The 2020 FIA World Endurance Championship 1,000 Miles of Sebring has now been given an earlier start time.
Moving from its predicted 4pm EDT start time, as it had earlier this year in the inaugural version of the event, the endurance race will now start at 12pm EDT. The race is capped at eight hours in duration, so the sixth round of the 2019/20 championship will end no later than 8pm EDT on Friday 20th March.
Reasons for the shift have not been categorically announced, with the shift being attributed to collaborations between track management and sanctioning bodies of the WEC and IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.
It had been considered that the move might be to help drivers competing in both WEC and FIA Formula E be able to compete in both events that weekend, as the Sanya E-Prix retains its clash with the Super Sebring weekend. However, drivers would still not be able to leave the Floridian track before 10am in Sanya, making it near impossible for competitors to race in both events.
The alteration to the schedule also sees the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge lose its traditional Friday race day as it is moved back onto Thursday 19th March. The IMSA 12 Hours of Sebring sees only a 40 minute delay to its start time on Saturday, but it the most unaffected event of the weekend.