GT World Challenge and FIA WEC are working to minimise the overlap

As we await the official announcement of the WEC’s end-of-season calendar, the scenario for Plan B seems to be taking shape more and more clearly. This involves two European six-hour races, with the circuits at Barcelona and Monza at the top of the list. It is unlikely that the originally planned races in Qatar and Bahrain will go ahead due to the political situation.

Should this assumption prove correct, there would be a clash of dates between the WEC race in Barcelona and the GT World Challenge Europe endurance finale in Portimão.

Three teams would be directly affected by this scheduling conflict: AF Corse, Garage 59 and Team WRT, as well as around twenty drivers competing in both championships.

The weekend in Portugal on 17 and 18 October will go ahead, but the programme is likely to need to be revised. The GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup race, originally scheduled for Sunday from 3.30 pm to 6.30 pm, would then be brought forward to Saturday, with the race due to finish in the evening.

“We are working on a new timetable,” SRO boss Stéphane Ratel told Endurance-Info in the Misano paddock. “We still need to organise the various sessions. Ultimately, it is we who will be adapting our programme, not the WEC. The plan is therefore to move the race to Saturday evening. The sessions now need to be reorganised, but the WEC has assured us that they will work closely with us to find a solution, in particular by arranging transport to enable the drivers to travel quickly back and forth between the two circuits. I don’t know whether everyone will choose to take part in both races; some may prefer one or the other. However, it is our job to offer them this opportunity.”