One of the best places to stay near the Lausitzring is the town of Senftenberg which has a population of just under 30,000 and is a pleasant place to be based. A good array of hotels and guesthouses are on offer and from €70 up to €200 per night there are good choices available for almost all budgets.

Other small towns such as nearby Lauchhammer or Hoyerswerda, on the other side of the Senftenberger See into Saxony, also offer further options for guests.

The cities of Dresden and Cottbus are both within an hour’s drive from the circuit and offer far more choice in terms of type of accommodation, but keep in mind the traffic and journey times to and from the track on race days.

Airports such as Dresden (60km) and Berlin Schönefeld (115km) are within relatively easy reach of Lausitzring and visiting either of the fantastic cities these airports serve is well worth your while.

Since the devastation of World War II – when more than 90% of the city’s buildings were destroyed – and the isolationism of the Cold War era, several years of regeneration have totally reinvented Berlin, now Germany’s capital and most cosmopolitan city by far.

It is a decent drive from Lausitzring and is not part of Brandenburg as it forms its own city-state, but Berlin is surrounded by the larger state and is most certainly worth taking some time to explore.

The range of culinary delights on offer in Berlin’s restaurants and cafés, its cutting-edge architecture, its nonstop nightlife, its many large open green spaces and a thriving arts scene make this a must-see city. Excellent museums, memorials and historic sights, including the famous Brandenburg Gate and remarkable Fernsehturm TV tower, draw in visitors from all over Europe and beyond.

Another city to have undergone a complete rebuilding and rejuvenation is Dresden, across the state border from Brandenburg into Saxony but also an amazing place to spend some time. Dresden buzzes with ambience, especially at night when its bar and club scene come alive in the ‘Neustadt’, whilst the restored glory of the Baroque Altstadt is really something to cherish.

Exploring rural Brandenburg is also fun, with the unspoiled natural landscape scenically traversed by an abundance of pristine rivers and lakes. A jigsaw of forests, sunflower fields, heathlands, meadows and tranquil waterways are yours to discover in The Spreewald (a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve). Meanwhile close to Lausitzring is the evolving and growing Lusatian Lake District, where many of the lakes are manmade.

Of course the Germans love their beer and many of the country’s finest beers are found on tap throughout Brandenburg, with the products of the world’s oldest beer purity law (the Reinheitsgebot) pouring into the region, especially from nearby Saxony where Freiberger is brewed.

Brandenburg is known in Germany for the quantity and quality of pickled gherkins it produces, with thousands of tonnes in a dazzling variety being bottled and munched each year.

Vegetables and freshwater fish are the staples of Brandenburg cuisine, so look out for local dishes on the menu featuring asparagus, beans, kale, chestnuts, porcini mushrooms, often accompanying crayfish, pike, eel or carp.

Fonsi Nieto took an important pole for Kawasaki at Lausitzring in 2007, as the Japanese manufacturer had waited nearly ten years to record a pole position at that time. Their previous one had been with Yanagawa at Sugo in 1997.

EuroSpeedway Lausitz is built on the site of a large former coal mine from the socialist East German era and also features a high-speed Nascar-style oval race track, with a capacity for 120,000 spectators.