WEC and ELMS do not change their plans

Last Monday, President Emmanuel Macron announced the cancellation of all major events and festivals until mid-July. The next day, it was Belgium which made it official that no “mass event” would take place in the country before August 31. A decision which notably resulted in the postponement of the 24 Hours of Spa, scheduled for the end of July.

But on their side, theELMS and WEC do not change anything, as confirmed by a spokesperson for the WEC. " Our plans have not changed, we were informed. We are still planning to hold our race in August. We should know more in two months. »

First, the opening round of theELMS – the 4 Hours of Le Castellet – is scheduled for July 19, i.e. in the second half of the month. Furthermore, as the director of the series Gérard Neveu told us recently (see here): « If by chance a race had to be run behind closed doors, this would not be a major problem because the “public” part is not inherent to the business model. »

The same goes for the Spade round, scheduled for August 9. The notion of “mass event” remains very vague and it is good, in these times, to remain cautious, in one direction or the other. Prudence is what pushed Sophie Wilmès, the Belgian Prime Minister, to assert: “ What we do we can undo. Everything will depend on the results observed following the deconfinement measures that we take. »

Measures and a declaration which also concern the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, planned a week later, on August 15. If for once, the “spectators” part is clearly part of the business model, under exceptional conditions exceptional measures. And if the closed session is the sine qua none condition for the holding of the event, we can bet that the ACO-FIA tandem will be able to be satisfied with it, especially since the competitors are demanding to have an event before the 88th edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, scheduled for September 19 and 20.