WEC Reveals New October Date for Qatar 1812km

The FIA World Endurance Championship has revealed a new October date for its Qatar 1812km event, with it now becoming the penultimate round of the campaign after the escalating conflict in the Middle East forced it to be postponed.

The Lusail contest was originally due to open the season on March 28 but it was announced last week that the race was being postponed after American and Israeli bombing of Iran had led to retaliatory strikes across the Middle East, including in Qatar.

At the time it was stated the event would be moved to the second half of the season but it has now been slotted in for October 22-24, two weeks before the planned Bahrain finale.

“The safety and security of competitors, personnel and fans remain of the utmost importance to the Qatar Motor & Motorcycle Federation, Lusail International Circuit, the FIA and the FIA WEC organisation, and all parties will continue to monitor developments across the region,” read a WEC statement.

The WEC has also revealed a new date for its traditional pre-season Prologue test, which was originally due to be held in Qatar on March 22-23.

No details were given last week about the Prologue’s new date but the series has now revealed it will be held over a single day on April 14 at Imola, the Tuesday before the revised opening round of the season.

The WEC said this would allow “competitors to settle into the groove and fine-tune their cars in advance of the race weekend.”

The new date solves the calendar clash that many teams faced as the original March scheduling coincided with the second round of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship at Sebring.

This would have left the opening day of the Qatar test decidedly quiet as teams and drivers made the journey from America to the Middle East.