A survey has been sent to the FIA World Endurance Championship teams by the championship organizers soliciting their views about the series’ calendar for the 2020/21 season and beyond.

The questionaire included three key parts. The first was a question about the number of races that the teams would like to see on the calendar going forward, as organizers are actively considering adding a potential ninth race for the first time since 2017. Teams were later asked to rank the current set of circuits and a list of eight circuits not currently on the race calendar in order of preference.

The eight not currently on the calendar were Kyalami (South Africa), Barcelona (Spain), Monza (Italy), Suzuka (Japan), St. Petersburg (Russia), Mexico City (Mexico), Sepang (Malaysia) and The Bend Motorsport Park (Australia).

Of the potential circuits, five would be new to the series. Barcelona was the venue for the Prologue Test this year (pictured) and also hosted the ELMS in 2019, Monza is a previous venue for the Prologue and is still used by the ELMS, while the Mexico City street track was on the WEC calendar during the 2016 and 2017 seasons.

Suzuka, Kyalami and St. Petersburg are currently not used by any ACO sports car championships. Suzuka is owned by Honda (Fuji is owned by Toyota) and Kyalami is about to host an international motorsport event (the SRO Intercontinental GT Challenge finale) for the first since the circuit was revamped by its current owner Toby Venter, who bought it in 2014.

The Igora Drive circuit just outside of St. Petersburg meanwhile, has just been placed on the DTM calendar for 2020 and may end up on the F1 calendar in place of Sochi’s street course, due to construction expected to force a redesign that could make it too short for F1 competition.

Sepang and The Bend, on the other hand, are current Asian Le Mans Series venues. Sepang features annually in that series while The Bend, which opened this year and has already hosted a Supercars round, is on its schedule for the first time this winter.

A WEC source has told RACER to expect ‘limited but positive change’ to the 2020/21 calendar, which will be released during the WEC weekend in Bahrain in December. Whether that means a change of venue or an additional race on the calendar next season is not yet clear.