Qatar to redesign WEC calendar in 2024

Qatar will open the 2024 WEC season. The arrival of the Emirate in the world championship certainly reinforces its growing interest, but will require a review of the agenda and certain destinations.

Published on 12/12/2022 à 18:00

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Losail and Qatar will host the first round of the WEC in 2024 (Photo: Red Bull Content Pool)

Everyone was waiting for Saudi Arabia, and here is Qatar. The small state of the Arabian Peninsula signed a six-year contract with the ACO, from 2024 to 2029, in order to open the season and thus become the 13^e country in history to be visited by the WEC. The Losail circuit, inaugurated in 2004, 5,380 km long and located around twenty kilometers from the capital Doha, will also host the official pre-season tests, the famous Prologue.

By opening the 2024 championship, Qatar will induce a profound remodeling of the calendar, which was launched in 2019, 2022 and 2023 by the 1000 Miles of Sebring (USA), during March. Will this imply the disappearance of the Florida round and its replacement by a race in Indianapolis, the wish of Roger Penske, of theIMSA and the ACO? This seems unlikely. The Championship wishes to keep Sebring on the calendar. Discussions in this direction are also underway.

The final calendar will be communicated in 2023, once validated by the World Council, whose mission is to limit date clashes between FIA-labelled disciplines.

Unknowns remain

This integration of the 6 Hours of Qatar strengthens the barycenter of theEndurance in the Middle East since the defection of China in 2020. This territory is the dream destination for manufacturers present in Hypercar in order to better interact with their upscale clientele. As proof, four cars made the trip for this Qatari announcement: Ferrari 499P, Porsche 963, Peugeot 9X8 and Toyota GR010. Beautiful people for a nation which will make its return in Formula 1, and for a period of 10 years, after a first experience in 2021.

Various questions remain to be clarified, such as the ability of the teams to financially digest a calendar whose number of races would be increasing (7 in 2023). Otherwise, a European date will have to be sacrificed. Portimão seems likely to disappear in the future, with the ACO wishing to favor a destination in South America or a return to China. If Saudi Arabia was mentioned for a time, this destination no longer seems to be part of the chessboard. As for Bahrain, the contract was extended until 2027. So far nothing excludes a potential eighth date for 2024.

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