Paul Ricard Circuit
Paul Ricard Circuit
RACE TRACK FRANCE
Paul Ricard Circuit
Technical Information
The main track of the Circuit Paul Ricard is divided into 3 main tracks:
The 5.8 km is the largest route that hosts the majority of competitions and aerodynamic tests
The 3.8 km is generally used for motorcycle courses.
The 1.8 km school track is used mainly for driving courses.
In order to reproduce the driving conditions in the rain, part of the track can be watered automatically thanks to a remotely controlled watering system that can operate the microvalves and distribute the desired amount of water on the track.
The circuit features two independent tracks: a 1.8-km (1.1 miles) circuit and a 3.8-km (2.36 miles) circuit, which combine into the default 5.8-km (3.6 millas) Full Circuit.
The complex also includes a dynamic driving center, a 4WD track, and a Go Karting course, serving the needs of all types of motorsports fans.
The average speed in the Circuit Paul Ricard can be as high as 160 km/h (100 mph) when using the Mistral Straight in its full length of 1.8 km (1.1 mi).
Adding the Chicane Nord (Chicane North) limits the average speed of the circuit to 138 km/h (86 mph).
The Circuit Paul Ricard is famous for its ample, high-technology, blue-striped runoff areas made of an asphalt-tungsten compound designed to improve braking and avoid fatal crashes.
One of the world's fastest turns is Signes, right after Mistral Straight, where high-performance vehicles go thundering at 290 km/h (180 mph).
Circuit Paul Ricard 1A
The 1A routing creates the standard configuration most commonly used for championship events and manufacturer testing programs at France's premier proving ground.
This variant serves as Paul Ricard's baseline layout from which other numbered configurations derive through systematic turn selection variations.
Operating the 1A configuration showcases Circuit Paul Ricard's role as one of Europe's most configurable circuits where systematic turn designations allow precise layout customization matching specific testing or event requirements.
The 1A variant serves as the facility's reference configuration providing standard flow for timing comparisons and championship events while demonstrating modular philosophy where dozens of turn combinations create nearly unlimited layout possibilities at this comprehensive French motorsport facility.
Circuit Paul Ricard Circuit 1C-V2
Circuit Paul Ricard Circuit 1C-V2 is 5.8 km, 15 turns, clockwise.
Circuit Paul Ricard's 1C-V2 configuration delivers 5.842 kilometers through 21 corners representing the modern Formula 1 layout incorporating both Chicane 1C (added halfway along Mistral Straight) and Verrerie V2 variation creating slower technical sections.
This FIA Grade One circuit emphasizes safety through the distinctive blue-and-red striped runoff areas made from asphalt-tungsten compound providing high-friction escape zones, while the 1C chicane reduces Mistral Straight speeds from unsafe 350 kph to controlled 280 kph before mid-straight braking zone.
The V2 Verrerie variation features three possible configurations with Formula 1 using the slowest sharpest option creating technical challenge, while GT Open utilizes faster alternatives demonstrating the circuit's 167-possible-configuration versatility that earned Paul Ricard reputation as motorsport's ultimate modular testing facility.
The 1C-V2 configuration's character emerges from Mistral chicane's strategic impact transforming the former high-speed blast into safety-conscious technical section.
The 1.8-kilometer Mistral Straight historically enabled 350+ kph speeds creating dangerous incidents, but 1C chicane insertion forces mid-straight braking and direction changes reducing average speeds from 100 mph on faster configurations to 86 mph on 1C-V2 layout.
The Verrerie S-curves' V2 variant adds three turn options where F1 cars navigate the sharpest slowest routing while Blancpain GT Series continues using faster 1A configuration without chicanes entirely.
The facility's 167 possible configurations stem from modular design enabling varied layouts for different testing and racing needs.
Circuit Paul Ricard 3A
Circuit Paul Ricard 3A is 3.7 km, 10 turns, clockwise.
Operating the 3A configuration showcases Paul Ricard's exceptional flexibility where systematic turn designations allow precise layout customization.
The 3A variant represents one of many numbered options allowing the facility to offer specific configurations matching manufacturer testing requirements or event organizer preferences.
Paul Ricard Circuit
The Circuit Paul Ricard also offers side trails:
The Dynamic Driving Centre is a 128 m gliding track, with a “racquet”, designed to organize preventive driving courses, used both in car and motorcycle.
