FIA WEC, 6 Hours of Spa - A Chat With The Bosses

Jean-Claude Plassart (ACO President), Pierre Fillon (ACO Vice President) and Sir Lindsay Owen-Jones (President of the FIA Endurance Commission) as well as FIA World Endurance Championship CEO Gérard Neveu discussed FIA WEC topics with journalists at the FIA WEC Six Hours of Spa-Francorchamps.

One of the first questions asked to the four men was why the FIA World Endurance Championship had decided to limit the Spa entry to 42 cars in the F1 pitboxes and why the old pits were not used.

Gérard Neveu: "When we pre-organised the race we took the decision to use the Formula 1 pitbuilding for the race. Three weeks before the race (weekend) the European Le Mans Series had the problems with the grid and the cancellation of their race in Zolder. It was too late to add the old pit and we already had the Radicals there because there are so many. And secondly, all cars from the European Le Mans Series that made a requested are actually in the new pit and in the race. We refused no cars."

With the race taking place between 14:30 and 20:30 local time there was no chance that the race would finish in darkness. Why was this decision made?

Jean-Claude Plassart: "In the Le Mans tradition it is important to have the race on Saturday. On Sunday you can go and do what you want. Obviously what you have at Le Mans is that you race at night and after night you have a drink or you can go to concerts, I think that is Le Mans."

Gérard Neveu added: "Initially the plan was to race from 3 to 9 pm, to have an idea of the full concept of endurance race events. Here the idea was to start at three o'clock and to finish at nine, just after the sunset and to have fireworks and concerts just after to make it a full party for the public. Unfortunately we had to move it 30 minutes because of live TV coverage. The third reason is that last year we started at two o'clock and for the grid walk it was not so efficient as we had people arriving from Brussels or from The Netherlands at noon or one o'clock. It was too close before the start of the race."

At Spa-Francorchamps once more the field lacked a decent GT field. What are the plans to improve the grid size?

Sir Owen-Jones: "I think this is a question for the promoter and not the FIA in general. The problem with GT cars is that there very many different championships and it's split, there are many cars but they are split. I totally agree with the analysis about the number of cars. There is a reflection currently being undertaken on what we should accept and not, can we widen or increase, certainly we have to find a way to improve."

There are many manufacturers and many cars, but in GTE Pro only three manufacturers have entered. Could cars like the Mercedes-Benz SLS be part of Le Mans and the FIA WEC?

"Why not, they are welcome, in GTE," added Jean-Claude Plassart.

As the proposal for the new regulations for 2014 are set to be announced before the 24 Hours of Le Mans Spa was the place to ask about the status of the regulations.

"Tomorrow morning (Sunday) there will be an endurance commission meeting. We will be hearing from Bernard Niclot, who is the FIA Technical Delegate for LMP1 category and he will give us the feedback from the various manufacturers on the first sketch of the 2014 technical regulations," said Sir Owen-Jones. "From what I hear we are moving forward smoothly, we have been able to find things and it will be quite an open formula, I can't say more at this point, but you will see that it will be interesting technically.

"The manufacturers will all have an opportunity to show off the best of their technologies. We should be able to have (the new regulations) public before Le Mans as we have suggested." After the vote at the FIA Endurance Commission the plans will be sent to the FIA World Motor Sport Council to be ratified.

Sir Lindsay Owen-Jones made it clear that the FIA and ACO are both working hard to make the FIA World Endurance Championship work.

"They are both involved. The FIA and ACO are working peacefully and happily together. The major operational decisions on a day-to-day basis, it is clearly the ACO. It is Gérard who is running the series. The ACO made the calendar, but the FIA had to approve it."

"The FIA brings 'its guarantee' to this championship, they have rules, they homologate circuits and cars and therefore they have to be accommodated. This championship cannot be organised without the ACO, because they own the biggest endurance race in the world and nobody's going to dispute that and without it there can't be an endurance championship. On the other side there is the FIA, which is the only condition that it can be a world championship. So they have to agree, the only thing is that they didn't for 30 years. This is the first time in 30 years. Instead of disputing who's got the wheel, let's say it's moving and that is a positive situation."

The Six Hours of Spa-Francorchamps were also the last event for Jean-Claude Plassart as the ACO President. At the end of the moment his successor will be named. Plassart was the ACO President for eight ears.

"Eight years is a short time, but also a long time," said Plassart. "But in eight years we have moved ahead. We have rebuilt the circuit, increased safety, we found a better way to accommodate the teams, we've built the new Village and new facilities for the spectators. We had an old circuit and now have one of the best facilities."

Our final question was for Gérard Neveu again as he's in charge of the FIA World Endurance Championship and it was - of course - calendar related. As the latest calendar on the FIA site still shows the race in Shanghai as "subject to the ASN's confirmation", could he confirm the calendar?

"The race in China was subject to them paying the fee to the FIA. Everything has been sorted now and all races will go ahead," said Neveu. "In fact I am flying to China this week to further prepare the event. So, yes, anyone can book their flights and hotels."

Our conclusion is that the FIA and ACO are working together to move the championship forward and that they think of teams and spectators, trying to bring a true spectacle to every circuit the series is going to. We can only hope that they will continue to do so for the near future and make it a better championship - preferably with decent and highly competitive grids in all classes.