Silverstone unlikely to join WEC 2026 calendar with no plans for schedule expansion

An expansion of the World Endurance Championship calendar beyond its present eight races has been ruled out for 2026.

Series boss Frederic Lequien stressed the importance of stability and continuity when revealing that plans to increase the number of rounds beyond the traditional eight remain on the back burner.

“I have said many times that we need a stable calendar,” Lequien told Autosport. “At least for next year we will have eight races again.”

Lequien outlined ambitions for the WEC to return to its nine-race high of 2015-17 back in 2022 and even expand to 10 events.

His comments came as the WEC was preparing to increase its schedule after slimming down to six races after the COVID-19 pandemic on grounds of costs.

The stability and continuity of which Lequien spoke means the WEC looks near-certain to travel to the same tracks at the same time as this year.

That would mean no place on the schedule for Silverstone, which made clear its ambitions to return to the WEC calendar last year on the announcement in October that it will host a round of the European Le Mans Series this year.

Silverstone managing director Stuart Pringle revealed at the time that he was already in dialogue with the Automobile Club de l’Quest, which runs the ELMS and co-organises the WEC with the FIA, about once again hosting a world championship race.

The British venue held the opening round of the COVID-affected 2019/20 schedule in September 2019 and dropped off calendar when the WEC went to six races.

A round of the WEC took place at Silverstone every year from the rebirth of the series in 2012 until ’19.

Lequien revealed that he is hopeful for a big crowd for the British ELMS round, which will take place on 14 September.

He said he believed there is “a strong appetite for endurance in Britain and at Silverstone”.

The WEC was made up of eight races from its relaunch until the addition of the Nurburgring fixture in 2015 at the behest of Porsche and Audi.

It subsequently downsized from nine to eight races for the ‘superseason’ of 2018/19, as it transitioned to a winter-series format beginning in the autumn and climaxing with the Le Mans 24 Hours in June.

That plan was curtailed by COVID-19, which resulted in the 2019/20 season running from September ’19 until November ’20. After two years with six races in 2021 and ’22, the WEC went to seven rounds in ’23 and eight in ’24 and ’25.