PETRONAS Grand Prix of Malaysia

CIRCUIT

Designed for speed and spectacle, the Sepang International Circuit is one of the best in the world.

It was built at the heart of a huge complex that includes a hotel, golf course, stores and other sports facilities.

It cost over 50 million pounds. The complex was finished in less than fourteen months and its facilities meet the most demanding criteria.

It hosted its first Grand Prix on the world championship calendar. With four slow turns followed by several straights and a dozen fairly fast turns, the Sepang circuit favors overtaking and high speeds.

Competition at this track, one of the longest in MotoGP, takes place under intense heat with high humidity.

Located 85 km from Kuala Lumpur, inside a 260-hectare palm oil plantation, it is the second longest track in the World Championship after Silverstone and one of the toughest for MotoGP braking systems. Formula 1 also competed here, but the brakes of the single-seaters were less stressed than those of the motorcycles.

For MotoGP, the numerous braking sections, the high percentage of time spent braking and the tropical climate make temperature management rather critical, both for the brakes and for the riders.

Sepang International Circuit falls into the category of highly demanding circuits for brakes. On a scale of 1 to 5 it deserved a difficulty index of 5, a value also recorded by Motegi, Spielberg and Barcelona.