Lausitzring

History

As far back as 1986, in the former communist East Germany, it was planned to convert one of the huge open coal mine pits into a race track. In the late 1990s, this idea was taken up again in order to build a replacement for the AVUS in Berlin, which after the fall of the Berlin Wall had more traffic than before. The construction of the EuroSpeedway Lausitz began on 17 June 1998. The facility was officially opened during a public ceremony on 20 August 2000.

Winding in the infield of the high-speed tri-oval, there is a regular road race track for automobile and motorbike racing, using various track configurations up to roughly 4.562 km. The stands around the tri-oval have a capacity of 120,000, while the huge main grandstands have 25,000 seats, and unlike many circuits, the entire circuit can be seen from the main grandstand. Next to the racing facility, there is a test oval with two long straights connecting two steeply banked U-shaped corners. The test oval has a total length of 5.800 km, with each of its two straights measuring about 2.500 km in length. All tracks can be connected to form a 12.030 km long endurance racing course, but so far this option has been used only for testing and never as part of a major event.

There were three serious accidents at the facility in its first year of operation. On 25 April 2001, former Formula One driver Michele Alboreto was killed on the test oval after crashing at high speed due to a tyre failure. Alboreto was testing an Audi R8 in preparation of his participation at the 2001 24 Hours of Le Mans. Just over a week later, on 3 May 2001, a track marshal was killed when he was hit by a touring car during a test session.

The third serious accident occurred on 15 September 2001, when the venue's tri-oval hosted the 2001 American Memorial. It was the first race of the American CART series to be held in Europe, but it was eventually overshadowed by the accident in which the series' two-time champion Alex Zanardi was involved. Zanardi lost control of his car at the pit exit following a late stop for fuel and the car slid onto the tri-oval, where it was hit from the side by Alex Tagliani's car at full speed. The impact split the front of Zanardi's car from the rest of it and caused the driver to suffer a traumatic amputation of both of his legs. Tagliani was not seriously injured, having suffered some bruising as a result of the crash.

The last concert of German hard rock band Böhse Onkelz took place on 17 and 18 June 2005 at the Lausitzring under the name Vaya Con Tioz, in front of approximately 120,000. It was the biggest open air show by a German band ever.

On 9 October 2005, Lausitzring played host to the A1 Grand Prix series on its road course. The fastest lap of the meeting was set by Nicolas Lapierre and was 0.45 seconds slower than the lap record for the 4.345 km circuit held by Heikki Kovalainen.

Lausitzring played host to Round 6 of the 2010 Red Bull Air Race World Championship. As the last two events of the 2010 Championship (Rounds 7 and 8) were cancelled, the 2011 series was cancelled as well. The series then suffered an overall three-year hiatus before finally returning in September 2016 and September 2017.

On 1 November 2017, the entire facility was sold to the vehicle inspection company Dekra, which announced plans to modernize it and use it as a proving ground for road car innovations. Amid fears that the purchase would mark the end of public racing events at the circuit, Dekra announced that it would not organize such events, but other companies would remain welcome to organize them and Dekra would rent the circuit to them for the purpose. The DTM has continued to organize races at the circuit ever since.

Layout configurations

File:EuroSpeedway Lausitz tri-oval diagram.svg|Superspeedway layout File:EuroSpeedway GP.png|Grand Prix Circuit layout File:EuroSpeedway GP Oval T1 2.png|Grand Prix Circuit with Oval Turn 1 File:EuroSpeedway DTM Circuit.svg|DTM Sprint Circuit layout File:Lausitz GrandPrix Strecke.png|Motorcycle Circuit layout File:EuroSpeedway Lausitz detailed map.svg|Detailed map of the Lausitzring

Lap records

As of June 2025, the fastest official race lap records at Lausitzring are listed as:

Commercial use

Test site

On 1 November 2017, Dekra acquired the Lausitzring as a test site, especially for autonomous driving. In April 2019 test and verification of communication elements took place on the Lausitzring. Participants were Ford, Samsung, Vodafone, Huawei, LG Electronics and others. Topics were communication matters.

Entertainment

Dekra organised also an Open-air festival, that took place in May 2019.

Television

The Lausitzring also appeared in the Top Gear Germany Special where The Stig's German cousin sets laptimes in their £5,000 everyday second-hand sports saloons. Jeremy Clarkson in a Ford Sapphire Sierra RS Cosworth with James May in Mercedes-Benz 190E Cosworth and Richard Hammond in the BMW M3. The trio later filmed a YouTube video where May "got lost" and Hammond "forgot to put the camera on" and Clarkson had a Welsh accent.

Events

Complementary racing events, such as DTM are on the agenda.

Current

• June: Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters, Porsche Carrera Cup Germany, ADAC GT Masters
• September: DMV Goodyear Racing Days

Former

• 3000 Pro Series (2005)
• A1 Grand Prix (2005)
• ADAC Formula 4 (2015–2018, 2020, 2022)
• ADAC GT4 Germany (2020, 2023–2024)
• ADAC TCR Germany Touring Car Championship (2020–2022)
• ASCAR Racing Series (2002–2003)
• Austria Formula 3 Cup (2003–2010, 2012–2013, 2015–2018, 2024)
• Champ Car
  • German 500 (2001, 2003)
• DTM Trophy (2020–2022)
• EuroBOSS Series (2004–2005, 2009)
• European Truck Racing Championship (2001–2002, 2025)
• FIA GT Championship (2000)
• FIA Sportscar Championship (2003)
• Formula BMW ADAC (2000–2007)
• Formula König (2001–2004)
• Formula Renault 2.0 Germany (2001–2005)
• Formula Three Euroseries (2005–2006, 2009)
• Formula Volkswagen Germany (2001–2003)
• Interserie (2001, 2003–2004)
• Northern Talent Cup (2020)
• Porsche Sprint Challenge Suisse (2021)
• Prototype Cup Germany (2022, 2024–2025)
• Red Bull Air Race World Championship (2010, 2016–2017)
• Sidecar World Championship (2001–2002)
• Superbike World Championship (2001–2002, 2005–2007, 2016–2017)
• Supersport 300 World Championship (2017)
• Supersport World Championship (2001–2002, 2005–2007, 2016–2017)
• Trofeo Maserati (2003)
• V8Star Series (2001–2003)
• World Series by Nissan (2003–2004)

References

References

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2. [http://www.formel3.de/news.php?id=375 Cindy - Liebling der Fans] - July 31, 2006 (in German)
3. [http://www.formel3.de/ergebnisse/2005-08-28-q2.pdf ADAC Eastside 100 - Practice 2] - August 29, 2005 (in German)
4. [http://www.formel3.de/ergebnisse/2005-08-28-r2.pdf ADAC Eastside 100 - Race 2] - August 29, 2005 (in German)
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