Today, the FIA Endurance Commission has presented the provisional FIA World Endurance Championship calendar for 2017 which will be submitted to the FIA World Motorsport Council in the following days for validation.
One major change is the Prologue which now will be held at Monza instead of Le Castellet as in the past years during the last weekend of March. The addition of the high-speed circuit to the calendar will be a welcome addition for teams as part of their preparations for the cornerstone event of the world championship, the Le Mans 24 Hours.
All other venues on which the series run in 2016 will return, with no major date changes. The 6 Hours of the Nürburgring is planned one week earlier than this year, causing a clash with the Formula E series in which several LMP1 factory drivers are active at the moment.
The main race of the season, the 24 Hours of Le Mans will take place on June 17 & 18, with the testweekend 2 weeks in advance on the 3th and 4th of June.
All events will be of a duration of six hours, other than Le Mans. The season starts, as is now tradition, with European rounds at Silverstone, Spa, Le Mans and Nürburgring, before the trans-continental journey begins to Mexico, USA, Japan, China and Bahrain.
“We are very pleased to have maintained this level of stability in the five years of the WEC to date, and our 2017 calendar allows us to continue to build on the tradition of endurance racing around the world,” said Pierre Fillon, President of the ACO. “Our increasing number of fans year on year is proof that returning to a venue at a similar time of year encourages people to make their plans to attend well in advance…and to bring friends with them to enjoy all the entertainment and access that the WEC offers. The Le Mans 24 Hours needs no introduction, but we know that audiences in countries such as Mexico can only increase as their knowledge and interest in the WEC grows. We look forward to an exciting 2017 starting with our first visit to Italy.”
“The opportunity to start our season at Monza is one we are sure will please competitors, fans and media alike,” said Gérard Neveu, CEO of the WEC. “We hope that our calendar not only meets the expectations and requirements of all our partners and competitors, and makes economic and logistical sense, but also that it fits in with the increasing number of events that each venue hosts. The WEC continues to offer fans access to the most technologically relevant, competitive, and open championship possible, as well as offering our manufacturers Aston Martin, Audi, Ferrari, Ford, Porsche and Toyota the perfect showcase for their products on and off track.”
2017 FIA World Endurance Championship Provisional Calendar**
24/25 March The WEC Prologue, Monza (Italy)
16 April 6 Hours of Silverstone (UK)
06 May WEC 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps (Belgium)
17/18 June Le Mans 24 Hours (France)
16 July 6 Hours of Nürburgring (Germany)
03 September 6 Hours of Mexico (Mexico)
16 September 6 Hours of Circuit of the Americas (USA)
15 October 6 Hours of Fuji (Japan)
05 November 6 Hours of Shanghai (China)
18 November 6 Hours of Bahrain (Bahrain)
** Subject to approval by the FIA World Motor Sport Council
Kristof Vermeulen.
