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Le Mans / ALMS
LE MANS: Neveu Explains WEC’s Move To Austin
"Sebring is for the ALMS and Le Mans is for the WEC... The WEC has it’s own identity now,” says FIA WEC CEO Gerard Neveu...
FIA WEC CEO Gerard Neveu unveiled the 2013 schedule last weekend in Bahrain. (Photo: DPPI/FIAWEC.com)
While not coming as a complete shock, last week’s schedule announcement for the FIA World Endurance Championship confirmed a change of venue for the series’ U.S. round in 2013.
The Twelve Hours of Sebring, which kicked off the eight-round global championship this year as a combined event with the American Le Mans Series, has been replaced by a planned double-header weekend with the ALMS at the new Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas.
According to FIA WEC CEO Gerard Neveu, who unveiled the 2013 calendar last weekend in Bahrain, the move away from Sebring came as a difficult decision, but one they felt had to be made.
"It was a long time to take this decision because all of the people from the ACO and ALMS really like Sebring,” Neveu said. “There's no question about that. But we are working in another way. We worked around the table with Scott Atherton, Don Panoz and the ALMS and had tried to find the best [solution] for next year.”
This year’s combined season opener featured a packed 63-car starting field, which was restricted to full-season FIA WEC and ALMS entries only. While everything went ahead without any major incidents, Atherton admitted in a SPEED.com interview earlier this year that compromises had to be made from both series.
"It was very difficult to do Sebring again like we did this year for many reasons,” Neveu said. “Technical reason first. Just imagine if we have 32 or 34 cars on the grid next year and the ALMS has 35 cars, which is absolutely possible. It's very difficult to explain for one series that there are no positions for [them]. This is not correct.
"Also, if you go to Sebring in March for [one race] and go back [to Europe], it's very expensive. We discussed at the beginning of how we can save money. We can do that by having continental blocks.
"Sebring is for the ALMS and Le Mans is for the WEC... and the WEC has it’s own identity now so we decided to do a Super Endurance weekend together. It's more focused because it gives us a stage for both during the weekend. It makes sense to do it.”
While not yet officially confirmed, the proposed Super Endurance Weekend event at CoTA would see an separate ALMS enduro on Saturday, Sept. 21, followed by the WEC Six Hours of Austin one day later.
It would be the second double-header weekend for the WEC in 2013, as Silverstone will play host to the season openers for the WEC and European Le Mans Series in April.
“Even though the event is not fully confirmed, we are working in close cooperation with WEC leadership and with the CoTA promoters to create a thrilling experience for fans of sports car racing at a spectacular new circuit,” Atherton said.
“Our proposal includes IMSA and ALMS providing services such as safety, timing and scoring, and TV production for the WEC race. Our intention is to make the best and most efficient use of our resources in support of one fantastic, world championship-caliber motorsports weekend.”
While having to build up a new event from scratch, Neveu remains confident of achieving success in Austin, especially with the support of the ALMS. He intends for the contract to be long-term, once officially completed.
And for teams still wanting to take part at Sebring, the door remains open, at least for next year, as the WEC season does not start until mid-April.
"We took the precaution to make sure that around Sebring, there are not any other date [conflicts],” Neveu said. “It means that if one or two teams, or any teams want to rejoin the ALMS, I'm sure they'll be welcome like a wild card.”
SPEED.com has learned of at least three existing WEC teams exploring such an option for next year.
John Dagys is SPEED.com’s Sportscar Racing Reporter, focusing on all major domestic and international championships. You can follow him on Twitter @johndagys or email him at
The Twelve Hours of Sebring, which kicked off the eight-round global championship this year as a combined event with the American Le Mans Series, has been replaced by a planned double-header weekend with the ALMS at the new Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas.
According to FIA WEC CEO Gerard Neveu, who unveiled the 2013 calendar last weekend in Bahrain, the move away from Sebring came as a difficult decision, but one they felt had to be made.
"It was a long time to take this decision because all of the people from the ACO and ALMS really like Sebring,” Neveu said. “There's no question about that. But we are working in another way. We worked around the table with Scott Atherton, Don Panoz and the ALMS and had tried to find the best [solution] for next year.”
This year’s combined season opener featured a packed 63-car starting field, which was restricted to full-season FIA WEC and ALMS entries only. While everything went ahead without any major incidents, Atherton admitted in a SPEED.com interview earlier this year that compromises had to be made from both series.
"It was very difficult to do Sebring again like we did this year for many reasons,” Neveu said. “Technical reason first. Just imagine if we have 32 or 34 cars on the grid next year and the ALMS has 35 cars, which is absolutely possible. It's very difficult to explain for one series that there are no positions for [them]. This is not correct.
"Also, if you go to Sebring in March for [one race] and go back [to Europe], it's very expensive. We discussed at the beginning of how we can save money. We can do that by having continental blocks.
"Sebring is for the ALMS and Le Mans is for the WEC... and the WEC has it’s own identity now so we decided to do a Super Endurance weekend together. It's more focused because it gives us a stage for both during the weekend. It makes sense to do it.”
While not yet officially confirmed, the proposed Super Endurance Weekend event at CoTA would see an separate ALMS enduro on Saturday, Sept. 21, followed by the WEC Six Hours of Austin one day later.
It would be the second double-header weekend for the WEC in 2013, as Silverstone will play host to the season openers for the WEC and European Le Mans Series in April.
“Even though the event is not fully confirmed, we are working in close cooperation with WEC leadership and with the CoTA promoters to create a thrilling experience for fans of sports car racing at a spectacular new circuit,” Atherton said.
“Our proposal includes IMSA and ALMS providing services such as safety, timing and scoring, and TV production for the WEC race. Our intention is to make the best and most efficient use of our resources in support of one fantastic, world championship-caliber motorsports weekend.”
While having to build up a new event from scratch, Neveu remains confident of achieving success in Austin, especially with the support of the ALMS. He intends for the contract to be long-term, once officially completed.
And for teams still wanting to take part at Sebring, the door remains open, at least for next year, as the WEC season does not start until mid-April.
"We took the precaution to make sure that around Sebring, there are not any other date [conflicts],” Neveu said. “It means that if one or two teams, or any teams want to rejoin the ALMS, I'm sure they'll be welcome like a wild card.”
SPEED.com has learned of at least three existing WEC teams exploring such an option for next year.
John Dagys is SPEED.com’s Sportscar Racing Reporter, focusing on all major domestic and international championships. You can follow him on Twitter @johndagys or email him at
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