The FIA WTCR Race of Portugal (known as the FIA WTCC Race of Portugal from 2007 to 2017) is a

motor racing Motorsport, motorsports or motor sport is a global term used to encompass the group of competitive sporting events which primarily involve the use of motorized vehicles. The terminology can also be used to describe forms of competition of two ...

event held in

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

as part of the

World Touring Car Cup The FIA World Touring Car Cup (abbreviated to WTCR, referring to the use of TCR regulations) was an international touring car championship promoted by Eurosport Events and sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). It ...

(WTCR) series, and formerly the

World Touring Car Championship The FIA World Touring Car Championship was an international touring car championship promoted by Eurosport Events and sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). It has had several different incarnations, including a sin ...

(WTCC). First run in 2007, the event last took place at the

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 Pa ...

in June 2021; previously it has been held at the

Circuito Internacional de Vila Real The Circuito Internacional de Vila Real is a temporary street circuit in Vila Real, Portugal Vila Real () is the capital and largest city of the Vila Real District, in the North region. It is also the seat of the Douro intermunicipal communi ...

, the

Circuito da Boavista Circuito da Boavista is a street circuit in Porto, Portugal, which was used twice for the Formula One Portuguese Grand Prix. The original course began at the harbor-front "Esplanada do Rio de Janeiro", continued on "Avenida da Boavista", (hence t ...

, and the

Autódromo Internacional do Algarve The Algarve International Circuit ( pt, Autódromo Internacional do Algarve), commonly referred to as Portimão Circuit, is a race circuit located in Portimão, Algarve region, Portugal. The development includes a karting track, off-road tra ...

. The event will return to

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

. In common with the other rounds of the WTCR and the former WTCC, the Race of Portugal event consists of two practice sessions, a single qualifying session, and two individual races over the course of a weekend. For 2018 and 2019 seasons the event consisted of three races.

Tiago Monteiro Tiago Vagaroso da Costa Monteiro (; born 24 July 1976) is a Portuguese professional racing driver currently competing in the World Touring Car Cup, driving a Honda Civic TCR for Engstler Motorsport. He competed in Formula One between 2005 an ...

is the only Portuguese driver to have won his home race. He has taken four victories in Portugal, firstly in 2008 when the race was held at Estoril, then in race one of the 2010 Race of Portugal at Portimão, and two at Vila Real, the main race in 2016 Race of Portugal and race 3 in 2019 (never won at his hometown - Porto).

History

The inaugural WTCC Race of Portugal was held in July 2007 at the

street course in

Porto Porto or Oporto () is the second-largest city in Portugal, the capital of the Porto District, and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto city proper, which is the entire municipality of Porto, is small compared to its metropol ...

. The Boavista circuit had previously hosted the

Formula One Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...

Portuguese Grand Prix The Portuguese Grand Prix (''Grande Prémio de Portugal'') is a motorsports event that was first held in 1951 as a sportscar event, and then intermittently disappearing for many years before being revived again. In 1964 event was held as a spo ...

in 1958 and 1960, and was revived as a historic racing venue in 2005. With a length of , the track was one of the longest on the World Touring Car Championship calendar. As per the sporting regulations of the series, the Race of Portugal consisted of two separate races long; the inaugural event held in 2007 saw

Alain Menu Alain Menu (born 9 August 1963) is a Swiss racing driver who is currently working for Team BMR as a driving coach. He was one of the most successful touring car drivers of the 1990s, winning the prestigious British Touring Car Championship twice ...

win the first race, while

Andy Priaulx Andrew Graham Priaulx, MBE ( born 8 August 1974) is a British professional racing driver from Guernsey. In 2019 he raced for Ford Chip Ganassi Team UK in the FIA World Endurance Championship, and Cyan Racing Lynk & Co in the FIA World Touring ...

