What you need to know about the Pradera Verde Racing Circuit 

Three years ago, word got out of an upcoming new racing circuit being constructed in the Philippines, which expectedly got many motorheads excited. The racetrack was promoted as the first in the country to receive a Grade 2 certification from the Federation Internationale De L’Automobile (FIA).

Pradera Verde Racing Circuit contstruction update [Image: REED Motovlog]

This is the Pradera Verde Racing Circuit or PVRC, occupying some 118 hectares of the Pradera Verde Estates within the first-class municipality of Lubao in Pampanga. By the time it’s completed, the new track will dwarf both the Batangas Racing Circuit and the Clark International Speedway in terms of total land area.

Pradera Verde Estates itself already hosts amenities such as a golf course, wakeboard park, and a rally cross track where the Philippine Rallycross Series is held. The PVRC will be right at the heart of the massive recreational property.

The track's two biggest configurations are the 'Grand Prix' and 'International' [Image: Rising Philippines FB page]

The circuit was designed by Formula One track engineer Hermann Tilke, who counts the Sepang International Circuit, Marina Bay Street Circuit, and the Yas Marina Abu Dhabi among the achievements under his belt. His team of engineers and architects penned the 5-kilometer racetrack to have a quarter mile drag strip, karting racetrack, pit building with paddocks, medical center, even a take-off and landing site for hot air balloons.  

But Tilke wasn’t satisfied with just having a single layout for the PVRC, so he purposefully designed the circuit to have six different configurations. The biggest of them all is the ‘Grand Prix,’ featuring 22 turns and can be lapped in just over two minutes by the average GT3 machine. Removing five corners results in the ‘International’ form, which is suited for MotoGP and Superbike World Championship races. 

Splitting the two halves of the racetrack yields the 2.76-kilometer ‘National’ and the more technical 2.0-kilometer ‘Club,’ each having 12 corners. This configuration allows the circuit to host two simultaneous racing events when necessary. On the far end of the track is a kilometer-long ‘Drift’ course for, well, drifting, while Tilke throws in a standalone ‘Go Kart Track’ for good measure, said to be a full-fledged raceway with approval by the Commission Internationale de Karting (CIK).     

The PVRC will dwarf the country's existing race venues once completed [Image: Rising Philippines FB page]

The longest straight at the PVRC reportedly measures 725 meters, and the circuit has been designed to accommodate up to 80,000 spectators. At the time of its groundbreaking in 2018, the project was estimated to cost Php 2 billion with a construction time of 18 months. 

Just when you’d think that the current COVID-19 pandemic has put the brakes on the facility’s completion, a YouTube video by REED Motovlog reveals that the project is ongoing as of May 2021. Here’s hoping that the PVRC will eventually be completed, giving the Philippines the opportunity to showcase more international races.    

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