High octane action in store at MotorLand Aragon

The state-of-the-art MotorLand Aragon will be the venue for the tenth anniversary edition of the event at the road racing circuit.

MotorLand Aragon was opened in 2009 to continue the rich local heritage of racing and more than fifty years of passion for speed in Alcañiz and in the Lower Aragón region. For nearly 40 years, exciting street races had been held in the town making it into a must-see destination for all those who love the smell of fuel and feel passion for speed.

It was back in 1965 that Joaquín Ripollés first promoted the inaugural City of Alcañiz Grand Prix which held on the unforgettable urban circuit known as Circuito Guadalope. The streets were the venue of exciting races that turned the city into a pioneering organiser of sports events and in a short period of time, Alcañiz became a benchmark in the history of urban circuits.

The project gained its popularity largely thanks to the local citizen’s clear passion and enthusiasm and to the prestige gained at Guadalope, which hosted its last race in 2003.

Backed by a team of highly-experienced and well-known experts, the MotorLand Aragón project finally set-off in 2006 with the first competitions on the karting and off-road racetracks. 2009 proved a pivotal year with the completion of the motorsports complex and the opening of the road racing circuit.

MotorLand Aragon first hosted a Grand Prix in 2010 becoming the sixth different circuit that has been used for GP racing in Spain, in addition to Jerez, Catalunya, Jarama, Montjuich and Valencia. This was another milestone in Spain’s affinity and passion for motorcycle racing which has produced some great champions down the years including Angel Nieto, Sito Pons, Alex Criville, Dani Pedrosa, Jorge Lorenzo and Marc Marquez.

2019 is the tenth anniversary of the complex which today sees the road racing track host many of the most significant event series in the world including the three most important motorcycling championships: the MotoGP World Championship, the FIM Superbike World Championship and the FIM CEV Repsol. In fact, the MotorLand Aragón organisation has been awarded the Best Grand Prix Award by IRTA (International Racing Teams Association) on three occasions in 2010, 2013 and 2015. In addition to these international races, there are also several national and regional motorcycling, car, karting or autocross races. The activities on the track are completed by the several track days, private tests and practices. MotorLand has also a large leisure offer for individuals and companies, which includes guided tours, go-kart rentals, race-kart testing, co-driving or driving high-class vehicles to courses and incentive days.

But it is the Gran Premio de Aragón de MotoGP which always has everyone talking, before well before the event, during and after. Since its inclusion in the calendar of the Motorcycling World Championship in 2010, the Grand Prix, which is always staged in September, attracts more than 100,000 spectators during the weekend and sees a wide range of different events and activities in addition to the main event itself.

Thursday marked the start of those activities and the celebration of the tenth anniversary of the Alcañizano circuit with the press conference. This featured some of the main MotoGP riders, notably Marc Márquez, Andrea Dovizioso, Alex Rins, Maverick Viñales, Fabio Quartararo and Alex Márquez, and fans enjoyed the opportunity to watch their idols up close on the pit lane walk that was held in the afternoon.

Friday is when the action on the track really gets into gear with the first two free practice sessions for Moto3, Moto 2, MotoGP and the Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup.

Saturday will then see the qualifying sessions for all of Moto3, Moto 2 and MotoGP, plus Race 1 of the Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup and an opportunity for VIPs to sample the Moto GP VIP Village Pit Lane Walk.

That all brings things to Sunday and the all-important race day. A busy morning will see the warm-ups for the Moto3, Moto 2, and MotoGP, ahead of the Energica MotoE Ride for Life Lap, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to ride a Energica Ego electric motorcycle in front of the MotoGP race crowd.

After the day’s MotoGP VIP Village Pit Lane Walk, it’s down to business with the Moto3 race of 19 laps at 11.20am. The MotoGP race over 23 laps then follows at 1.00pm, before Moto2 over 21 laps gets underway at 2.30pm. The action concludes with Race 2 (over 15 laps) of the Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup at 4.00pm.