Prologue Moved to Monday, Tuesday

The start of the FIA World Endurance Championship Prologue will be postponed by two days as a result of logistical issues, with running now set to take place on Monday and Tuesday.

Teams have encountered issues with delayed sea-freight, which has impacted the majority of the LMGT3 field. Some teams are missing cars while others are still waiting for key support equipment such as pit box setups, spare parts and other components to arrive.

Sportscar365 understands that the equipment is currently en route via truck from Saudi Arabia and is due to arrive at the Lusail International Circuit at some point on Saturday morning, although an exact arrival time is not yet known.

As a result of the delays, organizers have made the decision to postpone the Prologue to Monday and Tuesday, which would allow teams sufficient time to unload and prepare their equipment.

The original schedule would see the Prologue kick off on Saturday at 12:00 p.m. local time and would see running split evenly across Saturday and Sunday.

Under the revised schedule, Monday Feb. 26 will see the bulk of track action with three sessions amounting to a total run time of ten hours.

Track action begins with a 3.5-hour session at 8:30 a.m. local time (12:30 a.m. ET), followed by three hours of running kicking off at 2 p.m. before the day concludes with a night session starting at 6:30 p.m. that will run for another 210 minutes.

Prologue action then concludes with a final, four-hour session held on Tuesday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. local time.

“The schedule change is a result of the ongoing geopolitical situation where regular shipping lines have experienced significant delays through the Suez Canal and the Red Sea,” a statement supplied to Sportscar365 read.

“Consequently, part of the sea freight has been delayed arriving at the Lusail International Circuit in Doha, Qatar.

“To allow the WEC teams enough time to prepare for testing, the decision was made to delay the start of the Prologue.

“There will be no change to the schedule for the season-opening Qatar Airways Qatar 1812km the following weekend with the race set to begin at 11 a.m. local time on Saturday 2 March.”