Past and present FIA World Touring Car Championship street tracks Macau, Pau and Vila Real appear on Redbull.com’s list of 10 best street circuits with Vila Real topping the lot on an online fan vote.
Vila Real in northern Portugal, which hosted FIA WTCC Race of Portugal for the first time in 2015, pooled more votes than legendary Formula One venues including Adelaide, Long Beach, Monaco and Montjuïc Park.
This is Redbull.com’s Vila Real verdict: “Sir Stirling Moss described Vila Real in Portugal as one of his favourite tracks – and who are we to argue? Vila Real is a crazy rollercoaster rush through the town of the same name in the north of Portugal, which included a narrow bridge over a vertiginous ravine in its original layout. The track is still used now for the World Touring Car Championship, although unsurprisingly the bridge over the sheer drop has gone. Nonetheless, the current track maintains the spirit of the original with blind crests, next to no run-off, and some buttock-clenching corners – a bit like an urban Nordschleife.”