Penske Confirms: No WEC at Indianapolis in 2025
IMSA WeatherTech Championship, Photo by Joe Skibinski, indianapolismotorspeedway.com
Roger Penske, who runs the factory Porsche squad in the Hypercar class of the World Endurance Championship (WEC), has expressed his interest in hosting the North American round of the WEC on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course. However, this aspiration has been put on hold for at least the next two seasons due to scheduling conflicts.
Penske has stated that he would like to host the event, but currently has nothing on the ground. The scheduling conflicts that resulted in the North American WEC round going to Austin for this season remain an obstacle to his aspirations to host the series at the venue of the US Formula 1 Grand Prix in 2000-07.
The WEC has renewed its relationship with the Circuit of the Americas in Austin in 2024 after the end of its five-year deal to run on the undercard of the Sebring 12 Hours IMSA race ended after last year’s season-opener. Austin is understood to have signed a contract for a single year against the backdrop of the WEC organization’s negotiations with Penske.
Indianapolis has available the weekend in mid to late September currently filled by an IMSA SportsCar Championship round, which this year has become a six-hour enduro, but this conflicts with the long-standing Fuji WEC fixture in Japan. The Fuji 6 Hours is scheduled for 15 September, only one week ahead of the so-called Battle of the Bricks IMSA round at Indy, while Austin will host the WEC on 1 September.
Penske has, however, reiterated his hopes of bringing the WEC to Indianapolis in the future. He stated that there is a lot of interest in sportscar racing right now but he is not looking to force Austin off the schedule. Austin has struggled to attract strong crowds to its WEC fixture, even when it was part of a double-header with IMSA in 2014-16.
The Porsche Motorsport boss, Thomas Laudenbach, has thrown his weight behind the idea of what he said would be a “home race” for the Penske Porsche Motorsport squad. However, Penske has confirmed that he cannot say they are ready to do something in the next 24 months and that he has nothing on the ground right now.
