WEC Eyes All-European Finish As Gulf Rounds Stay In Doubt

Qatar and Bahrain look increasingly unlikely to feature in this year's FIA World Endurance Championship, with Barcelona and Monza emerging as the destinations lined up to bring the 2026 season home in Europe instead.

Two venues are said to be at the centre of it: a trip to Barcelona once the Fuji round is done, then a season-closer at Monza. The Italian track would slot into the November 7th date that had belonged to the Bahrain 8 Hours, and Barcelona would sit a week earlier than Qatar's slot, on October 18th.

None of this is entirely new for a championship that's spent much of the year firefighting. March was supposed to bring the season opener at Lusail, but that plan didn't survive contact with the wider conflict for more than a couple of weeks, and Imola ended up hosting round one in April instead. Qatar and Bahrain have been sat in limbo since, and word is that a decision won't land until the Interlagos weekend has come and gone.

There's a logic to why Barcelona and Monza specifically. Every other circuit still in the frame has already hosted a round of this year's championship, whereas these two haven't, and that seems to have ruled a fair few options out of contention.

It won't be a like-for-like swap on points, either. Qatar and Bahrain were built as ten and eight hour races respectively, but shorter days and track curfews mean Barcelona and Monza would both run to six hours instead. Shorter races don't carry WEC's enhanced points-and-a-half scoring, so a win would be worth 25 points rather than 38, which squeezes the margin for anyone still trying to close a gap in the title fight this late on.

A knock-on problem comes from the calendar itself. Moving Barcelona to that weekend drops it right on top of the GT World Challenge Europe finale at Portimao, and with somewhere in the region of 19 drivers racing in both championships, that's not a small clash. WRT, Garage 59 and AF Corse are among the teams committed to both series. SRO's answer, from what's being said, is to shift its own Portimao race forward to the Saturday, freeing drivers up to do both events in one weekend, a call that's reportedly down to Stephane Ratel being willing to move things around rather than leave LMEM stuck for a date.

The Gulf situation is causing similar headaches further afield. The Asian Le Mans Series had been building towards UAE double-headers at Dubai and Abu Dhabi this coming winter, four races in all, but that now looks doubtful. A European opener in December followed by rounds at Sepang and Buriram is the alternative being worked on.

None of it is locked in yet. But between Barcelona, Monza, the Portimao clash and the changes rippling through Asian Le Mans, the picture of how this disrupted season finishes is starting to take shape.