WEC at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway? Not for a while yet...

Back in July, when the WEC had moved to Monza, Roger Penske told us of his desire to organise the American round of the World Endurance Championship on his home turf at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. This hope is accentuated by the fact that the contract between LMEM and the Circuit of the Americas (Austin, Texas) is only for one year, and therefore only covers the 2024 season.

"It would be nice to have a home race in Indianapolis," Thomas Laudenbach, vice-president of Porsche Motorsport, said last week. Especially as we have some good memories there...". Porsche Penske Motorsport scored a one-two finish there last year in IMSA.

However, according to the owner, Roger Penske, that's not going to happen just yet. "We’d love to have it come at some point" he said." We’ll have an IMSA six-hour race in September this year, which will be good, but there’s a lot of interest in sports car racing now worldwide. You look at Imola and these places and the interest when they announce the tickets and where they’re going, they’re seeing some very, very high level of interest. That’s what’s good for us and good for Porsche because these are potential customers or customers that want to experience what their brand is."

An IMSA event that the teams of Frédéric Lequien, Managing Director of LMEM, will no doubt be watching with interest. But if Roger Penske is to be believed, the WEC in Indianapolis isn't just around the corner.

"Right now, we don’t have anything that I can say we’re ready to do something in the next 24 months" he said. "But I would love to something. The answer is I’d like to do it but we have nothing on the ground. We have to see there (Austin). They need to experience that and then we could have some discussion. We’re not here to push them out, either. If they have a good race there, they should stay there."

As a reminder, the 2024 edition of the Lone Star Le Mans (the name given to the WEC event held in Austin) is scheduled for September 1.