Stealthy Start for a Long-Awaited Project
With great secrecy and no official announcement or institutional visits, the Tenerife Island Council has quietly begun construction this summer on the Canary Islands’ first motor racing circuit. The numerous vicissitudes and controversies surrounding this project’s suitability—which have delayed it since it was first proposed 35 years ago—explain the extreme discretion at the start of work. This facility is as highly demanded by motorsport enthusiasts—one of the most popular sports in the Islands—as it is denounced by environmental groups.
A Massive Undertaking in Los Duques de Atogo
The dust raised by construction trucks across a vast expanse of the Los Duques de Atogo area, in the mid-altitudes of Granadilla de Abona, is visible for kilometers. It’s the unmistakable sign that machinery is leveling the ground on a total surface area of 650,000 square meters—equivalent to 91 football fields—where a 4,000-meter track will be laid, featuring a long 800-meter straight and 16 curves. It will be usable not only by local drivers on both four and two wheels but also by stars of Formula 1 and Moto GP, among other disciplines.
Legal Challenges and a Cautious Celebration
The fear that the work could be interrupted again—as happened in 2017 with the bankruptcy of the first winning bidder—is so great that the officials of the Tenerife Automobile Federation, far from celebrating the news, prefer to remain silent. Not a single word, nor the slightest celebration despite all this waiting time. The threat now is the judicial tangle generated by a succession of complaints filed by the environmental group Tinerfeña Association of Friends of Nature (ATAN).
While the bulldozers lift stones and move earth, there are four procedures pending final resolution that affect the northern access, the grandstands, the track, and the defense plan against possible floods. One ruling has declared the environmental impact report expired, another asserts it is still valid, and two are awaiting judgment. The four cases being contested in the courts of Santa Cruz de Tenerife are awaiting appeals and counter-appeals from ATAN itself and the Tenerife Island Council. The work, however, can proceed while there is no final sentence or judicial resolution ordering its stoppage.
Political Momentum and Financial Imperatives
This is one of the arguments behind which the island government, formed by the pact between Coalición Canaria and the Partido Popular, is shielding itself. The other is the obligation to comply with an administrative concession initiated by the previous leadership team of the Tenerife Island Council, which was formed by PSOE and Ciudadanos, and completed by the current one. On December 22, 2023, after more than two years, the island government led by Rosa Dávila (CC) and Lope Afonso (PP) awarded the construction of the Tenerife Motor Circuit to Sacyr Construcción and Servicios Bahillo for 44.1 million euros. The previous island government led by Pedro Martín (PSOE) and Enrique Arriaga (Cs) had set the tender process on track. Failing to fulfill this contract would force the Island Council to face multi-million euro compensations.
Scope of Work and Environmental Conditions
Following the earthworks, the project will involve adapting the scope of action to the Flood Defense Plan by channeling three ravines, constructing the grandstands, the paddock—area intended for the pits, garages, and team trucks—and the speed track, as well as the proposed improvements which include building public parking and creating the autocross circuit.
Simultaneously, a series of requirements imposed by the Canary Islands Commission for Land Use and Environment regarding environmental impact must be met. This body makes it clear in any case that the layout does not affect any protected natural space in this part of the south of the Island. Among the key conditions are that any modification of the project must be reported in case it requires a new impact report, that concrete proposals must be presented to counteract potential effects on the species of flora and fauna in the area that are declared under any level of threat—up to 21 species of birds listed in these catalogs move through the project area and its zones of influence—that acoustic impacts must be minimized, and that measures must be implemented to protect the soil from waters generated during the recently begun construction phase. Extreme care must also be taken with existing archaeological or ethnographic heritage assets in this area or those that may appear during the work.
Official Assurances and Local Demand
The Councilor for Mobility and Roads of the Tenerife Island Council, Dámaso Arteaga, assures that the work “scrupulously respects” all legal requirements, both environmental and urban planning. He emphasizes that it is a public contract “approved and signed in the previous term” of the Island Corporation and that the four ongoing judicial procedures “do not affect” the actions currently being carried out.
