Today in Istanbul the FIA World Motor Sport Council approved a slight change to the provisional FIA WEC calendar and the 2013 6 Hours of Sao Paulo will now take place on Sunday 1 September rather than Saturday 31 August as previously published.

Start: #7 Toyota Racing Toyota TS030 Hybrid: Alexander Wurz, Nicolas Lapierre leads
Start: #7 Toyota Racing Toyota TS030 Hybrid: Alexander Wurz, Nicolas Lapierre leads

Photo by: xpb.cc

The change of date was made at the request of the local promoter, Emerson Fittipaldi, after consulting with the sponsors and partners of the event. It was felt that a Sunday race was better for the local fans, which is traditionally a day of sport in Brazil.

Emerson Fittipaldi said: “Following the successful first running of the 6 Hours of Sao Paulo in September we had a discussion with our partners regarding which day would be best to run the race in 2013. It was decided to request that the race be run on Sunday rather than Saturday as this is a much better day for the people of Sao Paulo to come to Interlagos to see these fantastic cars in action. I’m pleased that the ACO and the FIA support this idea and I’m sure that we will have an even bigger crowd at the 6 Hours of Sao Paulo next year.”

Gerard Neveu said: “When we received this request from Emerson Fittipaldi it made sense to us to follow his advice. Following a recommendation from the ACO, the Endurance Commission proposed the change of date to the World Motor Sport Council, which met in Istanbul today. Emerson knows how to promote an event in Brazil and if he thinks that by having the race on Sunday it will bring a bigger crowd to Interlagos then that is good for everybody. We had a great race this year and we’re sure the 2013 event will be even bigger.”

2013 Provisional FIA World Endurance Championship Calendar

14 April Round 1 6 Hours of Silverstone GBR
04 May Round 2 WEC 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps BEL
22/23 June Round 3 24 Heures du Mans FRA
01 September Round 4 6 Hours of Sao Paulo BRA
22 September Round 5 6 Hours of Austin * USA
20 October Round 6 6 Hours of Fuji JPN
10 November Round 7 6 Hours of Shanghai * CHN
30 November Round 8 6 Hours of Bahrain BAH


*To be confirmed

Source: FIA WEC|