Silverstone has been reinstated as a round on the World Endurance Championship calendar, with an August date set for 2018.
The FIA and Automobile Club de l’Ouest left the Northamptonshire circuit out of the original schedule two weeks ago, but have since reversed their decision “in response to competitors and fans”.
Silverstone’s return will be moved later in the year to August 19th, and replaces the ‘TBC’ date in February that featured on the provisional calendar.
The circuit has been the traditional season opener for the WEC since 2013, with its April date marking a key step towards the 24 Hours of Le Mans in June.
It featured as an August stop during the inaugural campaign in 2012, and previously hosted summer rounds of the Le Mans Series.
Next year's Silverstone event will once again receive support from the European Le Mans Series, which is set to announce its final calendar at Spa next weekend.
Furthermore, the 2018 WEC races at Fuji and Shanghai have each been moved forward a week, to avoid clashing with the IMSA Sportscar Championship finale at Petit Le Mans in October.
The Fuji round was originally planned for October 14th, but successful negotiations between Fuji Speedway and IMSA officials have resulted in a repositioning to the 21st.
Consequently, Shanghai will jump forward from November 4th to November 18th, to allow enough time for equipment to transport from Japan to China.
Discussion about this post