Major changes to Marrakech circuit

The Marrakech circuit used by the World Touring Car Championship will undergo substantial changes in 2016 and become mostly permanent racetrack rather than being a street course.

The Moulay El Hussan circuit has been part of the WTCC calendar since 2009, and has also hosted Formula 2 and Auto GP rounds in the past. Hermann Tilke's agency has decided a new FIA Grade Two standard track that will now only be one-third street track, with the rest of the layout a new permanent facility in what has been the venue's paddock area.

Event promoter Aly Horma said: "The motivation came first and foremost from wanting to upgrade the track to give the public more show, while at the same time ensuring less risk to the teams and hotels all along the track."

The revamp will mean the track length reducing from 2.9 to 1.9 miles.

Marrakech will host round five on next year's WTCC on May 7-8, with France's GT Tour sharing the bill after Auto GP was reconstituted as an Italian-based series.

Originally on Autosport.com