Ricardo Tormo was a Spanish Grand Prix motorcycle racer who won the 50 cc world championship in 1978 and 1981. His death in October 1998, just as the circuit bearing his name was being completed, meant the venue opened as a permanent memorial to the rider. The track was inaugurated in 1999 and immediately entered the MotoGP calendar.
The circuit's 0.876 km main straight is one of the longer pit straights in MotoGP, generating high top speeds and significant overtaking potential at the end of it. The overall layout combines that straight with a technical infield section of slower and medium-speed corners that loads the tyres differently across the lap. The circuit runs clockwise.
The Valencian Community Grand Prix has been held at Circuit Ricardo Tormo almost every year since 1999, traditionally in November as the final round of the MotoGP season. This end-of-season timing has historically given the race added significance: many World Championship titles have been either won or lost at Valencia, and the circuit has been the venue for career-defining moments across multiple MotoGP eras. The emotional weight of a title being decided at the last round — and the passionate Spanish crowd that fills the enormous grandstands — has made Valencia one of the most anticipated events on the calendar.
In 2024, the planned Valencian Community Grand Prix was cancelled after devastating flooding struck the Valencia region, killing more than 200 people and causing widespread destruction across the area. Replacement events were organized elsewhere on the calendar, with Barcelona hosting a one-off season-ending round.
Beyond MotoGP, Circuit Ricardo Tormo has hosted a range of international motorsport. The FIA GT Championship visited in 2000 and 2004. The World Touring Car Championship held rounds at the circuit from 2005 to 2012. The Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters raced there from 2010 to 2012. The European Le Mans Series held a round in 2007, the 1000 km Valencia.
Formula E has used the circuit as its primary pre-season testing venue since 2017 (with exceptions in 2020 and 2024). In January 2021, the circuit hosted the Valencia ePrix as a replacement for the cancelled Paris ePrix — the first time a Formula E race was held on a permanent circuit in its history.
The GP2 Series, predecessor to the FIA Formula 2 Championship, held rounds at Valencia in 2006 and 2007. The GP3 Series used the circuit for pre-season testing for many seasons and held a one-off race there in 2013.
The circuit hosted the third edition of the FIA Motorsport Games in October 2024, serving as a multi-discipline international competition venue.
The Circuit Ricardo Tormo has been recreated in multiple video games, including Tourist Trophy, Gran Turismo PSP, Alfa Romeo Racing Italiano, GTR Evolution, and rFactor. As a permanent MotoGP calendar venue, the track has appeared in every official MotoGP video game since the circuit's debut in 1999. It also featured in Superbike World Championship games between 2006 and 2013. Assetto Corsa Competizione included a recreation of the circuit in 2023.
Circuit Ricardo Tormo holds a unique place in MotoGP as both a tribute to a beloved national champion and a genuinely significant racing venue. Its capacity, end-of-season slot, and passionate home crowd have made it one of the sport's most charged atmospheres. The 2024 flood cancellation — the first time in the circuit's modern history that the Valencia round was dropped from the schedule due to external disaster — underscored the circuit's usual reliability as a season finale while highlighting its vulnerability to the extreme weather events increasingly affecting Spain's Mediterranean coastline.