Organisers of the FIA World Endurance Championship are potentially searching for a new venue to host the fifth round of the 2019/20 season as the Brazilian race may be removed from the calendar.
It was revealed during the 4 Hours of Shanghai that the 6 Hours of Sao Paulo was under threat of being removed from the calendar. Gerard Neveu stated that there were issues with the event promotors, N/Duduch Motorsports, and multiple deadlines being missed. He confirmed that these did include, but were not exclusive to, financial issues.
“If you don’t have any Euros in your account, it’s really a concern,” Neveu told Autosport. “You don’t have any guarantee they will deliver properly the set-up of the event you’re looking for.
“When you want to deliver an event properly on the first weekend of February, you must be on the finish line a few weeks before.
“We sincerely hope we will go in Brazil: we have worked very hard with the local team on this.”
It has been confirmed by the FIA and WEC that a decision will be made in the next two weeks.
If the Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace is removed from the WEC calendar, organisers will be looking for a new venue to host the first race of 2020. Precautions are already being put in place, with Mexico City, Kyalami and Circuit of the Americas all being discussed as possibilities.
Neveu made it clear that it was important that the fifth WEC round did not interfere with the Rolex 24 at Daytona. Therefore, the fifth race will be no earlier than the current Brazil race date in mid February.
