Bahrain to host 2024 WEC season-finale

TDT | Manama                                                

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com     

The FIA World Endurance Championship’s (WEC) 2024 calendar was unveiled yesterday, with the Bapco Energies 8 Hours of Bahrain scheduled to take place on November 1 and 2, next year, at Bahrain International Circuit (BIC), “The Home of Motorsport in the Middle East”.

The new championship calendar features eight rounds in all—an expanded schedule from this year’s seven events—taking place from March to November next year, and Bahrain has once again been given the honour of hosting the season-finale for the eighth time in WEC history.

The Kingdom has been a part of the WEC campaign ever since its inaugural season in 2012, and BIC’s relationship with the WEC has been growing from strength to strength each year.

In 2022, BIC proudly the extension of this partnership until at least 2027, further cementing Bahrain’s standing at the highest levels of international motor racing and continuing the rapid growth of the Kingdom’s motorsport culture.

Tickets to this year’s Bapco Energies 8 Hours of Bahrain, taking place 3 and 4 November, 2023, at BIC, are already on sale.

The meeting will be the first major international event of the Kingdom’s 2023/2024 racing calendar, which will be highlighted by celebrations marking BIC’s landmark 20th anniversary.

Tickets cost just BD5 for adults and BD2.5 for kids for the twoday WEC weekend, which will feature plenty of support race action with the Porsche Carrera Cup Middle East as well as off-track family entertainment for all to enjoy.

Tickets can be purchased online at bahraingp. com or by calling the BIC Hotline on +973-17450000.

For next year, leading up to the 2024 Bapco Energies 8 Hours of Bahrain, the WEC will be making stops in Qatar, Italy, Belgium, France, Brazil, the US and Japan.

The Doha round will be one of four new venues next WEC season, as Qatar joins Bahrain as the WEC’s only destinations in the Middle East.

The all-new event, entitled the Qatar 1812km, is scheduled to take place as the championship-opener on 2 March, 2024.

The official prologue will also be held at Doha’s Lusail International Circuit on 24 and 25 February.

The WEC will then make its first European stop for the inaugural 6 Hours of Imola on 21 April, replacing the 6 Hours of Monza which is to be held this year in July as part of the 2023 campaign.

That will be followed by the 2024 season’s third round in Belgium for the TotalEnergies 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps on 11 May, which will pave the way for the WEC’s annual crown jewel, the 24 Hours of Le Mans, scheduled for 15 and 16 June in France.

The WEC will then be making a return to Brazil for the first time since 2014 for the 6 Hours of Sao Paulo on 14 July, 2024, and then travel to the US for the Lone Star Le Mans on 1 September, the first time the series will be racing again at the Circuit of the Americas since 2020.

The season’s seventh and penultimate round will then take the WEC far east for the 6 Hours of Fuji on 15 September, 2024, and that will set the stage for the Bapco Energies 8 Hours of Bahrain to wrap up another thrilling year.

Global motorsport’s leading endurance racing series will once again be bringing the Spirit of Le Mans to Sakhir and its packed grid of highly competitive Hypercars, Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) challengers and Le Mans Grand Touring Endurance Am (LMGTE Am) contenders.

The 2024 Bapco Energies 8 Hours of Bahrain will be the 13th WEC race at BIC and sixth in the eight-hour format, following the six-hour races which took place since the WEC’s inaugural season in 2012.

For any information on the WEC or other BIC events and activities, visit bahraingp.com or call the BIC Hotline on +973- 17450000.