The World Endurance Championship has stuck by its promise to maintain a stable calendar for 2017.
An unchanged schedule of nine races has been unveiled for the sixth season of the re-born WEC.
Each of the nine races takes place on the corresponding weekend to 2016, with the exception of the already-announced Nurburgring date in July.
WEC boss Gerard Neveu told Autosport at last weekend’s Austin WEC round that “stability was the key word” when putting together the 2017 calendar.
Pierre Fillon, president of WEC promoter the Automobile Club de l’Ouest, said: “We are very pleased to have maintained this level of stability in the five years of the WEC to date, and our 2017 calendar allows us to continue to build on the tradition of endurance racing around the world.”
The German round has moved forward seven days to the same weekend as the Montreal Formula E double-header.
The clash was labelled as “unavoidable” by Neveu, despite a gentleman’s agreement between the two series not to race on the same weekends.
The Mexico City round, the addition to the WEC in 2016, moves from a Saturday to a Sunday fixture, according to the provisional calendar.
The calendar was presented by the WEC organisation to the FIA Endurance Commission today and will now go forward to next week’s meeting of the World Motor Sport Council for final approval.
The official pre-seaon test known the ‘prologue’ has moved away from Paul Ricard for the first time to Monza.
Neveu said he was sure the move, which was considered for this season, “will please competitors, fans and media alike”.
2017 WORLD ENDURANCE CHAMPIONSHIP CALENDAR
March 24-25 ‘Prologue’ test, Monza (Italy)
April 16 Silverstone (Great Britain)
May 6 Spa (Belgium)
June 17/18 Le Mans 24 Hours
July 16 Nurburgring (Germany)
September 3 Mexico City (Mexico)
September 16 Austin (USA)
October 15 Fuji (Japan)
November 5 Shanghai (China)
November 18 Sakhir (Bahrain)
