WEC to vary its race lengths
The World Endurance Championship is going back to its roots, with the first of its winter-series calendars in 2019-20 made up of races of a variety of different lengths.
There will be races of four, six and eight-hour durations – in addition to the Le Mans 24 Hours, of course – and the organisers aren’t ruling out 10 and 12-hour events in the future. It harks back to the days when each world championship sportscar racing round had its own unique character and, often, duration.
The Silverstone and Shanghai events will be four-hour races, while the returning Bahrain fixture will be of eight hours’ duration like the Sebring 1000 Miles event on the 2018-19 superseason calendar. Fuji, Spa and Interlagos – the Brazilian venue another returnee on the eight-race calendar – will retain the traditional six-hour format.
WEC boss Gerard Neveu explained that the shift followed last year’s fan survey. “We will take care of the format of each race for the fans,” he said. “If we have a race on Saturday it doesn’t matter what time we finish, but on Sunday people have to go to work the next day, so it makes sense to have a shorter race finishing early.”
He explained that it made sense for the pre-le Mans Spa round to remain at six hours and the same for Fuji because of its heritage, even though both fall on a Sunday.
The British WEC venue, which will kick off the first winter-calendar season on September 1 2019, has a long history with a longer event, of course, but managing director Stuart Pringle revealed that he was relaxed about the move. “We don’t think it is a negative for the event,” he said. “Of course, there will be some hardcore enthusiasts who will be disappointed, but for many other spectators the reduced length is positive. We are trying to build a family event with the WEC.”
Neveu hinted at the inclusion of another longer event in the future. “We could include a 10-hour race somewhere,” he said. “Everything is open, though we have to consider many parameters, the wishes of the local promoter, the format of the meeting, the weather, TV. We also have to be careful of adding running time to the championship, because that adds cost.”
The continuation of the Sebring fixture, on the eve of the 12 Hours IMSA
Sportscar Championship round, depends upon the success of the superseason event next year. There can be no decision on its future, said Neveu, until the WEC has “experience of the first race”.
The Shanghai round will be on either November 10 or 17. Neveu said the WEC was working with the FIA to avoid a clash with the GT World Cup at Macau.
Dates are: September 1 Silverstone 4 Hours; October 13 Fuji 6 Hours; November 17 Shanghai 4 Hours; December 14 Bahrain 8 Hours; February 1 Interlagos 6 Hours; March TBA Sebring 1000 Miles; May 3 Spa 6 Hours; June 13-14 Le Mans 24 Hours.