The 2026 WEC season will now finish entirely in Europe, not the Middle East
Barcelona and Monza will host the final two rounds instead of Qatar and Bahrain, after organizers cited the security situation in the region
The FIA and the ACO have confirmed the last two rounds of the 2026 FIA World Endurance Championship season: the 6 Hours of Barcelona at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya on October 16-18, followed by the 6 Hours of Monza at Autodromo Nazionale Monza on November 6-8. AutoNext reported in July that organisers were drawing up exactly this contingency plan, and it is now official: the 1812 km of Qatar and the 8 Hours of Bahrain are both cancelled rather than merely in doubt.
Why the calendar changed
FIA WEC director general Frédéric Lequien said the organisation had been "closely monitoring developments in the Middle East over recent months" and that the current situation "obliges us to switch to an alternative plan." ACO president Pierre Fillon pointed to the relationships the ACO has built across the region over the years, describing this period as an exceptionally difficult one, and said the organisation intends to return to the Middle East as planned in 2027. FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem framed the decision around the safety of teams, colleagues and fans. The change still needs formal sign-off from the FIA World Motor Sport Council, though the venues themselves are now set.
What it means for the championship
Six-hour races at Barcelona and Monza replace what would have been longer, higher-points-scoring rounds, so the total points available drop from 130 to 104 in the drivers' championship and from 220 to 176 for manufacturers. There will also be no post-season Rookie Test following the Monza finale, which normally follows the last round of the year. Monza returns to the WEC calendar for the first time since 2023, and Barcelona hosts its first-ever full WEC round, having previously held a pre-season Prologue test and European Le Mans Series and Michelin Le Mans Cup events. With both races on Italian and Spanish soil in the same season, and Monza already hosting Ferrari's 2027 development testing earlier in the year, Italy becomes the first country to host WEC rounds at two different circuits in a single season.
One scheduling wrinkle worth flagging
The Barcelona round now lands on the same weekend, October 18, as the GT World Challenge Europe finale at Portimao, a clash that will split attention and likely some teams' resources across two championships on the same day.
AutoNext Take
This is a calendar reshuffled around a real regional conflict, not a marketing decision, and it is worth treating it that way rather than as a routine scheduling story. The organisers made the call they had to make, said plainly why, and committed to returning to the Middle East once conditions allow. What is left is a shorter, more compact European finale than anyone originally planned for 2026, and a points system that will decide the championship over two six-hour races instead of the longer format teams had prepared for.
