The mid-week cancelation announcement came as no surprise. Bahrain steps in with two races.
COVID-19 and related circumstances have reared their head again, this time in the world of endurance racing. The World Endurance Championship, which had been scheduled in Japan for late September, has been canceled. Travel restrictions, including the difficulty of getting teams and equipment into Japan, are a major reason why the event in Japan was called off.
The F.I.A. also announced that the competition in Japan would be replaced with a doubleheader in Bahrain. The first race will be a six-hour event on October 30th, and a regular eight-hour event will be held one week later on the 6th of November.
According to multiple sources, there was no option other than canceling the event in Japan. “The current instability calls for adaptability. Having consulted widely, given the health situation, we will not be going to Fuji,” said Pierre Fillon, head of the Automobile Club of the West, which controls Lemans. Fillon noted that the Japanese organization team did all they could to host the event.
Richard Mille, head of the FIA side of the endurance championships, agreed. But he also added that opportunity also knocked at the door. “Every setback creates an opportunity and (now we will have) the first-ever doubleheader in the history of FIA WEC.” That said, the opportunity resulted by way of innovativeness and commitment of the Bahranians to step in at the last moment, something that Frédéric Lequien, FIA WEC CEO, readily acknowledged
Frédéric Lequien: I’d like to express our gratitude to Sheikh Salman and his team for hosting us twice this season. They always provide such a warm welcome, and I’m confident that a double-header in Bahrain is an ideal solution in the current climate.
By the same token, Bahrain organizers are pleased that the F.I.A. and the WEC showed confidence in turning to them in time of need. Sheikh Salman bin Isa Al Khalifa, the Chief Executive of the Bahrain International Circuit, put it this way: “Over the last few months, we have demonstrated our ability to host several major international events safely, and we thank WEC for showing their faith in us yet again.”
Details about the Bahrain events will be revealed in the upcoming weeks.
