The FIA World Endurance Championship will race in Qatar from 2024, the ACO and FIA have announced.
The 6 Hours of Qatar will be held at the Lusail International Circuit, the venue for the Formula 1 Qatar Grand Prix and MotoGP Qatar Grand Prix.
The Prologue pre-season testing event, currently held at Sebring, will also be held in Qatar, meaning the 6 Hours of Qatar will open the WEC season in 2024.
Qatar will remain on the WEC calendar through at least the 2029 season.
WEC has been aiming to expand its calendar to eight races for a few years, after it dropped down to six races due to the pandemic and loss of manufacturer representation in the top class. In 2023 the calendar will grow from the six races in 2022, to seven races, with the return of the 6 Hours of Portimao, at the Algarve circuit, which last hosted a race in 2021. However, with manufacturers now returning in droves starting from next year, the championship has had an eight-race calendar in its sights for a while.
The announcement of the Qatar race will join races currently held at Sebring, Portimao (from next year), Spa, Le Mans, Monza, Fuji, and Bahrain.
ACO president Pierre Fillon said: “We are delighted to extend the FIA World Endurance Championship to include such a fabulous circuit. From 2024, Lusail will open the championship, offering competitors top-class surroundings. My heartfelt thanks to Abdulrahman Al-Mannai and everyone at the circuit for this superb opportunity for endurance racing.”
All they need now is to get a WRC round and they’ll have the lot. With regard to WEC, why stop at eight races, at least a dozen should be possible, maybe more. With the interest that the new hypercar entrants will bring, the demand will will be huge. WEC is going to be epic over the next few seasons.