Valencia Street Circuit

Valencia Street Circuit

The swing bridge, an important element of the Valencia Street Circuit.
Location	Valencia, Spain
Time zone	GMT +1
Coordinates	39°27′31.6″N 0°19′32″W / 39.458778°N 0.32556°W / 39.458778; -0.32556Coordinates: 39°27′31.6″N 0°19′32″W / 39.458778°N 0.32556°W / 39.458778; -0.32556
Opened	2008
Closed	2013
Major events	FIA Formula One European Grand Prix
Surface	Asphalt
Length	5.419 km (3.367 mi)
Turns	25
Lap record	1:38.683 ( Timo Glock, Toyota, 2009, Formula One)

The Valencia Street Circuit (Valencian: Circuit Urbà de València, Spanish: Circuito Urbano de Valencia) was a street circuit in Valencia, Spain which hosted the Formula One European Grand Prix for five years (2008–2012). The first race meeting on the circuit was held over the 23/24 August 2008 weekend, with Felipe Massa winning the main event, the European Grand Prix, after starting from pole position. The circuit uses the roads skirting the city's harbour and America's Cup port area – including a section over a 140-metre-long (460 ft) swing bridge, and also includes some roads designed exclusively for racing purposes by the German architect Hermann Tilke, who also designed the infrastructure buildings for the circuit. The 2012 edition took place on 24 June and was the last to go under the name of the European Grand Prix until 2016, when the Baku City Circuit took over the name. It has not been used since 2013 after a deal fell through to alternate this venue with Catalunya in Barcelona to host the Spanish Grand Prix.

The deal to host the Valencia race was signed on June 1, 2007, and was for seven years. The deal was made between Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone and the Valmor Sport group, which is led by former motorcycle rider Jorge Martinez Aspar and Villarreal football club's president Fernando Roig. This deal goes back on comments made by Ecclestone previously stating that no European country should hold more than one race each year as Barcelona currently holds the Spanish Grand Prix each year.