JANUARY 9, 2008

Jacarepagua to be demolished

Jacarepagua, the former F1 circuit in Rio de Janeiro, is to be demolished to allow the city to build new venues for its 2016 bid for the Olympic Games. The circuit, built on reclaimed marshland back in the 1970s, hosted the Brazilian GP on 10 different occasions before F1 moved to Interlagos in the rival city of Sao Paulo.

The circuit survived plans to demolish it in 2005 when preparations were being made for the Panamerican Games but one end of the circuit was taken over to make room for a new stadium. There were races on the shortened track in the course of 2006. There had been talk of retaining the circuit as part of the car parking for the Olympic park, thus allowing races to be held later but this concept seems to have been dropped.

The new plan is for the site to become an Olympic Training Center.