WEC: the 24 Hours of Le Mans without spectators this year
Initially postponed to September, the 24 Hours of Le Mans were supposed to welcome a limited number of spectators. In light of the health context, the organizers ultimately made the decision to ban access to the circuit, to the great disappointment of car enthusiasts.
New change this year in the running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the Le Mans round will take place behind closed doors.
Pierre Fillon, president of the Automobile Club de l’Ouest, declared: « This 88th edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans will be truly unique. In this singular context, the world’s greatest endurance race will indeed take place, but unfortunately without an audience. Over the past few weeks, we have considered many options to share our event with our fans, even in limited numbers, on-site next September. However, the specific hosting conditions of our event, a true popular festival over several days, led us, with the Prefecture, to organize our 24 Hours without public this year. The uncertainties are still too numerous for our race-festival, and we do not want to make any compromises with safety. Even though the consequences of this decision are sad for our fans as well as for us, the decision was not difficult to make because we do not want to take any risks. »
Les 24 Heures du Mans 2020, prévues les 19 et 20 septembre, se dérouleront sans public.
➡️ https://t.co/tK3r5J0grs#LeMans24 #WEC pic.twitter.com/IMOH1jSRij
— 24 Heures du Mans (@24heuresdumans) August 10, 2020
Despite the closed session, journalists will be accepted but in limited numbers.
The ACO has already announced that an exceptional system to follow the race remotely, including a digital platform to discover behind-the-scenes of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, will be offered to the fans.
Some changes will also be observed in the program for this round, as there will notably be no track time on Wednesday and a schedule change for the start on Saturday. Indeed, the start of this 88th edition will be half an hour earlier than previous editions and will therefore end at 2:30 PM instead of the usual 3:00 PM.
. @24heuresdumans 2020: 6️⃣2️⃣ voitures engagées, 4️⃣ jours intenses de compétition !
Découvrez le nouveau format de ces 24 Heures du Mans qui se dérouleront en septembre: https://t.co/ubaJ9UtmDY
La liste des 62 engagés: https://t.co/gB4w7FKeJd@FIAWEC #LeMans24 pic.twitter.com/YDBnC8yjSO— 24 Heures du Mans (@24heuresdumans) June 18, 2020
