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24-726: It is controlled by the Fédération Française du Sport Automobile (FFSA) and from 2011 the series was organized by racing company Oreca . In 2017 the series was readopted by the SRO . Since the demise of the French Supertouring Championship after the 2005 season, the French GT has become France's major circuit racing championship. Founded by Patrick Peter in 1997 as an offshoot of the international BPR Global GT Series , this national version featured

48-725: A revised calendar arising from the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic . On 10 August 2020, MotoGP announced that the coronavirus-hit season would end with the Portuguese Grand Prix in Portimão. The circuit hosted the Portuguese motorcycle Grand Prix again in 2021 from 16 to 18 April, and hosted a second event named the Algarve Grand Prix from 5 to 7 November. In January 2021 it was announced that

72-574: A revised calendar arising from the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic . This marked the first time a Portuguese Grand Prix had been held since the 1996 race , which had taken place at the Autódromo do Estoril . The circuit hosted the Portuguese Grand Prix again in 2021 from 30 April to 2 May. In August 2020 it was announced that the circuit would host the MotoGP Portuguese motorcycle Grand Prix from 20 to 22 November, as part of

96-494: A wide variety of Grand Touring-style cars in multiple classes competing at the same time on mostly French courses. In 1998 the SRO Group took over the series and the classes were reorganized to align with the inaugural FIA GT Championship , also organised by SRO. SRO alignment continues through to today even though in 2011 series organization was handed over from SRO to Oreca , a French racing team, constructor, and organiser of

120-560: Is a 4.653 km (2.891 mi) race circuit located in Portimão , Algarve region, Portugal. The development includes a karting track, off-road track, technology park , five-star hotel, sports complex and apartments. The circuit was designed by Ricardo Pina, Arquitectos. The construction was finished in October 2008 and the circuit was homologated by both the FIM on 11 October 2008 and

144-1091: The Acura ARX-05 , created in partnership with Honda Performance Development for the Daytona Prototype international (DPi) regulations to race in the IMSA SportsCar Championship . The R13 was later taken by Alpine and rebadged as the A480 to race in the Le Mans Hypercar as a "grandfathered" entry. Oreca was also selected as one of four chassis suppliers for the LMDh sports prototype regulations, and currently supplies Acura and Alpine with chassis for their respective ARX-06 and A424 race cars. Aut%C3%B3dromo Internacional do Algarve The Algarve International Circuit ( Portuguese : Autódromo Internacional do Algarve ), commonly referred to as Portimão Circuit ,

168-657: The FIA two days later. The total cost was €195 million (approximately $ 250 million). The circuit hosted the final round of the World Superbike Championship on 2 November 2008. On 9 June, the track was confirmed to host a round of the 2008-09 A1 Grand Prix season . The race was set for the weekend of 12 April 2009. On 10 October 2008, the Le Mans Series announced a 1000 km night race to be held at Algarve on 2 August 2009. On 5 November 2008,

192-529: The FIA GT Championship announced and 7th round of the 2009 season will be held at Algarve on 13 September 2009. A Formula One test session, with the McLaren and Honda teams participating, was scheduled for 15–17 December 2008. Ferrari also ran at Algarve. Toyota also tested at the circuit on 20 January 2009 in the first outing of their new TF109 chassis. The circuit will also host

216-597: The FIA World Endurance Championship (including the 24 Hours of Le Mans ). The car showed promising speed but did not finish at Le Mans due to a large crash involving one car and mechanical problems sidelining the other. On September 14, 2007, Oreca announced their plans to purchase sports prototype manufacturer Courage Compétition . Its first project was the Oreca 01 , made for the LMP1 class. It

240-592: The 2005 Le Mans 24 Hours with support from Audi France. Also for 2006 Oreca ran the Saleen S7R in the Le Mans Series . The Oreca Saleen S7R had already won the 2006 Spa-Francorchamps Le Mans race. Oreca worked closely with Dodge on the Dodge Viper Competition Coupe, producing well over 100 customer cars in the period 2006–2007 to GT3 specification. Oreca entered a customer-specification Peugeot 908 HDi FAP with 'Semi-works' help for

264-747: The 2010 Le Mans 24 Hours, as well as for the rest of the Le Mans Series races, taking overall honours at the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve and the overall championship ahead of the factory Peugeot teams. In 2011, Oreca won the 12 Hours of Sebring race despite still using the Peugeot 908 HDi-FAP, a model retired at the end of the previous season. In 2012 Oreca was selected to run the Toyota TS030 Hybrid LMP1 car with support from Toyota Motorsport GmbH in

