Losail International Circuit

Losail International Circuit
Location	Lusail, Qatar
Time zone	GMT +3
Capacity	8,000
FIA Grade	1
Major events	Qatar motorcycle Grand Prix; GP2 Asia, SpeedCar, SBK; 8 Hours of Doha; FIA WTCC Race of Qatar
Length	5.380 km (3.375 mi)
Turns	16
Race lap record	1:38.699 (Davide Rigon, Trident Racing, GP2 Asia Series, 2009)
Website	www.circuitlosail.com

Losail International Circuit (Arabic: حلبة لوسيل الدولية) is a motor racing circuit located just outside in the town of Lusail, north of Doha, Qatar.

2016 FIA WTCC Race of Qatar

View from the Grandstand

Built in just under a year by 1,000 workers at the cost of $US 58 million, the track opened in 2004 to the inaugural Marlboro Grand Prix of Qatar, won by Sete Gibernau. In addition the circuit hosted the 2006 Grand Prix Masters of Qatar won by Nigel Mansell.

The track is 5.380 km in length, with a main straight of just over a kilometre at 1,068 metres. It is surrounded by artificial grass to stop the sand encroaching on the track. It happens to be somewhat similar to the Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir.

In 2007, Losail added permanent outdoor lighting for night races. At the time, the lighting of the Losail Circuit by Musco Lighting was the largest permanent venue sports lighting project in the world, a distinction that now belongs to another Gulf motorsport venue, Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi. The first night race in MotoGP history was the Commercialbank Grand Prix of Qatar in March 2008.

In February 2009, a GP2 Asia Series nighttime race took place. Best qualifying lap was achieved by Nico Hülkenberg in 1:35.741.^[1]

The Superbike World Championship has visited Losail from 2005-2009 and 2014-present. In addition, the venue has hosted the opening round of the FIM Motocross World Championship since 2013.

Racing HistoryEdit

Since 2008, MotoGP has run under lights at Losail.

MotoGPEdit

Year	MotoGP	250cc/Moto2	125cc/Moto3
2004	Sete Gibernau	Sebastián Porto	Jorge Lorenzo
2005	Valentino Rossi	Casey Stoner	Gábor Talmácsi
2006	Valentino Rossi	Jorge Lorenzo	Álvaro Bautista
2007	Casey Stoner	Jorge Lorenzo	Héctor Faubel
2008	Casey Stoner	Mattia Pasini	Sergio Gadea
2009	Casey Stoner	Héctor Barberá	Andrea Iannone
2010	Valentino Rossi	Shoya Tomizawa	Nicolás Terol
2011	Casey Stoner	Stefan Bradl	Nicolás Terol
2012	Jorge Lorenzo	Marc Márquez	Maverick Viñales
2013	Jorge Lorenzo	Pol Espargaró	Luis Salom
2014	Marc Márquez	Esteve Rabat	Jack Miller
2015	Valentino Rossi	Jonas Folger	Alexis Masbou
2016	Jorge Lorenzo	Thomas Lüthi	Niccolò Antonelli
2017	Maverick Viñales	Franco Morbidelli	Joan Mir
2018	Andrea Dovizioso	Francesco Bagnaia	Jorge Martín
2019	Andrea Dovizioso	Lorenzo Baldassarri	Kaito Toba

World Touring Car ChampionshipEdit

Year	Race	Winning driver	Winning team
2015	Race 1	José María López	Citroën Total WTCC
2015	Race 2	Yvan Muller	Citroën Total WTCC
2016	Race 1	Gabriele Tarquini	Lada Sport Rosneft
2016	Race 2	Mehdi Bennani	Sébastien Loeb Racing
2017	Race 1	Tom Chilton	Sébastien Loeb Racing
2017	Race 2	Esteban Guerrieri	Honda Racing Team JAS