The All-Terrain Space (9ha track) is dedicated to off-road running (SUV tests, motorcycle cross training).
The Driving Center is a 1.6 km leisure circuit dedicated to motorsports combining piloting and road safety and open to all.
The Karting Circuit Paul Ricard is the extension of the spirit of the Circuit Paul Ricard for the practice of karting in leisure and competition.
Box
12 garages of 170 m2 with telemetry space and lodge (transformation possible in 24 garages) and 5 garages in the paddock II (transformable in 10).
Media Center
Space of 250 m2 with view on the track for journalists with 250 offices equipped with individual connection to networks, TV screens, WiFi terminal.
Dynamic Driving Center
128-meter gliding track with a “racquet”, designed to organize preventive driving courses on a wet or dry track, used both in cars and motorcycles.
All-Terrain Space
9ha dirt track with water basin, ideal for customer operations with SUVs and motocross rides.
Paul Ricard Karting
https://www.kartingcircuitpaulricard.com/
Length 964m
Karting offers rentals, internships (children, adults and groups), leisure shopping, training sessions and company seminars.
Accessible to all, go-karting offers many formulas: rental, internships (children, adults, groups), organization of challenges, training sessions, business seminars.
Our Track
The 964m long track has international CIK approval (trace 1). It is illuminated at night, and offers seven different route solutions (including two in the counterclockwise direction). Here the safety devices are of the same level as the Circuit Paul Ricard:
Run-offs asphalted (blue stripes)
TECPRO anti-collision barriers used in F1! (40% more efficient than tire walls)
Our facilities meet the standards of the FIA (International Automobile Federation) and the FFSA (French Motorsport Federation).
Driving Center
1.8 km leisure track ideal for piloting courses and incentive companies
Watering System
Ultra advanced that allows to reproduce the conditions of driving or driving in the rain, on 64 of the tracks offered by the circuit.
Run-Off
Asphalt clearance areas that replace gravel bins. Enhanced by the Blue LineTM concept’s red and blue colour strips, run-offs have decisive safety benefits thanks to their abrasive surface that slows down vehicles at the exit of the track.
Tecpro High Speed Barriers
Flexible polyethylene blocks that border safety rails, replacing the old tire walls. The innovation of the system lies in its ability to absorb the energy of the impact to cushion the potential shock suffered by the pilot.
Signaling And Starting Lights
The Circuit Paul Ricard and the company Alkamel Systems (AKS) have joined forces to develop and install a complete signalling device for future Grade 1 approved circuits and thus create a “reference” in terms of track safety systems.
Guts Aco Monoblock Racing Drain
Polyester concrete channels of very high strength that ensure the good drainage of the track. These gutters capable of absorbing the stresses exerted during the successive passages of the cars, constitute an additional guarantee of safety for the pilots.
Rescue Teams
Intervention teams that operate from fast vehicles, consisting of 2 runway stewards trained throughout the year, including fire and extraction.
Medical Center
It is managed by a permanent team composed of a chief medical officer, a nurse anesthesiologist and firefighters, equipped with state-of-the-art medical equipment: resuscitation block, bathtub for burnt, X-ray, examination office, and room with 2 medical beds.
Video Control Room
The race direction is equipped with 9 Sony professional LED screens and 3LCD laser projectors to display accurate images of the race leader and an overview of the circuit thanks to the 40 mobile cameras positioned around the circuit.
Night Lighting System
The lighting system of the Circuit Paul Ricard (composed of sixty-seven lighting masts) allows to accommodate tests and competitions that take place at night.
Paul Ricard History
1970
Creation Of The Circuit
The circuit was designed by Paul Ricard and inaugurated on April 19, 1970.
Renovated and modernized in 2002 according to Formula 1 standards, the Paul Ricard Circuit hosts the tests or official races of various international championships such as those of the F1 World Championship, Formula 3.5 and 2.0, Formula 2, but also the European Le Mans Series (ELMS), GT World Challenge Europe, International GT Open, FIM EWC (world motorcycle endurance championship)... The French FFSA GT Championship also has its meeting place at the Castellet, as well as the Grand Prix Trucks, the Ten Thousand Tours and the Sunday Ride Classic.
The Circuit offers 247 different track solutions (from 828 meters to 5,858 meters) adapted to the objectives of each in terms of vehicle development and training for competitions.