Silverstone WEC return hopes boosted by 2027 calendar expansion plan

Silverstone’s hopes of returning to the World Endurance Championship have been boosted by confirmation that any calendar expansion for 2027 would come with an additional race in Europe. 

Series boss Frederic Lequien replied “definitely” when asked by Autosport if a ninth race for the season after next would be in Europe. 

But he refused to be drawn on whether Silvestone, which was part of the WEC schedule from the rebirth of the series in 2012 until 2019, is in pole position to host the extra race. 

“It is true we are discussing with Silverstone, but we cannot say they are the favourites,” said Lequien. 

He went on to stress the complexities of introducing another European round into a schedule that currently begins its fly-away leg in the immediate wake of the Le Mans 24 Hours in June.

Lequien outlined a desire for the WEC to return to the UK with a race at its traditional home in the country. 

“We would love to return to Silverstone, because we know the fan base for endurance is huge in the UK,” he continued. 

Silverstone is renewing its partnership with WEC co-organiser the Automobile Club de l’Ouest and its Le Mans Endurance Management subsidiary this year. 

The British track will host a round of the LMEM-run European Le Mans Series on 14 September, the first international long-distance race in the UK since COVID forced the cancellation of both the WEC/ELMS doubleheader and the round of the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup scheduled for Silverstone in 2020. 

Stuart Pringle, Silverstone Managing Director, reiterated the track’s aspirations to once again host the WEC. 

“We would love to have the WEC back and the British Racing Drivers’ Club has a long tradition with Le Mans and the ACO going back nearly 100 years,” he said, referencing the establishment of the organisation that owns the track in 1928 by Dudley Benjafield, one of the ‘Bentley Boys’ who raced at Le Mans. 

“We hope that the Silverstone ELMS weekend will remind everyone of the huge appetite for endurance racing in the UK.”

Silverstone

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

Pringle added that strong advanced ticket sales pointed to a 40,000 three-day crowd that will enable fans “to feel a little bit of the atmosphere of Le Mans”.

The WEC has repeatedly talked about upping the number of races on the schedule to the nine events of the 2016 and 2017 seasons. 

It returned to its traditional eight rounds for the 2018/19 ‘super-season’ incorporating two editions of the Le Mans 24 Hours, and remained at that number for the 2019/20 campaign despite COVID.

A revised calendar for 2021 with just six races to reduce the financial burden on the teams was announced in September 2020.  There were seven races in 2023 and then eight again in 2024. Next year’s schedule, announced at Le Mans in June, is unchanged from that of 2024 and 2025.