Moscow Raceway - Home of the Russian Grand Prix
Track racing was never counted as one of the popular sports in Russia, but the country still has a couple of good motorsport venues and Moscow Raceway is surely one of them.
Rough start
Moscow Raceway is a new venue, opened in the summer of 2012 and it is one of the many new tracks projected by the German architect Hermann Tilke who designed the majority of the modern Formula 1 circuits. The project of the new track was unveiled in autumn of 2008 and originally Moscow Raceway had to be a home to Formula 1 Russian Grand Prix but the most prominent series race was never held there.
Construction of Moscow Raceway
However, management of the Moscow Raceway was never worried about the future of the venue as the deal with DTM was already made and much other racing series were interested in staging their events at the new circuit. The building process wasn’t easy after an agreement with Bernie Ecclestone and Formula 1 failed in 2009.
Moscow Raceway was finally opened in 2012
The construction was stopped for a while. In the summer of 2010 new contractor continued to work and the track layout was finished after one year. Soon after the medical center, supporting facilities and the stands with a capacity of 30.000 seats were also built and Moscow Raceway was ready for use. The construction cost was around $150 million. The circuit was planned to have FIA 1T and FIM A grade, allowing any type of racing to be held, including Formula 1, but after an inspection in 2012, it was granted FIA 1 and FIM B grade.
Preparations for the start of WTCC race at Moscow Raceway
Circuit suitable for many racing categories
Moscow Raceway circuit has no less than 20 configurations, 3 basic and 17 additional, but many of them are pretty similar. The main layout which was planned as a Formula 1 layout, is Grand Prix track with a length of 3.955 km and 12 – 21 meters width, with 15 turns. The lap record time holder is Arthur Pic who drove a lap in 1:24.831 during Formula Renault 3.5 Series race in 2012. Other variations of the track you can see on the official Moscow Raceway website.
Moscow Raceway basic layout
DTM and WTCC are main events
Moscow Raceway is a quite tricky counter-clockwise ran track, unusual in design. The elevation is only 22 m, the longest straight is 873 m long and allows drivers to pull out the maximum from their cars.
Main events at Moscow Raceway are the races of DTM, World Touring Cars Championship, and FIM Motorbike Championship. Other international series that also have raced at Moscow Raceway are Blancpain GT Series, World Series by Renault, European Formula 3 and many other.
DTM race at Moscow Raceway
Moscow Raceway is available for many other events
Like many other modern racing circuits, Moscow Raceway is also suitable for many corporate activities. During the year, Moscow Raceway hosts events of more than 50 companies — auto manufactures, financial leaders and consumer products’ developers in Media Center, Welcome Center and VIP lounges inside the Pit Building and Race Control Tower.
Video – Moscow Raceway Lap Guide
Getting there and accommodation
Moscow Raceway is located near the Russian capital, near the villages of Fedyukovo and Sheludkovo, some 90 minutes drive from the Moscow city center. Two of three Moscow’s international airports, Sheremetyevo and Vnukovo, are located around 100 km from the circuit while the third called Domodedovo is 150 km from the Moscow Raceway. The connections from the city to the circuit are relatively good while on the racing days, shuttle buses are available from Rizhsky train station.
Main stand at Moscow Raceway
Accommodation is not a problem in Moscow and you easily find different categories but it is good to know that the Russian capital is one of the most expensive European cities, so you have to make some research before checking your trip to the racing weekend.
Address: 39 Sheludkovo village, Volokolamsky district, Moscow region, 143650, Russia
Phone: +7 495 775 38 31
Website: moscowraceway.ru
