General · EdgepediaOctober 21, 20267 min read

Motorland Aragon Fia + Cm

MotorLand Aragón is a motorsport complex near Alcañiz in the Aragón region of Spain, whose main road-racing circuit is homologated by the FIA (Grade 1) and the FIM (Grade A) and is mapped in the venue's official "Track FIA + CM" drawing of the Grand Prix layout.¹^•²^•³ The permanent circuit opened in 2009 and has hosted the Aragon Grand Prix of MotoGP since 2010.¹

Key fact	Detail
Location	Near Alcañiz, province of Teruel, Aragón, Spain; about 100 km from Zaragoza¹^•⁴
Opened	2009; ground broken in 2005¹^•⁵
Design	Hermann Tilke, with input from former Formula 1 driver Pedro de la Rosa¹
Layouts	FIA Grand Prix 5.345 m with 18 corners; FIM Grand Prix 5.077 m with 16 corners; national layout 2.626 m with 13 corners²
Homologation	FIA Grade 1 and FIM Grade A, ready for Formula 1, MotoGP, and international championships²
Lap records	Marc Márquez, 1:45.801 (MotoGP 2024); Nicolò Bulega, 1:47.840 (WorldSBK 2024)²
Capacity	Up to 129,500 spectators; 33,700 m² paddock; 35 garages²
MotoGP status	Aragon Grand Prix confirmed for 2027; official MotoGP reserve circuit from 2028 to 2031⁶

History

Racing in Alcañiz predates the modern venue by decades. Events were held on public roads from the 1960s until 2003, and the Guadalope street circuit became a fixture of Spanish motorsport, with the first Gran Premio Ciudad de Alcañiz held in 1965.¹ As cars became faster and safety requirements increased, racing on public roads became difficult, and the final race on the Guadalope street circuit took place in 2003 while plans for a permanent facility were already developing.¹

A modern replacement. The project that became MotorLand Aragón was developed with the support of regional and local institutions. To create the track, the organizers hired Hermann Tilke, the German architect known for designing race circuits, who was assisted by Pedro de la Rosa, a former Formula 1 driver; the permanent facility opened in 2009.¹ The venue broke ground in 2005 and opened as a full complex with kart, off-road, and the 5.345 km Grand Prix circuit; its first international headliner was World Series by Renault in 2009, and it stepped in for Balatonring to stage the first Aragon MotoGP round in 2010.⁵ An open day and the first round of the MotorLand Aragón Touring Car Championship, scoring for the Aragón Championship, launched on-track activity in 2009 with 7,000 visitors.⁷

In 2010, MotorLand was added to the MotoGP World Championship schedule, and reviewers straightaway lauded the demanding design of the track, its shifts in altitude, and the mix of turns it offers. The IRTA named the track's inaugural MotoGP Grand Prix the Best Grand Prix of the Year, meaning that MotorLand Aragón became the first circuit ever to win this honor during its debut season.¹

The circuit

The FIA Grand Prix layout measures 5.345 meters with 18 corners, while the FIM layout used for MotoGP measures 5.077 meters with 16 corners and runs anticlockwise.² The MotoGP layout is described elsewhere as 5.077 km with 17 corners, 10 left-hand and 7 right-hand turns.¹ The longest straight is 1.726 meters on the FIA layout and 975 meters on the FIM layout, track width runs between 12 and 15 meters, and total elevation change is 50 meters, with a maximum gradient of 5.4 percent ascending and 7.2 percent descending.²

Elevation and character. The drop through Turns 8 and 9, about 7.2 percent, has been compared to a modern Corkscrew, and the long back straight into the stadium hairpin creates draft-and-divebomb passing moments in GT and single-seater racing.⁵ The circuit sits on an elevation with many rises and falls that bring natural air currents able to blow sandy residues onto the track, intensifying tire abrasion.⁸ Two corners carry riders' names: Curve 10 is named for Marc Márquez, and Curve 3 for Carlos Checa, the first Spanish WorldSBK champion, whose number 7 is displayed with a monument recalling his 2011 title, the season of MotorLand's debut in the Superbike World Championship.²

The venue's official FIA + CM track map shows the Grand Prix loop with 22 numbered corners and segments.³ A shorter national layout of 2.626 meters with 13 corners serves training, local competition, and fan events for both motorcycles and cars, and the complex also includes a karting circuit of 1,671 meters.²^•⁹

Events

MotoGP. The Aragon Grand Prix has been a MotoGP round since 2010, and Casey Stoner won the first two editions in 2010 and 2011.¹ In 2020 the circuit hosted two races, the Aragon Grand Prix won by Álex Rins and the Teruel Grand Prix won by Franco Morbidelli.¹ No MotoGP race was held there in 2023; Marc Márquez won in 2024 and 2025 for Ducati.¹ The 2026 edition ran from 28 to 30 August with MotoGP, Moto2, and Moto3 races, and included the FIM Harley-Davidson Bagger World Cup, the first world championship dedicated exclusively to bagger motorcycles, which MotorLand hosts as the only circuit in Spain.¹⁰ The 2025 event drew 112,633 attendees, a figure the 2026 organization aimed to exceed.¹¹

Contract status. On 10 June 2026 the Government of Aragón and MotoGP Sports Entertainment Group (formerly Dorna Sports) signed a renewal in Zaragoza guaranteeing the Aragon Grand Prix in 2027, with the circuit then remaining an official MotoGP reserve circuit from 2028 to 2031.⁶^•¹² MotoGP CEO Carmelo Ezpeleta called MotorLand an important partner for almost two decades, playing a key role in the championship's presence in Spain.⁶

Superbike and other racing. The FIM Superbike World Championship visits as the Aragón Round; the 2026 round ran from 29 to 31 May with grandstand access, paddock access, pit lane walks, and a fan bike parade on the track.¹³^•¹⁴ An earlier Superbike visit in late September offered nine races across all categories, including the FIM Yamaha R3 bLU cRU World Cup.¹⁵ The circuit also hosts national and junior formula racing, including rounds of the FIA F4 Spanish Championship and Eurocup-3, and endurance racing such as the 4 Hours of Aragón with night running on the long back straight.⁵ Its remoteness and varied layout have made it a favored testing site; Porsche Motorsport used the circuit for early endurance testing of the first-generation 919 ahead of the 24 Hours of Le Mans.¹⁶

Facilities and attendance

The circuit's infrastructure includes a 33,700 m² paddock, a pit building with 35 equipped garages, a control tower with digital timing, a press room for more than 300 media, briefing and VIP rooms, and grandstands and grass areas with a total capacity of 129,500 spectators, with FIA/FIM-standard run-off and protection zones.² The wider complex includes karting facilities and areas dedicated to technology, research, and motorsport development, reflecting the project's ambition as a complete "city of motorsport" rather than a single racetrack.¹^•¹⁷

Race weekends draw a large workforce and regional economic impact. Around 6,000 people worked at the 2024 Grand Prix, a figure reported as more than 6,500 for the 2026 event, and the 2025 edition generated an estimated 10 to 12 million euros for the Bajo Aragón region.¹⁸^•¹¹

References

Initially written Oct 21, 2026