SLOVAKIA RING has been on the motorsport scene for 15 years

Orechová Potôň, March 4, 2024 - This year, the SLOVAKIA RING circuit will celebrate its jubilee 15th season. It's incredible how much this complex has grown and how much rich history it has behind it. Like every year, the jubilee year 2024 will bring a lot of exciting activities. However, let's take a moment to look back at the beginnings of the autodrome.

Before 2008, few people in Slovakia would have believed that we would one day have a professional racing circuit with top-quality asphalt, complete infrastructure, and services. A group of investors and local enthusiasts from Žitný ostrov quickly transformed a cornfield near Orechová Potôň into a real racing circuit. Construction began on October 1, 2008. The architect of the area and designer of the race track is Hans Roth from Austria.

2009 was the first official season of the circuit. The complex consisted of the race track, a three-story control tower, 33 garages, a paddock (parking lot for racing machines), a covered grandstand, a medical center, a car service, a gas station, and a restaurant. Behind its gates, hotel Ring with modern "skid school" - the Center of Safe Driving (CBJ) was being finished, which, along with the Off-road center on the opposite side of the area, was completed in 2012. However, the CBJ has been in operation practically since the opening of the circuit.

In 2016, the large animal park Malkia was added, and in 2018, the Military Museum joined the complex. With the construction of an alternative chicane on the race track in 2018, SLOVAKIA RING obtained FIA Grade II circuit license.

Finally, in 2019, the top-notch Slovak Karting Center (SKC) was unveiled.

One of the first significant events in 2010 at the brand-new circuit was Grand Prix of Slovakia - circuit car races. Under this name as the most important national circuit event also celebrates its 15 years. The history of the event itself dates back to the 1970s.

Another contstant at our circuit since 2010 is the Slovakian Motorcycle Grand Prix and also the Alpe Adria International Motorcycle Championship. Even today, professional and amateur motorcycle races still fill a significant part of the circuit's calendar.

One of the greatest international events at the SLOVAKIA RING was the FIA World Touring Car Championship (WTCC). Approximately 30,000 spectators witnessed its premiere here in 2012, making it one of the most memorable events in the circuit's history.

There isn't a type of racing vehicle that hasn't raced here. The BOSS GP and MaxxFormula series with older Formula 1, GP2, and IndyCar single-seaters delighted fans with immense speed and the sound of atmospheric eight and ten-cylinder engines (with up to 850 hp). From international endurance races (such as the 24 Hours of Le Mans), we've had the top-tier Ligier LMP2 of Miroslav Konôpka on several occasions, as well as LMP3 from the ARC Bratislava garage.

The FIA WTCC races with TC1 vehicles from 2012 to 2016 were extremely successful for spectators. In 2018, the already changed WTCR format with TCR vehicles came to us and remained until 2020.
TCRs are among the most widespread racing vehicles around the world. Practically every country or larger region has its own TCR series, where drivers earn points for the overall TCR World Ranking. TCR Eastern Europe, for example, is very popular in our region, with the reigning champion being Mat'o Homola (Hyundai Elantra N TCR).

Undoubtedly, GT3 has always belonged to the most popular classes among spectators: Audi, Porsche, Ferrari, Lamborghini, BMW, or Mercedes - each car has rear-wheel drive, nearly 600 hp, 1200 kg, and its own unique sound. The first significant GT series was the FIA GT3 European Championship in 2011, followed by the FIA GT1 World Championship in 2012, its successor the FIA GT Series (2013), the ADAC GT Masters (2013-14), Blancpain GT Series (2014), and the Central European GT3 elite that has never been absent at the Grand Prix of Slovakia.

Among international motorcycle series, besides Alpe Adria, we will mention the FIM EWC - Endurance World Championship, which we witnessed from 2017 to 2019.

Also, in 2017, for the first time, we hosted the five-ton and thousand-horsepower racing trucks of the FIA ETRC: The European Truck Racing Championship. This event still remains among our most attended ones.

Since 2012, the King of Europe has also offered our audience plenty of exciting drift duels. Due to the FIA Central European Trophy in rallycross (FIA CEZ Rallycross), a special rallycross track was created in 2015 - 65% asphalt, 35% unpaved surface.
The SLOVAKIA RING race track is also used by cyclists and in-line skaters.

The fastest recorded lap in history: 1 min 39,002 s - Klaas Zwart (Formula 1 - Jaguar R5), Maxx Formula 2019

The fastest recorded lap - motorbikes: 2 min 3,368 s - Milan Pawelec (BMW S 1000 RR), Alpe Adria 2023