Is Qatar the price motorsport fans have to pay?

OPINION: Fresh from hosting a controversial 2022 football World Cup, Qatar has added its name to the 2024 World Endurance Championship calendar. Although questions may be asked about its presence on the calendar, is it simply the price to pay for having a healthy racing championship?

Does the World Endurance Championship need another race in the Middle East? That’s the question that needs to be asked after Qatar’s Losail International Circuit was named earlier this month as the opening round of the series in 2024. Yet it’s not an easy one to answer.

If you think of the likely make-up of the calendar come 2024, then it’s definitely a no. It doesn’t seem right that the WEC should have two races in a region where there’s limited interest in our sport, and traditional motor racing territories will be missing. And I count South America, Australia and even South Africa among them. Don’t forget that Kyalami was on the 2020-21 winter-season schedule that was blown out of the water by COVID.

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Author Gary Watkins

Gary Watkins has, for reasons best known to himself, devoted all his working life to covering sportscar racing. This season is his 32nd as a motorsport journalist, during which time he has reported on major long-distance events on four continents and approaching 75 24-hour races. He reckons a degree in political philosophy makes him well qualified for covering the sometimes Machiavellian world of international sportscars.

Gary, who also writes for Autoweek, Motor Sport, Autocourse, RACER and others, lives in Surbiton but spends more time on the road than at home for most of the year.