The 6h of Fuji moved for Alonso

Fernando Alonso may well be a rookie WEC, the double champion of F1 already benefits from a lot of preferential treatment.

During the ACO conference held this Friday at Rétromobile in Paris, the organizers of the WEC published a new version of the calendar where the 6 Hours of Fuji (Japan), owned by Toyota which will engage the Spaniard on one of its two TS050 Hybrids, have been brought forward by one week to October 14. The Asturian will thus be able to compete in the US GP scheduled for Austin (Texas) on the 21st of the same month.

This will allow Fernando Alonso and Toyota to compete in the entirety of the rounds of the season,” recognized Gérard Neveu, the general director of the WEC.

This modification of the program will complicate the situation of many other drivers entered in the World Championship.Endurance also registered in other disciplines. Drivers registered in IMSA will suffer in particular from the clash with the IMSA final at Petit Le Mans (Georgia).

Olivier Pla, entered with Extreme Speed ​​Motorsport in the NAEC rounds, was quick to react.

“A big thank you to the WEC. I can't believe you could do that. This lack of consideration and respect for drivers who have a contract with an IMSA team to race in NAEC the same weekend is incredible. I'm sure I won't be the only one surprised by what you've done.", commented Ford resident Chip Ganassi Team UK. His compatriot Nicolas lapierre which has the same program with ESM, is also in the same situation since it is engaged with Signatech-Alpine.

Many thanks @FIAWEC I can't believe you did it… your lack of consideration and respect for the drivers who had a contract with a team in IMSA to race in NAEC the same weekend are unbelievable. I'm sure I will not be the only one to be impressed with what you did

— Olivier Pla (@olivierpla) 9th February 2018

Harry Tincknell, Oliver Pla's teammate entered in the second Ford GT, is of the same opinion as the Frenchman. 

“I'm absolutely disgusted to see the Fuji 6h date clash with Petit Le Mans after the (IMSA) season started. This is a lack of respect for the WEC teams and drivers. The public reaction on Twitter is there to show it. »

Absolutely gutted to see the @FIAWEC Fuji date changes to clash with Petit Le Mans after the season has started.

Shows little respect to the teams and drivers of the WEC, reaction from the fans on Twitter says it all… pic.twitter.com/Nv0OE2DgtI

— Harry Tincknell (@HarryTincknell) 9th February 2018

Some Super GT competitors will also be impacted with a clash with the Autopolis round with Kazuki Nakajima et Kamui Kobayashi. However, the two Japanese are also Toyota Gazoo Racing drivers. The organizers of the Japanese Championship had also modified their calendar to avoid a clash with the Japanese Endurance round.