Silverstone back with WEC, Petit clash avoided

The FIA World Endurance Championship announced a revised 2018/19 schedule today, with the big news being that Silverstone has been put back on the calendar in the previous "to be confirmed" slot, which has now been moved from February 2019 to Aug. 19, 2018.

In addition to that, both the six-hour races at Fuji and Shanghai in 2018, have been moved back a single week, meaning there is no longer a clash with Petit Le Mans, freeing up the entire IMSA North American Endurance Championship for the WEC teams and drivers. It does however mean, there is a potential clash with the Intercontinental GT Challenge at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca and the FIA Macau GT World Cup.

Related Stories

In addition to Silverstone – the traditional season opener for the WEC – being put back on the calendar, it will also be a doubleheader once again with the European Le Mans Series, the ELMS race being on the Saturday, and the WEC 6 Hours on the Sunday.

This news comes after the original date announced for the only vacant round on the calendar was set for February 2019, the month before the Sebring 12 Hours – which appeared to point to a second race in the Americas. This was further hinted at by WEC CEO Gerard Neveu saying on air on the grid before the 6 Hours of Mexico City, that two races in America would be on the schedule. However, the WEC has made moves since the Mexico round, and has moved the calendar spot forward to August, putting Silverstone back on the list of locations.

Originally, Silverstone was one of four races taken off the calendar when it was first released, the others being Bahrain, Mexico City and Circuit of The Americas. Traditionally, the Northampton-based circuit has been the season-opening race for the WEC, aside from the inaugural season in 2012 when the race was held in September.

Another date change on the new calendar is the 36-hour pre-season Prologue test at Circuit Paul Ricard, which has moved from April 5-6 to April 6-7, 2018.

This leaves just three races in 2019 portion of the "Super Season" – Sebring, Spa and Le Mans. However, the 2019/20 WEC season is set to start after Le Mans in 2019, with that calendar still an unknown.

RACER understands, that of the three available options in the Americas, known to have a relationship with the WEC (COTA, Mexico City and Interlagos), deals were either not offered, or rejected.

The revised calendar is as follows

April 6-7: The Prologue, Circuit Paul Ricard (FRA)
May 4-5: WEC 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps (BEL)
June 16-17: 24 Hours of Le Mans (FRA)
August 19: 6 Hours of Silverstone (GB)
October 6: Hours of Fuji (JPN)
November 18: 6 Hours of Shanghai (CHN)
March 16-17, 2019: 12 Hours of Sebring (USA)
May 4, 2019: WEC 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps (BEL)
June 15-16, 2019: 24 Hours of Le Mans (FRA)