São Paulo canceled, Austin back on the calendar

When, a little over a year ago, the director of WEC Gérard Neveu unveiled the 2029-2020 calendar for the World ChampionshipEndurance, the returns of Bahrain and Brazil were not far from being unanimous. For reasons that everyone knows, Latin America's largest state is a racing land. But unfortunately, for the first time since 2012, the governing bodies are forced to cancel an event less than two months before the scheduled date, the promoters having not paid their dues. The WEC also insists on the fact that it has not encountered any problem with the city of São Paulo nor with the Autodromo José Carlos Pace (Interlagos) and the concern comes only from the local promoter.

OFFICIAL: the 6 Hours of Sao Paulo canceled, replaced by Lone Star Le Mans on Feb 22 and 23 on the Season 8 Calendar.

All the details please readhttps://t.co/FyMqtFW6TC#WEC #LoneStarLeMans #6hCOTA pic.twitter.com/iWmIeePWJq

- WEC (@FIAWEC) December 2, 2019

Cancel ? No, rather move, and this is where it is appropriate to tip our hats to the Le Mans Endurance Management teams who, as soon as the first doubts arose, planned a plan B… and even C.

“There are a lot of lights on in the wrong color, Gérard Neveu told us in Shanghai (see Ah n°2242). Three and a half months ago, we asked for guarantees which we are still waiting for. If this is not the case, we will have to find a fallback solution. It will be neither in Europe nor in Asia and the more we move towards an experienced circuit the better it will be. » An assertion that pushed us to put forward the name COTA (Circuit of the Americas, near Austin).

And it is indeed this one which was selected, as was made official on Monday December 2. “First of all, we would like to thank Bobby Epstein and the Circuit of the Americas for welcoming us on such short notice, underlined the Director General of the WEC. It's a very beautiful circuit and our fans, competitors and media who follow us are now assured of having not one but two very beautiful events in North America in two months. Of course, it is very unfortunate to find ourselves in this position.

We don't like making changes, but sometimes it's no choice. https://t.co/G5jKv4Y2Hn pic.twitter.com/Lv0tM96xec

— GerardNeveuWEC (@GerardNeveuWEC) December 2, 2019

The WEC greatly regrets this situation and is very sad for the city of São Paulo and for thousands of Brazilian motorsport fans. Our main priority was our competitors and our partners, and we worked diligently to find an alternative solution that would provide as little inconvenience to our paddock as possible. »

The WEC logistics team could not, in such a short period of time, go and locate an enclosure which it has everything to discover, even though it knows the Texan track like the back of its hand sinceshe went there five times between 2013 and 2017. She will therefore only have to “dust off” her plans to put down her Barnum. Furthermore, both teams and drivers appreciate the location, both for its facilities and for its layout.

Another advantage and not the least, it isan easily accessible circuit, with a neighboring airport and port. Finally, as a bonus, it will make some freight savings not planned but welcome to all the protagonists, who will then go four weeks later to Sebring (Florida), for the sixth round, 1 kilometers away.

Concerning the date, the organizer has set his sights on the weekend of February 23-24. On February 2, the initial date of the 6 Hours of Sao Paulo, the Super Bowl takes place. COTA is busy the weekend of 8-9 while the next one is the Mexico E-Prix.

However, for the good of many of its stakeholders, the WEC tries at all costs to avoid any conflict of dates with the series of 100% electric single-seaters, unlike the latter, which has still not resolved the clash between THE 1000 miles of Sebring and the Sanya E-Prix (China). Finally, as no support race is planned, the meeting will be held over two days, with a race on Sunday February 23.