Eight rounds planned in 2024, Qatar on the calendar?

By the end of the week we will know the 2023 WEC calendar, which will be increased to seven rounds, as Endurance-Info announced last July and again at the beginning of this month. 

A return to the Portuguese track of Portimão in the spring, probably on the weekend of 15/16 April, seems to be what we will have next year. This would give competitors three races before the Le Mans 24 Hours. 

From seven rounds in 2023, the WEC calendar should increase to eight the following year, as revealed by Frédéric Lequien, WEC General Manager, during a roundtable during the European Le Mans Series round at Spa-Francorchamps. Where? A European circuit? An overseas circuit? We still have to wait to find out more officially. The WEC had up to nine meetings in 2016 and 2017.

Qatar in 2024? 

It is understood that Germany would please several manufacturers and that England is also among the rumours heard in the paddock.

A return to China would certainly please Peugeot, but no one is yet able to predict the conditions in the country in 2024. Other distant countries have expressed interest in hosting the WEC in the past, such as Saudi Arabia and South Africa. The country that could be in the running to host the World Endurance Championship in two years' time could be Qatar and its Losail track. 

The only relationship between Qatar and the WEC dates back to 2014 when the current champions were hosted at the FIA Gala in the Arabian Peninsula country.