Without Qatar or Bahrain, the WEC wraps up the year in Barcelona and Monza

The WEC will not close its 2026 season in the Middle East. The escalating tension in the Persian Gulf and the collapse of maritime routes forced the cancellation of the rounds in Qatar and Bahrain, with Barcelona and Monza taking their place in October and November to decide the championship.

Photo By Maxime Lantz

The original itinerary, announced in June 2025, opened with the Prologue and the Qatar race in March and ended in Bahrain in November. At the end of February 2026, the conflict between Iran, Israel and the United States escalated with missile and drone attacks, airspace closures, and an increased risk to commercial shipping in the region. The championship reacted in March by postponing the Qatari round until October, moving the Prologue to Imola and making that circuit the first round of the year. Bahrain was still set to host the finale. Neither of those rounds was cancelled at the time. The hope was that tensions would ease before autumn.

Shipping lines began to avoid the Strait of Hormuz, a mandatory passage to reach Qatar and Bahrain, which drove up freight costs and made delivery times for the teams unpredictable. For a championship that transports most of its cars, spare parts and garage structures by sea, the breakdown of that logistics chain proved decisive. Formula 1, which relies more on air freight, had already moved its Bahrain Grand Prix to Sepang, Malaysia, and cancelled the Saudi Arabian round just a few days earlier, confirming that conditions in the region were incompatible with a large‑scale international event. The WEC ultimately made the same assessment and definitively cancelled both rounds on July 28.

Barcelona and Monza, the new venues

With the move to Europe, the Catalan circuit hosts a championship points‑paying round for the first time. Barcelona has experience with the 2019/20 super‑season Prologue and with the European Le Mans Series and the Michelin Le Mans Cup, but it had never appeared on the world calendar. Monza returns after three seasons away: it hosted the 6 Hours between 2021 and 2023, with victories for Toyota and Alpine, and now closes the year as the pure‑speed track it is. Both races will be six‑hour events, the championship's standard format.

The Barcelona weekend originally coincided with the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup finale at Portimao. The organisers of that series rescheduled their race to Saturday so that drivers entered in both championships can fulfil both commitments. The traditional rookie test held the day after the Bahrain finale is not planned for 2026.

Frédéric Lequien, the WEC CEO, admitted that for weeks they had been optimistic, but the reality in the Persian Gulf forced the alternative plan. Pierre Fillon, president of the Automobile Club de l'Ouest, stressed the commitment to return to Lusail and Sakhir in 2027 and thanked the European circuits for their immediate response. Abdulrahman bin Abdullatif Al Mannai, president of the Qatar Motor and Motorcycle Federation and the Lusail circuit, and Shaikh Salman bin Isa Al Khalifa, CEO of the Bahrain International Circuit, expressed understanding and reiterated their willingness to host the championship in the future.

Photo By Maxime Lantz

Barcelona is an unknown venue in endurance format for the WEC structures, so preparation will rely on simulations and data gathered from other categories. Monza, with its long straights and low‑downforce setup, could tip the balance towards the most efficient prototypes at high speed just in time for the season finale.