Cars to be Air Freighted to Imola After Qatar Delays

FIA World Endurance Championship teams will have their cars and equipment air freighted back from Qatar for next month’s second round of the season at Imola.

A statement provided to Sportscar365 confirmed that transporting the full grid of 37 cars to Italy by air was decided upon in a meeting between series organizers and teams at earlier this week, ahead of this weekend’s season-opening Qatar 1812km.

It follows the delays that plagued the build-up to the race that led to the Prologue pre-season test being postponed by two days owing to the late arrival of a significant number of cars.

That was due to the geopolitical situation in the Red Sea that meant the freight was unable to safely arrive in Qatar by sea, with the final part of the journey having to be completed by road from Jeddah in Saudi Arabia.

“The FIA WEC held a meeting with team managers earlier this week to discuss freight options from Qatar to Italy for the 6 Hours of Imola – round two of the world championship,” read the statement.

“Due to the ongoing geopolitical situation in the Red Sea, it was concluded that the safest option was for the teams’ freight to return by air rather than by sea.

“This was the only viable solution which would guarantee the safety of the WEC’s freight, as well as everything arriving on time for Imola. This change in logistics has added a cost implication for both the teams and the championship organizers.”

It has not been disclosed how the costs will be shared between the WEC and teams.