took victory in the second. The Boavista circuit subsequently hosted the Race of Portugal on a biennial basis until 2013, with the Porto municipal government only able hold the event in alternating years due to the financial and logistical challenges from being host. The intervening years saw the

assume hosting duties in 2008, where

Rickard Rydell Rickard Rydell (born 22 September 1967) is a retired Swedish racing driver. He won the 1998 British Touring Car Championship, the 2011 Scandinavian Touring Car Championship, and has also been a frontrunner in the European/World Touring Car Champ ...

and

took the event's two victories respectively, before the

Portimão Portimão () is a city and a municipality in the district of Faro, in the Algarve region of southern Portugal. The population in 2011 was 55,614, in an area of 182.06 km2. It was formerly known as Vila Nova de Portimão (). In 1924, it was ...

took over for the rounds in 2010 and 2012. In October 2014, the Porto municipal government announced that the Circuito da Boavista would not host the Race of Portugal in 2015 after Turismo de Portugal, the country's national tourism board, chose not to provide financial support towards the €3 million cost. It was later announced that the city of

Vila Real Vila Real () is the capital and largest city of the Vila Real District, in the North region. It is also the seat of the Douro intermunicipal community and of the Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro historical province. The Vila Real municipality covers ...

would host the event in 2015, utilising the

street circuit first constructed in 1931 for a three-year deal until 2017. Despite receiving a broadly positive reception from the drivers, the circuit drew criticism over the placement of tight chicanes for safety reasons before the circuit's high speed sections, which brought racing speeds down to as low as . In 2017 the event was the first in the

to feature a joker lap, an alternative route constructed at the final corner of the circuit through which drivers were required to drive once per race. An incident in the practice session for that year's event, in which driver

Tom Coronel Tom Romeo Coronel (born 5 April 1972) is a Dutch professional racing driver. Tom's twin brother Tim is also a racer, just like their father Tom Coronel Sr. His most important results are winning the Marlboro Masters of Formula 3 race in 1997, th ...

collided with an emergency vehicle down an escape road, prompted an investigation by the championship's governing body, the

FIA FIA is the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (English: International Automobile Federation), the world's governing body for all forms of motor sport where four or more wheels are used. Fia or FIA may also refer to: People * Fia Backst ...

. In 2018 the World Touring Car Championship merged with

TCR International Series The TCR International Series was an international touring car championship. The championship was promoted by World Sporting Consulting (WSC), founded by former World Touring Car Championship manager Marcello Lotti. It was marketed as a cost-eff ...

to form the

. Both the Race of Portugal and the Circuito Internacional de Vila Real were retained by the series organisers, and in common with the other rounds of the championship, the number of races that formed the event was increased from two to three. The first race of 2018 saw a violent first-lap collision between

Mehdi Bennani Mehdi Bennani ( ar, مهدي بناني, born 25 August 1983) is a Moroccan racing driver who currently competes in the TCR Europe with Sébastien Loeb Racing. He was TCR Europe Champion in 2020 with the Belgian team Comtoyou Racing. He became ...

and

Robert Huff Robert Peter "Rob" Huff (born 25 December 1979) is a British professional racing driver. He currently competes in the World Touring Car Cup (WTCR) driving for Zengő Motorsport. He was the 2012 World Touring Car Championship champion and the ...

block the entirety of the track, causing a delay of two hours while repair work to the cars and track-side barriers was undertaken. In 2020 the event was one of many cancelled due the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, but was set to return to the Vila Real circuit for the 2021 season. The number of races held as part of the event will be reduced from three to two from 2021 with race lengths of and respectively. On 10 May 2021, it was announced that Race of Portugal will be held in

Circuito 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 Pa ...

instead of the Vila Real circuit; but 3-year agreement will be signed with the Vila Real circuit from the 2022 season. With the new TCR World Tour format, the Race of Portugal will be part of ''both'' the TCR World Tour and TCR European Series.

Winners

World Touring Car Cup (2018–present)

World Touring Car Championship (2007–2017)

References

External links

Circuito da Boavista Official Site