A Look at Sao Paulo Circuit

Dave Lewandowski, IndyCar.com 

The Itaipava São Paulo Indy 300 presented by Nestle will be the second IZOD IndyCar Series race on the 2.6-mile, 11-turn street course.

A look at the circuit:

The Anhembi Sambadrome straight leads into Turns 1-2 called the S do Samba (Esses of Samba), which will be across from where colorful Carnival floats from last month’s parades were parked for public viewing. Turns 3-4 are the Curva da Base Aérea (Air Base Corner; located across the street from the air base).

Cars then enter a short straight on Olavo Fontoura Avenue – named Reta de Marte after Campo de Marte airport, host of aircraft services of São Paulo’s Civil and Military police (site of São Paulo’s first airport).

Turn 5 is the Curva do Anhembi (in the Pavilion Expo Park), while Turn 6 is the Curva 14 Bis. Turn 7 is the Curva do Pavilhão (Pavilion Corner) and Turn 8 is the Curva Espéria. Turn 9 is called the Curva das docas (Curve of the Docs).

Turn 10 is the Curva Tietê (named for the river a few yards away), which leads onto the long Reta dos Bandeirantes, which pays homage to the explorers who left São Paulo to expand the Brazilian territory in the 16th century. They used the Tietê River as one of their transportation trails.

Turn 11, the big right-hander that leads into the Anhembi Sambadrome, is the Curva da Vitória (Victory Hairpin).

“It’s a special circuit,” course designer Tony Cotman said. “It will provide a great opportunity for the IZOD IndyCar Series and its drivers to put on a good show.”

In constructing the circuit, 27,456 feet of fencing, 41 miles of fence cabling, 5,450 fence poles, 11,000 tires, and about 100 miles of reinforcing steel rod (for building the 5.2 miles of cement barriers) were used. Because of the heavy traffic – there are 7 million vehicles in use in the city -- the event will be held on the weekend only.

IndyCar.com