The return of the 6 Hours of Sao Paulo to the FIA World Endurance Championship will not come in February, 2020, after the event has been cancelled.
Issues with the local promotors caused the event to be taken off the 2019/20 season calendar just two months ahead of its scheduled date. Contractual requirements were not met by the local organiser which forced WEC’s hand in finding a new venue for the first race of 2020.
The cancelation has nothing to do with local authorities or the Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace.
In its place, however, the WEC grid will return to the Circuit of the Americas for the first time since 2017, when the circuit was dropped from the calendar ahead of WEC’s Super Season. The event will now take place as a two-day six-hour event on the 22nd/23rd of February.
This date was chosen to avoid clashing with the Super Bowl (2nd February) and the FIA Formula-E Mexico City E-Prix (15th February), but has caused a clash with the Asian Le Mans Series finale in Buriram, Thailand.
“Firstly we must thank Bobby Epstein and the Circuit of The Americas for accommodating us at relatively short notice.” WEC CEO Gerard Neveu said in the statement released by the endurance series. “It is an excellent venue, and our fans, competitors and media are now assured of excellent racing in North America not once, but twice in two months.
“Of course, it is very unfortunate to find ourselves in this position. The WEC very much regrets this situation and feels very sad for the City of São Paulo and the many thousands of Brazilian motorsport fans. Our main concern was our competitors and partners, and we have worked very hard to find a solution which offered the least disruption possible.”
More information about the newly reinstated 6 Hours of COTA (named Lone Star Le Mans for its return) will become available in the coming days.
