Le Mans 2020 postponed – What consequences for the WEC?

For the second time in their history, the 24 Hours of Le Mans will be held in September, on Saturday 19th and Sunday 20th to be more precise.. As rightly explained the president of the ACO Pierre Fillon, who are " postpone the 24 Hours of Le Mans 2020, initially scheduled for June 13 and 14, is now proving to be the most suitable solution to the exceptional health circumstances that we are all currently experiencing. ».

But this will obviously not be without impact on the calendars of theELMS (and therefore the Michelin Le Mans Cup) and the WEC. Gérard Neveu also confirmed it this afternoon: “ In this context, postponing the 24 2020 Hours of Le Mans is the right decision, underlined the general director of the two series. We are now working on an adaptation accordingly of our WEC and ELMS calendars for the current editions as well as the future season 9 (2020-2021) of the WEC which was to begin next September. We will communicate all this information to you very soon. ».

As we tell you in this week's issue (Ah n°2259, currently available on newsstands and above all in digital version here), that of the ELMS 2020 will be completely turned upside down (the 4 Hours of Spa were to be held on… September 20) but should still have 6 rounds, the order and dates remain to be known. But what about the World Championship?Endurance ?

Let's first talk about the current season: If the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps (scheduled for April 25) could be contested during the summer, the 1000 miles of Sebring were officially canceled. A final in Florida on November 13, the day before the 12 Hours of Sebring (also a postponed event) would not have lacked pace. The problem is that the double round of the Sarthe clock would then no longer serve as a final, which would make the season system spanning two calendar years put in place in 2018-2019 lose all its meaning. This hypothesis should therefore be thrown into oblivion, the 2019-2020 season will indeed end at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, on September 19 and 20, that is a certainty.

But above all, what about the following campaign, scheduled to begin on September 4 at Silverstone? “ 2020-2021 is coming very quickly, recognizes Gérard Neveu in our columns this week. It will be recalibrated, we are working on it. Firstly, we look at what we are forced to do. Then, we must take into consideration the teams, the manufacturers or even the partners like theIMSA.

It is the crisis management units in place that will determine this. We will have to adapt the formats of our championships in relation to the negative economic fallout generated by this crisis. If the dates change, perhaps we can reorganize the calendar and give ourselves a breather allowing people to recover financially and come back stronger. The key is to be attentive and responsive ».

Various plans are therefore being studied, including the overhaul of the calendar. An option on which the ACO and the FIA ​​were already working since the suicide of the Le Mans Hypercar projectAston Martin mid-February, and which will have to be explored further. Are we going to return to a classic calendar over a single calendar year as some competitors are demanding? Nothing is less sure.

The hypothesis of once again resorting to a “Super Season” with two editions of the Sarthe double clock – as in 2018-2019 – is, however, perhaps not to be excluded. Le Mans 2020 having passed, the debates would not resume until the beginning of 2021 (which could suit certain competitors expected in the premier class, like the Team Cameron Glickenhaus, ByKolles and even the giant Toyota, which admits to chasing time) to end during the 2022 edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. But what impact would a year 2020 with almost no competition have on private teams, who are already unlikely to emerge unscathed from the current crisis? And what about the competitors who were aiming to arrive with an LMDh in September 2021, for the opening of the 2021-2022 financial year? Again, complicated.

Finally, last option, simply postpone the start of the 2020-2021 season, for which you will find, as a reminder, the calendar (now obsolete), below. And this even if putting Silverstone and Monza back on the menu would be oh so complicated.

We can bet that the information will be communicated relatively quickly, especially as it will necessarily be accompanied by modifications on the sporting level.