Autódromo Internacional Virgílio Távora

Overview

The Autódromo Internacional Virgílio Távora is a road circuit in Eusébio, in the metropolitan region of Fortaleza, and the only permanent circuit in the state of Ceará. Named after the former governor Virgílio Távora, it opened in 1969 as the first racetrack in Northeast Brazil. The state sports secretariat administers the venue and rents it to event organisers by the day. Regional series such as Turismo Cearense and the Copa Nordeste de Automobilismo hold several rounds there each year, and the circuit has also hosted Stock Car Brasil, South American Formula 3 and Fórmula Truck.

Technical Specifications and Track Features

The full circuit is 3,000 metres long and 12 metres wide, with seven named corners: Desespero, Fernando Ary, Entrada do miolo, 90 graus, Sol, the S and Dirce. The lap combines the long main straight beside the pits and the outer circuit with an infield section that was added when the track was extended in 1997. Shorter configurations exist as well. The best known is the 1,780-metre truck circuit created in 2006, and another short course, laid out in 2013, leaves out most of the infield. Nelson Piquet Jr. set the full-circuit lap record of 1:06.525 in a Dallara F301 at the 2002 Formula 3 round. On the truck circuit, the record of 1:00.391 belongs to Felipe Giaffone, set during the 2017 Copa Truck meeting.

Facilities and Specialized Areas

The pit building holds 32 boxes of 72 square metres each, and four paddock areas can take 800 people. Race control works from a three-storey timing tower with a press room, a race direction room and a stewards' room, next to the podium, a fuel station and a parc fermé for scrutineering. Spectators use an inner grandstand for 1,500 people and an outer grandstand for 4,000, and there is a 360-square-metre restaurant and parking for more than 400 cars. Event organisers must provide a mobile intensive care unit, a doctor, rescue and fire crews, and drivers must belong to the Ceará car or motorcycle federation.

History

Racing in Ceará began on a street course in Fortaleza and moved in 1942 to the disused Pici Field air base. The Automobile Club of Ceará then bought 33 hectares in Eusébio, and Governor Virgílio Távora obtained help from transport minister Mário Andreazza to pave a triangular five-corner track, built in about four months. It opened on 12 January 1969 with the Grande Prêmio Ministro Mário Andreazza, won after 65 laps by the Bahian driver known as Lulu Geladeira in a Puma. Emerson Fittipaldi won a Formula Ford race there in 1970, and Stock Car Brasil visited in 1979, 1984, 1989 and 1992. After a decline, the state tourism secretariat and Petrobras bought the circuit in 1993. Rebuilt and extended to about three kilometres, it reopened on 30 November 1997 with the Seis Horas do Ceará, won by Nelson Piquet and Ruyter Pacheco in a BMW. A 2006 reform brought new asphalt and better run-off, and that April more than 53,000 spectators watched the first Fórmula Truck race, a record for motorsport in Ceará. In December 2024 the state put the site up for auction, but no bidder came forward and the sale was dropped.