The FIA World Motor Sport Council has revealed the calendar for the 2014 FIA World Endurance Championship.
There are two slight modifications made from the provisional calendar previously announced, most notably the moving of the 6 Hours of Fuji back a week, in order to avoid a clash with the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka. The Japanese round of the WEC will now be held on October 12, instead of the originally planned October 5.
In addition to the moving of the Japanese round, the 6 Hours of Shanghai has become a three-day event, meaning the race will now take place on November 2.
2014 FIA World Endurance Championship Calendar
Official Test Le Castellet FRA 28-29 March
Silverstone GBR 18-20 April
Spa-Francorchamps BEL 02-03 May
24 Heures du Mans Test FRA 01 June
24 Heures du Mans FRA 14/15 June
Sao Paulo** BRA 29-31 August
Circuit of the Americas ** USA 18-20 September
Fuji JPN 10-12 October
Shanghai CHN 31 Oct – 2 November
Bahrain BHN 13-15 November
** To be confirmed
As well as confirming the 2014 calendar, the FIA World Motor Sport Council also confirmed that a system of ‘Equivalence of Technology (EoT)’ between LMP1 technologies will be implemented as a result of the new LMP1 technical regulations. Two periods of adjustment to the technical parameters have been set in place, with the first transitional period of adjustment running until the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
During the period (December 2013 – February 2014), manufacturers will be asked to send data to the FIA projecting what they will be capable of implementing ahead of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The second period will run for three races after Le Mans, with data again being measured and adjusted for one year until the 2015 24 Hours of Le Mans.
The sporting regulations will be amended to incorporate any modifications resulting in the new LMP1 technical regulations, such as the scale of penalties in order to introduce consistent penalties and graded to the severity of the technical infringement.
A new FIA Endurance Trophy has been created for the best private LMP1 team drivers, assuming more than three cars are entered for the season. Finally, representatives from the ACO and the GT categories will form a collaboration from 2014 to harmonise the categorisation of GT drivers in both the WEC and GT Series.
