The FIA World Endurance Championship, which is promoted by the ACO, has today announced the provisional eight-race calendar for the second season that will build on the solid foundations created in 2012 and will be centered around the 24 Hours of Le Mans, which will take place on the 22/23 June next year.

All of the countries that featured this season will return in 2013, with the only change of venue being the move from Sebring to Austin, Texas, which will host a super endurance race weekend with a race for the American Le Mans Series (ALMS) on Saturday and a WEC race on Sunday.

The season will begin in Silverstone on 14 April, which will also feature a separate race for the re-launched European Le Mans Series. In May the World Endurance Championship moves to Spa-Francorchamps (4 May) for the traditional final race before Le Mans and the world famous 24 Hour classic will take place at the end of June for the final European round.

Next the cars will be sent by ship to Brazil for the 6 Hours of Sao Paulo (24 August), before heading to North America for the 6 Hour race in Texas on the 22 September. Then the cars are flown to Japan for the 6 Hours of Fuji on the 20 October, followed a month later by the second running of the Chinese round of the WEC on the 10 November. The eight round world championship will conclude with the 6 Hours of Bahrain on the 30 November.

Pierre Fillon, President of the ACO: “We are pleased to announce the 2013 FIA WEC calendar which will allow us to build on the strong foundation we have laid this season. By going to basically the same venues, with just one exception, it allows the FIA WEC to build awareness of Endurance Racing and will help us to attract even more people to watch us in each of these countries. The 24 Hours of Le Mans will of course remain the corner stone of the 2013 calendar, while Austin will represent new venues.”

Gerard Neveu, CEO of the FIA WEC said: “With the current economic situation it was important to save money on transportation of the cars around the world. This calendar allows us to send the cars by sea freight rather than by air as many times as possible, which will help drive down the costs for everyone involved in the FIA WEC. This is very important for the long term future of the championship and I’m confident that this calendar will allows us to attract more teams and more drivers to the World Endurance Championship next season.”

2013 Provisional FIA World Endurance Championship Calendar