Brexit harms UK enduro calendar

Britain has been left without an international endurance race in 2021, and Brexit is to blame. The traditional Silverstone GT World Challenge Europe round in May has disappeared from the calendar as a result of concerns over the effects of the UK’S withdrawal from the European Union.

The fixture organised by the Stephane Ratel Organisation has gone the same way as Silverstone’s round of the World Endurance Championship. The WEC race fell off the calendar this year as a result of a Covidrelated reshuffle, like the GTWCE Endurance Cup event scheduled for May, and is not part of the scaled-back series in 2021.

Until the exceptional circumstances of this year, Silverstone has hosted at least one major international enduro every season since 1995. That run included rounds of multiple Ratelrun series, as well as the Le Mans Series and the WEC. Brands Hatch and Donington also staged major enduros in that time.

Silverstone had been in the frame for a May TBA on the first draft of the GTWCE calendar last month, but Barcelona has taken the fifth enduro, with an October date on the latest schedule revealed last week. Stephane Ratel explained that it was entirely down to the “Brexit effect”.

He explained that the uncertainties over customs arrangements following the UK’S full withdrawal from the EU trade zone at the the end of this year had resulted in resistance to the

British event from teams competing on the Endurance Cup’s support races, such as the Lamborghini Super

Trofeo. Without those support series, he revealed, the event is not financially viable.

“None of our international support races wanted to come and we can’t go to a circuit where we [the Endurance Cup] are alone,” he said. “There are a lot of fears among the teams: they say we are hearing stories that we will need five days to cross the Channel.”

Ratel made the distinction between its arrangements with Silverstone and Brands Hatch, which has returned to the GTWCE Sprint Cup calendar with a 2 May date. SRO hires Silverstone and puts on the whole show, whereas Brands owner Motorsport Vision provides the support bill for its fixture.

Silverstone boss Stuart Pringle described losing a fixture that has hosted a Ratel-run international enduro in all but two seasons in the years between 1995 and 2019 as “an enormous disappointment”.

“It is dispiriting to lose it, hopefully for only one year, for something that is beyond our control,” he said. “I sincerely hope we see the series back in 2022 when we have the hotel and luxury residences available, which will make Silverstone even more attractive for a lot of Stephane’s drivers.”

Pringle is also hopeful that the

WEC fixture will return in the future: “The WEC wants to race at the best circuits in the world and, without being pigheaded, I’d like to think that Silverstone is among them.”