With the 3 non-European rounds out of the way, MotoGP heads to Spain for the 4th round of the 2019 season, scheduled to take place from 3 to 5 May on the Circuito de Jerez. Opened on 8 December 1985, this track has hosted the premier class since 1987. Oddly enough, however, in 1988 the race was labeled the Portuguese GP because the Spanish GP was held in Jarama.
In 1992 it became the first track in the Championship to replace the hay bales with airfences. The 4,423 meters (2.75 miles) of the track alternate between slow, fast and very fast corners. The 13 turns (8 right-handers and 5 left-handers) represent 31 percent of the total length and provide numerous places for passing. The significant changes in slope demand a bike that handles well and that is well balanced, in addition to being stable in braking.
Once again this year, 100% of the bikes participating in the MotoGP championship are equipped with Brembo brakes and Brembo's engineers have assigned a difficulty index for the brakes to each circuit on the calendar.
According to the Brembo engineers who assist all the MotoGP riders, the Circuito de Jerez is the most demanding track on brakes in the first third of the season, in other words, out of the first 6 Grand Prix races. On a scale of 1 to 5, it earned a 4 on the difficulty index, the same score as Aragon and Brno.