[wecfia] FIA headed for Nürburgring

Endurance sports car racing always always centered around the 24 Hours of Le Mans, but that's not the only event on the calendar. For the past few years, the FIA and the ACO (the French racing body behind the race at Le Mans) have come together for the World Endurance Championship, the only series that features the top-tier LMP1 prototypes from Audi, Porsche and Toyota. Now the ACO has revealed the full calendar for next season, and it includes a rather enticing new addition.

For the first time since its founding in 2012, the FIA World Endurance Championship will race at the Nürburgring. The new event, called the 6 Hours of Nürburgring, is scheduled to take place on August 30, 2015, taking the slot on the calendar usually reserved for the 6 Hours of São Paulo in Brazil, whose track is being refurbished and won't be ready in time for next year's race.


Although details of the race remain scarce, the competition is more likely to take place on the three-mile grand prix circuit (which alternates with Hockenheim to host the German Grand Prix) and not on the famous 13-mile (20-kilometre) Nordschleife (where the World Touring Car Championship will compete next season). The event is unlikely to replace the Nürburgring 24 Hours race, it could end up replacing the 1,000-km Nürburgring race that's currently part of the GT-focused Blancpain Endurance Series. We reached out to both the series organizers and track officials for more information, but no additional details have yet been released.

The 2015 calendar will start with a prologue event at Paul Ricard in France before heading to Silverstone, Spa, Le Mans and the Nürburgring. The 6 Hours of Circuit of the Americas will be the only event in the western hemisphere, to be held once again in conjunction with the United SportsCar Championship, before the series heads to Asia for the races at Fuji, Shanghai and Bahrain. Organizers confirm that another event is under consideration for Montreal starting in 2017. The addition of the Nürburgring round, however, is big news for both Audi and Porsche, which have been keen to race on home turf.