Sturup Raceway - Sturup Short Circuit 5

Overview

Sturup Raceway is a motorsport and driver training centre in Svedala Municipality in Skåne, less than 2 km from Malmö Airport at Sturup, and it describes itself as the southernmost racing circuit in Sweden. Malmö is about 20 to 25 minutes away by car and Copenhagen roughly three quarters of an hour across the Öresund Bridge. Racing is only part of its work: the venue also earns its living from testing, track days, company events, conferences and product launches, and from the compulsory risk training that Swedish learner drivers must complete. Car makers and tyre companies, among them Audi, BMW, Volkswagen, Nissan, Subaru, Pirelli and Goodyear, have used it for launches. The circuit is licensed for car racing, drifting, superkarts and motorcycle classes up to Pro Superbike, and it is the regular home of a round of the European Drifting Championship.

Technical Specifications and Track Features

The full circuit, in the form it took after the 2004-2005 extensions, measures 2,133 m. The operator describes it as technical, hilly and very demanding, with tight corners, chicanes, hairpins and short straights, and independent guides note how little straight running there is between the corners. The official pages give the width as 11 m at the narrowest point, opening out in places. Besides the full lap, the track can be split into several shorter loops, each of which can be run with or without a chicane. The circuit has been approved by the international governing bodies for cars, motorcycles and karts, the FIA, the FIM and the CIK.

Facilities and Specialized Areas

The site has its own conference rooms and runs day conferences, team events with go-karts, touring car racing cars and super sports cars, and "racing driver for a day" experiences for beginners. Driver education is a large part of the business: besides risk training it offers skid car sessions all year round, an eco-driving course and a road safety course. A pit lane and paddock buildings on the northern extension were added in 2005, while the original pits were kept.

History

The venue opened in 1972 as a short gravel rallycross course, first known as Sturupsbanan and later as Skånecrossbanan, and asphalt sections were added in stages until the course was fully paved in 1990, when circuit racing, testing and driver education became its focus. In 2001 the Danish investment banker Lars-Christian Brask bought it, and from early 2003 control passed to the property company Centerplan. A two-stage upgrade to FIA standards followed: in 2004 a new loop at the final turn and a longer pit entrance, and in 2005 a northern extension with a new pit lane and paddock buildings. The Danish Touring Car Championship arrived in 2005, when Michel Nykjær won for SEAT, and from 2007 the Swedish Touring Car Championship took over as the main event; the exit of the Karoussel corner was straightened the same year. After Centerplan went bankrupt at the end of 2008 the planned 2009 championship rounds did not take place, and in August 2009 the circuit was sold to Cemoni Ohlsson, a former Swedish rally champion. The STCC came back in 2012 as a Scandinavian series and left the calendar again in 2013.