It has a short main straight and most of the course consisted of tight, twisty corners so overtaking was extremely difficult. An example of this came when
Gilles Villeneuve successfully defended his lead throughout the
1981 Spanish Grand Prix, despite a tail of four potentially faster cars. Villeneuve's turbocharged
Ferrari 126CK, while powerful and fast on the straight, did not have as efficient
ground effect aerodynamics as his pursuers -
Jacques Laffite (
V12 Ligier-
Matra),
John Watson (
McLaren-
Ford),
Carlos Reutemann (
Williams-Ford), and
Elio de Angelis (
Lotus-Ford) and was slower through the turns. This victory was to be the last one of Villeneuve's career. Jarama hosted its last Formula One race in 1981 when it was deemed too narrow for modern racing. It still holds
sports car,
touring car and
motorcycle races. The circuit was lengthened in 1991, and then upgraded in 2015. In 1987, Jarama hosted Round 2 of the
inaugural World Touring Car Championship for
Group A cars, the
1987 Jarama 4 Hours. The race was won by
Roberto Ravaglia and
Emanuele Pirro driving a
Schnitzer Motorsport BMW M3. Pole position for the race had been taken by triple
Le Mans 24 Hour winner
Klaus Ludwig in a
Ford Sierra RS Cosworth turbo with a time of 1:31.434, while the fastest lap was by England's
Andy Rouse (also in a Sierra Cosworth) with a time of 1:33.710. Since February 2022, the circuit's name is changed as Circuito de Madrid Jarama - RACE. ==Layout history==