The FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) is a racing
world championship organized by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO). This year, WEC is planning an additional six-hour race leading up to the highly-anticipated 24 Hours of Le Mans in June. The new race would occur in April between the series opener in March and the Spa date in May.
Car ownership super app Jerry dives into everything we know about the new race so far.
Planning a new WEC race in a packed schedule
According to Motorsport.com
, WEC boss Frederic Lequien has confirmed the new event will take place in the first half of the season to balance out the series schedule. The event is set to take place in Europe, but an exact venue has yet to be decided. Lequien declined to name any potential contenders for the venue, but industry insiders are speculating on a few likely candidates.
Motorsport suspects that the Algarve circuit near Portimao could be one potential site for the new race. The Algarve circuit hosted WEC events for the first time last year.
One thing Lequien did confirm was that finding a venue would not be a simple task, given how many events are already planned. “Putting the calendars together is like a Chinese puzzle,” said Lequien.
“The situation is under discussion between all the partners, but we have to face this kind of reality as the calendars grow,” he continued, referring to an inevitable clash between Spa and the Monaco round of the Formula E World Championship.
WEC wants to continue to expand its event program
In spite of how many potential scheduling conflicts have already arisen in a jam-packed 2022/2023 season, WEC shows no signs of slowing down.
Traditionally, the WEC has consisted of eight rounds of races, but that number was cut down to six in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Earlier this year, Leqien outlined a plan for WEC to expand back to the original eight. Sadly, even those plans have been complicated by shipping delays and other uncertainties.
MORE: Two Racers Made History at Le Mans This Year, But Not in the Way You Think
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