Fuji and Shanghai dates changed to the 2019-2020 calendar

This time it should be the right one. After a first version unveiled during the month of August, the World Endurance Championship (WEC) has the official calendar for the 2019-20 season.

The trips planned for Fuji (Japan) and Shanghai (China) are the two modified dates in this final version. The sore point initially concerned Fuji, which was held on the same weekend as the Japanese Grand Prix in Formula 1 at Suzuka (October 13, 2019) after Liberty Media published its schedule for 2019.

An agreement between the Japanese circuits indicates that it is impossible to host two FIA world competitions on the same weekend. The order of priority for the preparation of calendars is that Formula 1 takes precedence over the WEC. To avoid a clash, the WEC has therefore brought the 6 Hours of Fuji forward by one week (October 6).

In order to keep the same pace between Fuji and Shanghai, the 4 Hours of Shanghai are also brought forward by one week (10th November). Result, date clashes with Petit Le Mans (Imsa, October 13) and the Macau Grand Prix (F3, GT, Tourism, November 17) disappear.

“Following the publication of the F1 calendar, we have changed two dates. The benefit will be for us to avoid competition with both the IMSA Petit Le Mans race and the Macau Grand Prix, which is an advantage for both competitors and endurance fans around the world.", Explain Gérard Neveu, Director General of WEC.

The format of the races remains unchanged. The events at Silverstone (Great Britain), Shanghai (China) go from six to four hours. Conversely, WEC competitors will have to drive for eight hours in Bahrain.

All that remains is for the World Council of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) to validate this calendar on October 12 in Paris.

2019-2020 World Endurance Championship Calendar:
4 Hours of Silverstone (Great Britain): September 1, 2019
6 Hours of Fuji (Japan): October 6, 2019
4 Hours of Shanghai (China): November 10, 2019
8 Hours of Bahrain (Bahrain): December 14, 2019
6 Hours of Sao Paulo (Brazil): February 1, 2020
1000 Miles of Sebring (Florida): during March 2020
6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps (Belgium): May 3, 2020
24 Hours of Le Mans : June 13 and 14, 2020