Ratel: Series Working On Middle East “Contingency Plans”

Photo: Asian Le Mans Series

SRO Motorsports Group and Le Mans Endurance Management, co-promoters of the Asian Le Mans Series, are working on “contingency plans” for the upcoming season according to Stephane Ratel, who hinted the currently scheduled Middle Eastern rounds could be rescheduled “closer” to Europe rather than in Southeast Asia.

The provisional 2026-27 calendar, while not officially released, is understood to be a reverse of last season’s campaign, with back-to-back events at Yas Marina Circuit and Dubai Autodrome currently scheduled to kick off the season in November, followed by the final pair of four-hour races at Sepang International Circuit in January.

While that calendar, already communicated to teams internally, is still scheduled to go ahead as of now, Ratel admitted they’re currently working on alternative options should the unrest in the Middle East not subside in time to safely host races in the United Arab Emirates.

“We have a calendar in place in the Middle East but the decision will be taken later,” Ratel told Sportscar365. “We have to wait to see how it will resolve itself.

“We need a couple of months of stability to decide.”

Ratel said a final decision on whether to go ahead with its originally planned schedule, or announce replacements for the two Middle East events, would be made by “mid summer.”

When asked if the series could shift entirely to Southeast Asia, Ratel indicated this would be an “unlikely” scenario.

“I think we would probably stay closer [to Europe] than going all the way to Asia, but we haven’t decided yet,” he said.

“For the moment, we have a calendar in place with two events in the Middle East, very similar to what works [in the past]. As I always say, if the toy isn’t broken, why change?

“We are of course working on contingency plans. If by July or August it’s not solved, the we’ll look at other options.”

The reluctance of having all rounds in Southeast Asia is understood to be logistics related, given the majority of the Asian Le Mans teams are European-based.

“You have to see the transport length,” said Ratel. “It also depends in terms of transport. We don’t want to force all the teams to jump on air freight.

“Then it becomes really, really expensive. We have different plans and we’ll see what the situation is.

“One thing is sure, there series will happen. That’s for sure.”

When asked if replacement races could be organized in Europe, Ratel said: “There could be races anywhere. At the moment we are looking at alternatives and will decide where it will be.”

He added: “Really at the beginning [of the Iran war] we thought, ‘Oh, it’s going to solve itself’ so we really didn’t look.

“Now we’re just starting to say, ‘Hmm, it could continue being difficult’ [in the region] and we don’t want to end up into a last minute cancelation for sure.

“So we’re looking at alternatives. It can be anywhere. Some expressions of interest could come from places that say, ‘Ah we would like to have you!’ in a good condition.

“You could have opportunities arise elsewhere and it’s why we want to keep all the cards on the table at the moment.”

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John