WEC, ELMS to run summer races behind closed doors

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emailBy Stephen Kilbey | 6 hours ago

The FIA World Endurance Championship’s race at Spa in August will run behind closed doors, according to championship CEO Gerard Neveu. The ELMS races at Paul Ricard (in July) and at Spa (in August before the WEC event) are also due to be held without spectators.

“We are looking for ‘de-confinement’ in Europe,” said Neveu during a conference call with the media on Friday. “We have to wait until early June. If things continue like they are today, it will be absolutely acceptable during the summer. We have two big meetings in the summer, the ELMS at Paul Ricard in July, and WEC at Spa in mid-August. For all these events, the plan is to [race] behind closed doors at this moment. We will make final announcements early in June. We have to know if there is a second wave. If not, the governments will be more flexible.

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“The plan at the moment is still the same, we’re having daily and weekly meetings with the circuits that we are supposed to visit. We are also discussing [it] with the local authorities. At the moment all the calendars are maintained. At the moment the most concern we have is about Paul Ricard, as at Spa everything’s online. We have to be careful in July that Italian [and] German teams can cross the border and join.

“If there are any reasons we cannot do the race correctly, we have Plan B and C to move these dates. The number of races will stay unchanged.”

There are no new updates regarding whether fans will be allowed to attend the rescheduled Le Mans 24 Hours in September.

“Nobody can say anything before the end of confinement,” Neveu said. “We have to wait until early or beginning of June for summer races; as for September, you will have to wait until July to know what the situation will be. If in July it is better than June, we would probably be optimistic.

“At the moment the ACO is working very hard to have a plan to run the race either behind closed doors or with the public.”

On the weekend in June (13-14) that the Le Mans 24 Hours was originally intended to run this year, a full-length 50-car ‘Virtual Le Mans’ Esports race on r-Factor 2 will be held featuring a mixture of pro and Esports drivers.

Le Mans/WEC