Circuit Trois-Rivières

Lore & Background

The Circuit Trois-Rivières has hosted numerous major North American racing series throughout its history, including the American Le Mans Series, the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series, the Trans-Am Series, Can-Am, Indy Lights, and Formula Atlantic. The Grand Prix de Trois-Rivières has been headlined by the NASCAR Canada Series since 2007, with the exception of 2020 when the entire event was cancelled. From 2014 to 2017, the event was joined by the FIA World Rallycross Championship and its World RX of Canada race, held as a single weekend.

Reader's Guide

Circuit Trois-Rivières holds significance as the venue for the longest-running street race in North America, the Grand Prix de Trois-Rivières, which has operated continuously since 1967. Its unique layout, passing through the narrow concrete gateway of Porte Duplessis at turn 3, distinguishes it from other street circuits. The track has hosted a wide array of major North American racing series, from sports car endurance events like the American Le Mans Series to open-wheel championships such as Indy Lights and Formula Atlantic. Since 2007, the NASCAR Canada Series has been the headline event, with a brief interruption in 2020. The addition of the FIA World Rallycross Championship from 2014 to 2019 further expanded the circuit's international profile. Its legacy is rooted in its longevity and adaptability, serving as a consistent fixture in Canadian motorsport.

Did You Know?

• The circuit passes through Porte Duplessis, a narrow concrete gateway at turn 3.
• The Grand Prix de Trois-Rivières is the longest-running street race in Canada, dating to 1967.
• The NASCAR Canada Series has headlined the event since 2007, except in 2020 when the event was cancelled entirely.
• From 2014 to 2017, the event hosted the FIA World Rallycross Championship as a single weekend.

Origins & The Fairground Layout

Circuit Trois-Rivières is a street circuit carved into the fairground grounds of Trois-Rivières, Quebec, Canada. Set on the Terrain de l'Exposition, the layout is distinctive in a way that few street circuits can claim: at turn three, the racing line threads directly through Porte Duplessis, the narrow concrete gateway that serves as the entrance to the fairground property. This architectural feature transforms an ordinary corner into a tight, intimidating bottleneck where drivers must thread their cars through a structure that was never designed for motorsport. The circuit has served as the permanent home of the Grand Prix de Trois-Rivières, an annual street race staged every year since 1967. That unbroken run makes it the longest-running street race in North America, a remarkable streak for an event built around a fairground in a mid-sized Quebec city. The combination of a permanent calendar slot, a unique physical layout, and a community identity tied to the fairground gives the circuit a character that purpose-built tracks simply cannot replicate.

A Stage for North America's Premier Series

Over the decades, Circuit Trois-Rivières has attracted an extraordinary breadth of North American racing categories. The circuit hosted the American Le Mans Series in 2002 and 2003, the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series in 2000 and 2001, and the Can-Am Series from 1977 through 1984. The Trans-Am Series returned repeatedly across four decades, with stints in 1976, 1979 through 1985, 1990 through 1999, 2002 through 2004, and 2011. The Atlantic Championship, in various incarnations, was a fixture from 1974 through 2009, while Indy Lights visited in 1996 through 1998 and again in 2011 and 2012. Pro Mazda Championship races took place from 2005 to 2013, and the FIA World Rallycross Championship staged its World RX of Canada event here from 2014 to 2019. This diversity—spanning prototype sports cars, formula single-seaters, touring cars, and rallycross—demonstrates that the fairground layout could accommodate virtually every type of competitive racing on the North American calendar.

The Grand Prix de Trois-Rivières: Evolution of a Flagship Event

The Grand Prix de Trois-Rivières has been the circuit's anchor since 1967, and its format has evolved considerably over more than five decades. For much of its history, the event served as a stop on various national and international touring-car and sports-car calendars. A significant shift arrived in 2007, when the NASCAR Canada Series became the headline discipline, a role it has held every year since except for 2020. The event's scope expanded dramatically between 2014 and 2019, when the Grand Prix stretched across two consecutive weekends. The second weekend was dedicated to the FIA World Rallycross Championship's World RX of Canada, bringing a completely different style of competition to the fairground. In its current configuration, the August event features the NASCAR Canada Series alongside the Super Production Challenge, F1600 Canada, and Radical Cup Canada, maintaining a multi-class format that keeps the weekend accessible to a wide range of competitors and fans.

Endurance, Adaptability, and a Living Racing Heritage

Few street circuits can claim an unbroken racing history stretching back to the late 1960s, yet Circuit Trois-Rivières has maintained its place on the North American calendar for over fifty-five years. Its survival is a testament to adaptability: the circuit has welcomed everything from Can-Am's exotic prototypes in the late 1970s to SCCA Spec Racer Ford Pro Series cars in 2011, from the Speed World Challenge in the 1990s to the Sports Car Championship Canada in the early 2020s. The fairground setting, with its defining Porte Duplessis gateway, provides a consistent physical identity even as the fields and series change. The circuit's past winners span an impressive roster of disciplines, from American Le Mans Series to Formula Atlantic to the FIA World Rallycross Championship, each leaving a mark on the record books. That the Terrain de l'Exposition still hosts competitive racing in August—featuring stock car, formula, and production-based classes—speaks to a community that has treated motorsport not as a passing trend but as a permanent fixture of local life.

Gallery