WEC To Run ‘1500 Miles Of Sebring’ (2nd Update)

Sunset at Sebring

UPDATE FIA World Endurance Championship CEO Gerard Neveu is adamant that its race at Sebring will go ahead as planned, despite increasing doubts over the event’s logistics and feasibility.

The March 2019 race, planned as a double-header weekend with the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, is set to feature a 1,500-mile WEC round following the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring.

Questions over paddock and pit lane space, particularly in the planned two-hour transition period from the end of the IMSA race to the start of the WEC round around midnight, has raised questions whether it could be effectively pulled off.

Neveu, however, said the challenges presented at Sebring are similar to those they faced at Circuit of The Americas in 2014, in the first same-day WEC/IMSA double-header race.

“I’m sure we can do it," Neveu told Sportscar365. “When you start to do something different, people are always concerned.

“I remember when we went to COTA together, everyone said it would be impossible to remove the pit wall to do everything, it would be impossible to race together [on the same weekend].

“Honestly, if we want to do it, we can do it. I can’t see why this is so impossible.

“We will have this incredible chance to propose for the American fans a double race in the same weekend, a double big event."

Neveu and ACO President Pierre Fillon met with representatives from IMSA and Sebring International Raceway last month at Daytona, with the WEC logistics team set to attend the 12-hour race in March to continue preparations.

“We had meetings with Wayne [Estes, track president] and the people from Sebring," Neveu said. “You will see a serious delegation of operational guys from WEC in Sebring this year, just to set up everything.

“We are working very well on that. This is already on the table. You will see many people in Sebring this year to work on it and check all the details."

While rumors of a new, separate pit lane for WEC competitors had surfaced, track president Wayne Estes told Sportscar365 it’s not an option.

Estes said plans for a new crossover bridge on the Ulmann Straight, to help expand competitor parking, has been put on hold for the time being.

Both Neveu and Estes indicated that compromises will have to be made with pit lane setups, in order to accommodate both IMSA and WEC teams during the weekend.

“I’m sure we will find a solution and we will be able to share the pit lane," Neveu said. “I believe that the people from Porsche, all the GTE teams will be able to share together.

“We have to try to be creative. It will be [a big], a strong effort, but there are a lot of professional people in IMSA and I believe there is a good team also in WEC.

“I don’t see any reason why we cannot do it to achieve it." Sportscar365

09/22/17 This rumor is upgraded to 'fact' today. The FIA World Endurance Championship’s return race to Sebring International Raceway in 2019 will be known as the “1500 Miles of Sebring", with the FIA having confirmed the 2018/19 ‘Super Season’ schedule, along with other changes to the globe-trotting series for next season.

Confirmation came during Thursday’s FIA World Motor Sport Council meeting in Paris.

2018/19 WEC Schedule:
May 5 – Spa-Francorchamps
June 16-17 – 24 Hours of Le Mans
Aug. 19 – Silverstone
Oct. 21 – Fuji Speedway
Nov. 18 – Shanghai
March 17 – 1500 Miles of Sebring
May 4 – Spa-Francorchamps
June 15-16 – 24 Hours of Le Mans

09/19/17 The 2019 FIA WEC Sebring race, set for its first running in March 2019 as part of the transitional ‘Super Season’ is to be known as the ‘1500 Miles of Sebring’.

That aligns with comments from Sebring officials at CoTA this weekend and from the FIA WEC’s CEO Gerard Neveu.

Wayne Estes president and general manager of Sebring International Raceway told DSCs Stephen Kilbey:

“The Mobil 1 12 Hours of Sebring is the 12 Hours of Sebring. The WEC initially said a 12-hour race, to see what the reaction would be. But we need to keep the identity of the 12 hours of Sebring. So I think they’re going to go with a distance or timed race."

Other sources have now confirmed that the plan is for a 1500 mile event for the WEC.

The race will start, as originally announced, at midnight, Neveu rejecting criticism that the logistics involved in transitioning the pits and circuit from the IMSA 12 Hours of Sebring would prove a barrier to a Midnight start.

The move to a mileage-related event in part prevents the potential confusion of a pair of back to back 12 Hour events though it is not yet clear whether the 1500 Mile proposal includes a time cut-off, and if so when that would be. dailysportscar.com