Automobile Club de l’Ouest has chosen to push the 2021 edition of the 24 hours car race back to August.
That is due to the COVID-19 situation, which still creates issues around the world.
The race has been moved to 21-22 August, since the ACO hopes to be able to let in spectators by then. There is however no news regarding the number of fans – if it’s the full capacity of 250.000+ or if it will be a reduced edition, like 2020 was thought to be with certain zones – before it was definitely closed for spectators.
ACO and LMEM have also revealed, that they don’t expect other changes to the start of the FIA WEC schedule. So the season starts in Portimao in Portugal on 4 April is still on. That race replaces the Sebring race, which was planned to run in March.
Photo: JJ Media
August didn’t have any FIA WEC race schedules, ahead of the Japan trip at the end of September, and Bahrain in November.
There will be changes to the European Le Mans Series and the Michelin Le Mans Cup schedules, since they had planned a race at Circuit Paul Ricard towards the end of August. That race will be pushed forward to June, which previously was the no-race month for ELMS and LMC, due to the French classic. LMC will also move their Road To Le Mans race to August, to stay as a support race for the big race.
The new date of Paul Ricard will be on 6 June, while the series sticks to the rest of the schedule for now. The season is planned to start on 18 April at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in Spain.
