Winter WEC schedule plans put on hold

Plans for the World Endurance Championship to shift to a winter calendar climaxing with the Le Mans 24 Hours have been put on hold for a minimum of two seasons.

Series boss Gerard Neveu revealed on the announcement of the 2015 schedule that the WEC will retain a conventional calendar at least until the end of 2016. That could be followed by a transition to a series straddling two calendar years.

The idea is that the series would start in September and would take in a series of Southern Hemisphere races over the Northern Hemisphere winter before return to Europe for a short run of races in the lead-up to Le Mans.

"Everyone agreed that it's a good idea; I haven't met anybody in the paddock who said it's a bad idea," said Neveu. "But the fact is that when we started to work with people around the table, we were facing big problems with the technical rules.

"If we switch the calendar, we must be ready to make sure it's not unfair for some part of the grid; there's new regulations for GT [in 2016] and LMP [in 2017], for example."

He explained that manufacturers and constructors developing new machinery at the time of the transition could be penalized as a result.

"If you have problems with this car, you'd have to build a new car after six months, which is too expensive, or you have to wait a year and a half to change your car."

Neveu insisted that a shift to a winter calendar was "at the front of the table" for 2017. This would likely involve a short program of events leading up to Le Mans that season before a full winter series in 2017-'18.

Originally on Autosport.com