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Global
Flag of Qatar at sunset
Prime
Opinion

Is Qatar the price motorsport fans have to pay?

OPINION: Fresh from hosting a controversial 2022 football World Cup, Qatar has added its name to the 2024 World Endurance Championship calendar. Although questions may be asked about its presence on the calendar, is it simply the price to pay for having a healthy racing championship?

Does the World Endurance Championship need another race in the Middle East? That’s the question that needs to be asked after Qatar’s Losail International Circuit was named earlier this month as the opening round of the series in 2024. Yet it’s not an easy one to answer.

If you think of the likely make-up of the calendar come 2024, then it’s definitely a no. It doesn’t seem right that the WEC should have two races in a region where there’s limited interest in our sport, and traditional motor racing territories will be missing. And I count South America, Australia and even South Africa among them. Don’t forget that Kyalami was on the 2020-21 winter-season schedule that was blown out of the water by COVID.

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