Following an agreement with Vila Real circuit management, CREVENTIC has confirmed that it will host its first-ever endurance race on a street track when the 24H Series travels to Portugal for a race on the Circuito Internacional de Vila Real in July.
The new 6H Vila Real event will be a non-championship round for 24H Series and will be held on July 14-16, a week after the inaugural 12H Estoril event. However, CREVENTIC says that it is exploring the opportunity to host the event in the future as a point-scoring race.
With this new deal, the Circuito Internacional de Vila Real has become the 25th different circuit to host a race from the Dutch promoter since the inaugural 24H Series event at the Dubai Autodrome in 2006.
“This is a very big moment for us,” says Helen Roukens, CREVENTIC team relations. “We are always looking for ways to expand our horizons for our competitors and our fans, as we’ve proven at many of the most celebrated racing venues around the world.
“So to be given the chance to host an endurance event at one of Portugal’s most charismatic street circuits is a great opportunity for CREVENTIC and our teams, many of whom we are confident will be excited to make this step with us. We’d like to thank the management team at the Circuito Internacional de Vila Real for their help in making the 6H VILA REAL a reality.”
The Vila Real race will be open to both GT and TCE teams, with a schedule that includes four and a half hours of private testing, a 45-minute qualifying session and a two-part race, with three hours held on both Saturday and Sunday.
Circuito Internacional de Vila Real is a venue that has featured most notably on the WTCC and World Touring Car Cup calendars over the years. It held its first WTCC event in 2015, with six editions of the ‘Race of Portugal’ being held around the 4.6km Portuguese street course before WTCR’s dissolution at the end of 2022.
“Vila Real has established itself as one of the most exciting and competitive urban circuits in the world,” adds Rui Santos, the Mayor of Vila Real. “Despite having held car races since 1931, the last few years, with the FIA WTCC and WTCR, have put our circuit on everyone’s scope.
“After the sprint races with TCR cars, we think this is the time to receive GTs and remember the endurance races that took place here in the 1970s. We found in Creventic a fantastic partner and we look forward to welcoming thousands and thousands of people in July, at the biggest race event ever in Vila Real.”
Prior to its recent stint as a world touring car circuit, Vila Real has a motorsport heritage that dates back to the late 1920s and early 1930s. The track’s prominence grew after World War II when the circuit began to host the ‘Race of Portugal’. In the decades that followed the circuit was modified multiple times, and held Formula 3, sportscar and touring car races, before Vila Real’s most recent revival began with the WTCC event in 2015.
Images courtesy of CREVENTIC
