Formula E and the World Endurance Championship are facing a scheduling conflict in 2017 – despite a gentleman’s agreement to prevent this from happening.
There are perhaps no two racing series in the world that you see more driver crossover between than Formula E and the World Endurance Championship.
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Drivers like Nelson Piquet Jr. (pictured above), Sam Bird, Stephane Sarrazin, Lucas di Grassi, and Sebastien Buemi all race in both categories, and have yet to have to pick between the two. But could that be a reality in 2017?
Despite a gentleman’s agreement to avoid competing race dates, the WEC has scheduled their Six Hours of the Nurburgring in Germany for July 16. July 16 is also one of the two days Formula E has scheduled for a doubleheader weekend on the streets of Montreal, Canada.
That conflict hasn’t gone over well. Formula E chief Alejandro Agag plans to meet with team owners in the next week to consider their options. Those include delaying the Montreal doubleheader and pushing the New York City season finale to accommodate the WEC.
More details on that race in the Big Apple are expected to be unveiled by the end of August, when the series would surely hope to have this issue resolved.
A number of competitors on both sides of this issue have already spoken out. In response to the issue, Lucas Di Grassi had this to say to Autosport:
"Imagine the situation where you have a bad beginning of the WEC season and you’re fighting for the FE championship. I will then have to discuss with Audi what is the priority. Is it to fight for the championship or to do a WEC round that you could do with two drivers?"
Further comments on the matter came in from Wolfgang Ullrich, who is in charge of Audi’s WEC program and shares two drivers with teams in Formula E, Di Grassi and Loic Duval:
"It is not a good idea, but as the long as it hasn’t been approved by the World Council it is not done. I have a minimum of two drivers about whom I have concerns. It is in our interest that they don’t clash, so we need to talk about it."
Obviously the situation is not ideal for either series. Both benefit from having some of the top racing drivers in the world competing in each of their events.
It would seem further unlikely that the FIA, which governs both series, would allow this calendar conflict to continue forward, though they did not address a similar issue with the European Grand Prix and the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2016.
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Regardless of how the matter is resolved it would benefit all the teams and drivers involved to see only one series race on July 16. And whether that is WEC or Formula E, both championships are set to be full of close competition and great racing going forward.
What are your thoughts on the Formula E/WEC scheduling conflict?