The two-day pre-season test will now run on 26-27 February at the Losail International Circuit located north of capital Doha, having originally been scheduled for the weekend of 24-25 February.
A total of three test sessions have been scheduled on Monday, beginning at 8:30am local time and going all the way till 10pm at night. A further four hours of running will follow on Tuesday between 9am-1pm.
This would leave just a day’s gap between the end of Prologue and first two practice sessions of Qatar 1812km, the opening round of the 2024 WEC season, on Thursday, 29 February.
“The two-day Prologue was due to take place this weekend from Saturday 24 – Sunday 25 February but will now start on Monday 26 February (8:30am - 12pm, 2pm - 5pm, 6:30pm - 10pm) and run until Tuesday 27 February (9am - 1pm),” read a statement issued on Friday morning.
“The schedule change is a result of the ongoing geopolitical situation where regular shipping lines have experienced significant delays through the Suez Canal and the Red Sea.
“Consequently, part of the sea freight has been delayed arriving at the Lusail International Circuit in Doha, Qatar. To allow the WEC teams enough time to prepare for testing, the decision was made to delay the start of the Prologue.
“There will be no change to the schedule for the season-opening Qatar Airways Qatar 1812km the following weekend with the race set to begin at 11am local time on Saturday 2 March.”
Several teams had been waiting for cars and crucial equipment to arrive in Qatar on Friday ahead of the championship’s first visit to the Gulf nation.
It has been reported that several containers that were supposed to arrive directly in Qatar via sea had to be unloaded in Saudi Arabia due to disruptions in the Red Sea. They were then sent to Doha via road, a 1500km journey that takes the best part of a day to complete.
The Red Sea, together with the Suez Canal, forms an important gateway between Europe and Asia and accounts for a significant chunk of world trade. But there have been large-scale disruptions since the Houthi military organisation in Yemen began attacking container ships passing through the region, forcing several ships to take a longer journey around the tip of Africa.
Similar shipping issues had already forced the postponement of Dubai 24 Hours by two weeks in January, creating an unfortunate clash with the opening round of the IMSA SportsCar Championship in Daytona.
As things stand, the first-ever WEC round at Losail will run as scheduled on 2 March, as Qatar takes over the spot of the season opener from erstwhile venue Sebring.
