After the 2020 24 Hours of Le Mans has been rescheduled due to uncertainty surrounding the Coronavirus pandemic, the Automobile Club de l’Ouest has announced that there will be no test day ahead of the event.
Usually, two weeks prior to the 24-hour event, a test day is held for teams to get some running on the Circuit de la Sarthe and trial new aero kits for the blue-riband race. However, with the shift in the schedule moving the event closer to the 24H Motos, this test day will not be rescheduled for 2020.
No teams will be able to test their aero kits for Le Mans ahead of the race, and with the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps indefinitely postponed, there may be no advantage to the FIA World Endurance Championship entrants as they too will not be able to test any updates on their car packages.
“We decided not to hold the 24 Hours of Le Mans test day this year. The reason is that competitors would have been overtaxed.” President of the ACO, Pierre Fillon, said. “Test day is usually a fortnight before the race. However, the test is not as old as the race itself and has been skipped on several occasions. Two weeks before the race would have meant holding test day a week after the 24H Motos, now scheduled for 29–30 August.
“Holding two major events within three weeks of each other is already a challenge and we had to rethink our priorities. The outcome was to sacrifice the test day. We shall be holding free practice sessions during race week to allow time to test machines and for inexperienced drivers to familiarise themselves with the circuit. We’ll announce the details in due course.”
