the 2008 European Grand Prix will be held, are well underway. The works were due to start in October 2007 and have to be ready in August 2008, when the first GP will be held at the circuit.

The track is being built around the America’s Cup port and will be 5.4 km long. It is estimated that a lap of the urban track will take about 1 minutes 37 seconds at an average of more than 200 km/h with top speeds of around 320 km/h.

The circuit at Valencia is to have a total of 25 turns – 11 right-handers and 14 left-handers. The capacity is said to be around 100,000 spectators.

Valencia decided to built a new street circuit to host the European GP instead of the already existing Ricardo Tormo Circuit just outside the city. This means that at the moment there are five street circuits on the 2008 F1 calendar: Albert Park (Australia), Circuit Gilles Villeneuve (Canada), Singapore street circuit (Singapore), Valencia street circuit (European GP) and the most famous of all: the street circuit of Monaco (Monaco).

The European Grand Prix at the new street circuit is scheduled for 24 August 2008.