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288-492: The 2020 Formula One season as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic , the Algarve International Circuit has by way of exception hosted the 2020 Portuguese Grand Prix . The circuit resembles old Nürburgring and Spa-Francorchamps , mainly because of its constantly undulating nature. A1 Team Portugal 's driver Filipe Albuquerque observed that there are big downhill slopes and right-hand turns after

312-686: The GT2 class with a Chrysler Viper GTS-R and overall with a Mazda 787B in 1991, on their second attempt and first after a decade. Also, the team prepared the Renault Clio S1600 for rallying and won the ice racing Andros Trophy with a Toyota Corolla driven by Alain Prost. In the 2000s, Oreca assisted Renault Sport in building the new Mégane V6 for the Renault Eurocup Mégane Sport and fielding an Audi R8 in

336-489: The Sportscar Winter Series and the former Formula Le Mans Cup . The main class has used GTS car regulations from 1997 to 2004, GT1 from 2005 to 2009, and FIA GT3 from 2010 to 2016. The championship featured classes for both professionals and amateurs. GT3 rules included extensive performance balancing and handicap weights to make cars artificially more equal. In 2016, grids depleted and Oreca cancelled

360-652: The championship. For the 2017 season , the SRO Group became again the promoter and the GT4 regulations were adopted. As of 2023 the series is known as FFSA GT - GT4 France. This motorsport-related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Oreca ORECA ( Organisation Exploitation Compétition Automobiles ) is a French racing team and race car constructor, founded in 1973 and run by Hugues de Chaunac, former team manager of F1 team AGS . Oreca has had success in many areas of motorsport . Since

384-545: The circuit has little grip. The first episode of The Grand Tour , "The Holy Trinity" was shot here in 2016. At the 2022 Supersport 300 World Championship , Victor Steeman died causing fatal accident at this circuit while racing in the Race 1 Portimão round. In July 2020 it was announced that the circuit would host the Formula One Portuguese Grand Prix from 23 to 25 October, as part of

408-408: The circuit would host the FIA World Endurance Championship 8 Hours of Portimão instead of 1000 Miles of Sebring on 4 April due to the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic . However, on 5 March 2021; the round was postponed into the original date of 2021 24 Hours of Le Mans , 13 June in order to increase the possibility of fans being able to attend the race. For 2022, it was planned that

432-435: The circuit would not host F1 and WEC races, but it would continue to host MotoGP, World SBK, and ELMS races. Besides them, it would host DTM , TCR Europe and Lamborghini Super Trofeo World Final for the first time in 2022. In September 2022, it was announced that the circuit returned to the 2023 WEC calendar. The circuit is the site of a statue in tribute to Craig Jones , representing Jones on his motorbike after passing

456-548: The early 1990s the team has concentrated on running sports cars and GT cars. In the 1970s and 1980s, drivers including Alain Prost , Jacques Laffite and Jean Alesi won the French Formula Three Championship for the team a record 11 times. In the 1990s, Oreca ran a BMW operation in the French Supertouring Championship . It also won the FIA GT Championship and the Le Mans 24 Hours in

480-774: The final round of the 2009 GP2 Series season in September 2009. From 2010 it hosted a round of the FIA World Touring Car Championship . On 4 April 2009 Max Mosley stated that based on the quality of the circuit it could integrate the Formula One championship under the guise of the Portuguese Grand Prix , as long as a commercial agreement with the Formula One Management was achieved. Due to changes to

504-406: The finishing line. This statue will be the main part of a monument , already partially built, which also includes the architectural arrangement of the main access roundabout to the racetrack, created by Paula Hespanha and Portuguese architect Manuel Pedro Ferreira Chaves. This monument is a landscape sculpture , representing the main straight of a racing circuit, which extends up to the car park of

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528-408: The main straight. He also commented that the track is good for overtaking because of the circuit width. A1 Team New Zealand 's driver Earl Bamber observed that there are many special turns with personality. He commented that the new circuit is a little bit dangerous like the old school circuits with a roller coaster ride. A1 Team France 's driver Nicolas Prost commented that the asphalt was new and

552-687: Was first raced at the 2009 1000 km of Spa with two entries. During 2009, Oreca started producing the Formula Le Mans 'FLM09'. This was initially run in its own series named the Formula Le Mans Cup until 2010 when it was adapted to allow it to be run three other endurance series including the American Le Mans Series which gave the car its own category (LMPC). The idea was to give an affordable platform for smaller teams to get into endurance racing. The Oreca 03

576-551: Was launched to accommodate the new LMP2 regulations for 2011. In 2015, the Oreca 05 was unveiled, winning the LMP2 class at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Oreca was selected as one of the four 2017 LMP2 manufacturers, and launched the Oreca 07 . Two variations of the 07 were also created to race in different classes, in the form of the Rebellion R13 , created for the LMP1 class to race in the FIA World Endurance Championship , and

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