In Monteblanco, everyone has their own method

Warning: Don't confuse Seville and Seville. On one side, the "Circuito de Sevilla." On the other, the "Circuito Monteblanco." Motorsports seem to be the only thing the two facilities have in common. The newer track, located 15 km from the airport, was built in 2024. It's 4,2 km long, making it the third longest circuit in Spain. It features an 850 m straight and 16 turns. Monteblanco, on the other hand, is 100 km from the same airport, and getting there requires relying on your GPS. We're willing to bet $1,000 that Liberty Media won't be snapping up this relic of a bygone era anytime soon. Access is via a back road lined with a handful of improbable buildings. During working hours, progress can be slowed by municipal workers clearing the lush vegetation that has overtaken the asphalt. With a little imagination, you could easily mistake it for Cuba or Costa Rica. Fortunately, the Monteblanco level crossing keeper, probably delighted to see so much activity, rushes to the metal barrier and opens the gates to the temple he protects. A little gem of a track, 3,926 meters long with 15 turns, that hosts the final meeting of the 2025 Lamera Cup. The real treat (the cherry on top, if you prefer) is that everyone is discovering it for the first time. A touch of spice in the Andalusian sauce to add even more flavor to the titles awarded Sunday evening.

But how exactly are the main players approaching this race?"The old-fashioned way!" Eric Cayrolle laughs. “I started by looking at the track map on a piece of paper, then I did a few laps in the Lamera to start memorizing the corners. That shouldn't be too much of a problem. It's more like Croix-en-Ternois than Spa-Francorchamps. It's wonderfully twisty, a lot of the corners are taken in second gear.” “I did a bit of simulator work,” recounts Sarah Cayrolle, Eric's daughter. "And on Thursday evening, I walked around the track with our coach."

Various preparations

"I also scouted the track early Thursday evening." Pierre Couasnon comments"It was useful," said one of the drivers of the Lamera 80 (Continental Racing). "Some of the kerbs are quite high. We'll have to be careful with our car in many places. Fortunately, we're going into the final meeting with a significant lead over our main rivals. We'll opt for a relatively cautious pace. If we finish in the top 5 twice, we can clinch the title on Sunday evening."

"I confirm Pierre's (Couasnon, editor's note) analysis," explains Emmanuel Orgeval, one of the members of Lamera 1. “We’re 80 points behind the leaders, which means our fate is no longer in our own hands. We’ll drive our race as best we can. There will be time to do the math at the finish. So many things can happen. As for the circuit, we’ve started to memorize it by watching onboard footage. That was helpful for knowing where the corners were. But nothing beats laps on the track. This Friday is proving very useful for us. It reinforces my belief that this is a track where positioning is key: how you drive in traffic will determine a lot. It will be very physical too. Even though we can’t drive the Lamera for more than 45 minutes (double stints are prohibited, except at the 24 Hours of Portimão, editor’s note), fatigue is likely to set in given how quickly the corners come one after another.” And since there's only one straightaway, where speeds reach 220 km/h, you'll need to be able to concentrate constantly to achieve a good result. Will that be enough? We'll find out on Sunday, at the finish line.

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