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The European Le Mans Series's return to Silverstone for the 2025 season is great news for sportscar fans, and in particular, British sportscar fans.
It's been absent on any ACO calendar since 2019, when the FIA World Endurance Championship held a 4 hour race at the circuit. That race generally wasn't well-received by fans or teams, with many criticising it for being too short, when WEC races are typically a minimum of 6 hours.
So, it's excellent news. However: don't get your hopes up too much about WEC returning to Copse, Maggotts, Becketts, Stowe, Club and Abbey as well.
No WEC calendar expansion in 2026
The 2025 WEC calendar was announced earlier this year at Le Mans, with no changes compared to 2024. This was expected by the majority of the media and journalists in the room at the press conference.
There were some unexpected revelations — namely, Imola will replace Monza long term on the calendar. But there was no addition of a ninth round to the calendar, as many fans had been hoping for.
After the press conference finished, I and other journalists asked Frederic Lequien about potential calendar expansion. I reported on this story for MotorsportWeek.com.
"“No, I do not believe that in 2026 we have more races. Maybe in 2027," he told me when I asked about whether a ninth round would be added in 2026.
Phil Oakley
“It depends on many different parameters,” he continued.
“Once again, as I told you before, we have to pay attention to the budget side and when we will stabilise everything.
“Then we’ll have, let’s say, a smooth description with the paddock. If the paddock agrees to add the nine runs, we’ll do it.”
Silverstone returning would be great
Speaking personally, WEC returning to Silverstone would be fantastic news. I live under an hour away from the track, and realistically it's the only UK circuit that could host the world championship. I want it to make a return!
That said, I do think WEC are right to be cautious about calendar expansion. As I wrote a few months ago, the WEC calendar currently stands at 8 races and 72 hours of racing. Along with 2016 and 2017, that's the highest it's ever been.
If the teams don't want the calendar to expand, out of budget concerns, it stands to reason we could lose teams or manufacturers. So the series needs to be careful about adding any extra races.
While public opinion of WEC is generally pretty high at the moment — lots of manufacturers, world class drivers, great racing, cool cars, a fight for the championship and Le Mans — that could turn in an instant if WEC added another round and manufacturers or teams pulled out or switched to other series because they couldn't afford it.
I'm hopeful Silverstone will return in 2027, in line with what Lequien hinted at. But one thing's for sure: if we want that to happen, the ticket sales for ELMS at Silverstone need to be high. Fans must show the ACO and Silverstone that they want to watch sportscar racing at Silverstone.
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