Gelleråsen Arena, Racing Circuit

Gelleråsen Arena, long known as Karlskoga Motorstadion, is the oldest permanent racing circuit in Sweden, lying around six kilometres north of the town of Karlskoga. It grew out of the determination of Karlskoga Motor Club chairman Gunnar Olsson, who in 1949 laid out a rough gravel loop on a local landowner's quarry land, and the inaugural Kanonloppet race followed in 1950. The course was asphalted and progressively extended through the 1950s, briefly including a steeply banked hairpin known as the Velodromkurvan, and went on to host non-championship Formula One races in the early 1960s that drew drivers such as Stirling Moss and Jim Clark, later switching to Formula Two and Formula Three. A fatal crowd accident in 1970 forced a two-year closure and major safety changes, and the circuit declined before being revived from the mid-1990s with a shortened layout and relocated pits. Further revisions in 2006 and 2014 reshaped the opening corners and added a new short course, and in 2018 touring-car driver Richard Goransson took over and renamed the venue Gelleråsen Arena. The current full circuit measures about 2.35 km with 11 turns, laid out so spectators can see almost the entire lap from any vantage point. Today it remains one of Sweden's busiest venues, hosting STCC TCR Scandinavia, Porsche Carrera Cup Scandinavia and the revived Kanonloppet.

Operated by: Karlskoga Motorstadion AB