24 Hours of LeMans could be delayed further

Pierre Fillon

Speaking to Motorsport Network in the latest of their exclusive #thinkingforward interviews with the leaders in world motorsport regarding a possible further delay for the 2020 24 Hours of LeMans, ACO president Pierre Fillon said: "For sure, if at the end of July the authorities will tell us 'impossible in September but 100% possible we can do it in October or November' – of course, we would do that. It will not be the same 24 Hours that we are used to, but we are professional and we have great drivers. We ran in Spa in the snow last year!"

"If you think of the walls of our house, Le Mans is clearly the central pillar of all sportscar programs," said WEC President Gerard Neveu. "So you must protect the main pillar if you want to maintain your house. Even if you have some damages, you must first protect this part. This is the guarantee that there is a future.

"The true reality is Le Mans is an exception. So you cannot take Le Mans like an average [race]. It can be an example, it can be a leader for the categories but when you discuss about the global platform, the championship, that's a little bit different. Le Mans is Le Mans, which is like Mount Everest."

"In fact, at this time, nobody knows what will happen in September! We have a lot of big events planned in France before then, like the Tour de France and Roland Garros. The question is are we able to organize an event with more than 100,000 people? I don't know the answer to that.

Gerard Neveu

"If you listen to our president (France), maybe after the middle of July something is possible, but if you listen to Germany, it's nothing before the end of August. I just read that a big event in Munich [Oktoberfest, from September 19-October 4] is cancelled, so nobody knows."

"Option one is that we're allowed to run our event with fans, maybe with some constraints like masks and so on," he said.

"The second option is we have no more than 5,000 people, or something like that – so that's a good option for the TV but not good for the fans who want to attend. And, for sure, this is not a true Le Mans – it's not just about the race, it's an experience for all the spectators.

"And option three is that it's impossible to organize the 24 Hours of Le Mans event at all. For sure, we hope that is not the option! But, at this moment, we cannot exclude that."