The Automobile Club d’Ouest announced Tuesday that the FIA World Endurance Championship will not travel to Qatar or Bahrain for the final two races of the WEC season this year. Barcelona and Monza will replace the Middle Eastern rounds. The decision was made because of the ongoing unrest in the Middle East and the proximity of both venues to the Persian Gulf and Iran.
“We have been closely monitoring developments in the Middle East over [the] recent months,” stated WEC CEO Frederic Lequien in a press release. “A few weeks ago, we were optimistic about being able to race in Qatar and Bahrain, but unfortunately, the present situation obliges us to switch to an alternative plan.
“We have duly resolved to replace those two end-of-season rounds with Barcelona and Monza. Logistically, it was imperative to take this decision now to allow manufacturers, teams and the FIA WEC organization to make all necessary arrangements.”
In recent years, the ACO has encouraged teams to utilize sea freight as opposed to air freight to transport equipment to overseas venues in order to save money. Given both countries’ locations on the Persian Gulf and the necessity of potentially traversing the Strait of Hormuz and the Red Sea to get there, the danger is just too high with vessels being attacked in both bodies of water.
The Qatar 1812km, which was originally scheduled for March 28, was first postponed to Oct. 24. That race will now be held at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya as the 6 Hours of Barcelona.
As of right now, the race will clash with the GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Endurance Cup season finale at Portimao. The likely plan is to move the Portimao race from Sunday afternoon to Saturday night to allow drivers to run in both races.
The BAPCO Energies 8 Hours of Bahrain has been moved to the Autodromo Nationzale Monza. It will be known as the 6 Hours of Monza, but maintain the Bahrain event’s original date of Nov. 8.
Both Bahrain and Qatar are on the 2027 WEC schedule, which was announced back in June, so this will only be a one-year interruption.
The move actually does affect the points. Both Bahrain and Qatar were eight-hour races that will now be six-hour events. As a result, the points will be reduced for those races to the regular point allocations, which match Formula 1. Had the races not been moved, they would have paid 1.5 times the normal points.
This is the second such move that has been made in the past couple of days. During the Hungaroring weekend, news broke that the rescheduled Grand Prix of Bahrain will be moved to Sepang Circuit in Malaysia.
The Formula 1 Grand Prix of Qatar, scheduled for Nov. 29 and the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on Dec. 6 are still scheduled to go on as planned. However, that could still change.
Phil Allaway has three primary roles at Frontstretch. He's the manager of the Frontstretch email newsletter that publishes Monday-Friday and occasionally on weekends. He keeps TV broadcasters honest with weekly editions of Couch Potato Tuesday and serves as the Frontstretch Sports Car racing editor.
Outside of Frontstretch, Phil is the press officer for Lebanon Valley Speedway in West Lebanon, N.Y. He covers all the action on the high-banked dirt track from regular DIRTcar Modified racing to occasional visits from touring series such as the Super DIRTcar Series.