Dámaso Arteaga underlines that this project is “a historical demand” of the Islands’ motorsport world, which has thousands of fans, and generates “significant expectation of opportunities” for hosting top-level sporting events, as well as local competitions that have a large potential audience.
Silent Approval from the Racing Community
Although no officials from the island and regional automobile and motorcycling federations want to make a public statement, some sources linked to their organizational charts do admit that the start of work is great news for the sport. They recall the success of motorsport events like the 2024 Gran Canaria international rally, held between May 2nd and 4th as part of the European Rally Championship and the Spanish Super Rally Championship, which attracted elite drivers and projected the image of the Islands as an international venue for sporting events. It stood out particularly for a large public attendance at each of its stages.
International Ambitions and Star Endorsements
The Tenerife Motor Circuit will become the first in the Canary Islands with the highest international homologations and also boasts the support of prestigious drivers like Carlos Sainz (Formula 1), Carlos Checa (Moto GP), and the Italian-Canarian Christine Giampaoli Zonca, who competes in rally and off-road races (races on unpaved terrain with all-terrain vehicles).
In an interview with EL DÍA published in July 2022, Carlos Sainz, who at the time raced for Ferrari, the legendary Formula 1 team—this season he drives for Williams—stated after endorsing the Tenerife layout: “It’s a very good opportunity to have another circuit in Spain and especially on this island. People only remember the grand prix, the drivers, the teams, but they don’t know the vast number of opportunities a racing circuit can provide. They are operational 365 days a year, brands use them for testing commercial and competition vehicles, all kinds of events can be held… For me, a circuit is an infrastructure that always makes sense.”
Sainz added about the advantages of the Los Duques de Atogo circuit that “there is no place in Europe that has weather as good as Tenerife in January or February.” “For me, it would make perfect sense to come train here,” he specified, adding: “The Island’s conditions are more or less those found during most of the Formula 1 season, spring and summer-like. It would be a guarantee to come to the Island to prepare for these reasons.”
Environmental Opposition and Alternative Proposals
But not everyone sees it that way. At a time of heightened environmental sensitivity in the Canary Islands, with significant mobilizations like those seen in 2024 and this 2025 against the tourism model, criticism is also directed at the Motor Circuit. ATAN, a group with over 50 years of history, has capitalized on its opposition to this project. It has done so with a battery of legal complaints demanding its halt.
Their position goes beyond the environmental impact statement being “expired,” a point still to be determined in the courts. In general, they believe the land where it is being built possesses high natural, heritage, and archaeological value, and the damage could be irreversible. ATAN also fought its battle within the Island Council itself. In December 2024, it presented an objection requesting that the 13.3 million euros allocated to the circuit in this year’s budget—the remaining items to complete the 44.1 million will be included in subsequent budgets—be dedicated to other purposes. It specifically requested that 7 million go to combat climate change and the rest to environmental improvements. All political forces with representation in the Cabildo (CC, PP, PSOE, and Vox) rejected this approach and supported the construction of the circuit.
Preparations and Promises
A year ago, in September 2024, preparations for the work that began this summer were initiated. At that time, the project management assured that there could be species susceptible to protection in the project area’s surroundings, as well as vestiges of archaeological contexts. Lope Afonso, vice president of the Cabildo, explained that it was the construction company itself that reported such circumstances to the competent bodies, warnings that, he has made clear, have been taken into account.
Extensive facilities with a capacity for 60,000 people, a track where speeds exceeding 320 kilometers per hour can be reached, the endorsement of international federations… “The motorsport world on the Island has a deeply rooted and traditional fanbase,” reads the promotional brochure, which adds: “Lovers of motorcycles and cars who are counting the days until the checkered flag waves for the first time at the Tenerife Motor Circuit.”
