2015 will get off to a great start when the FIA World Endurance Championship will have a presence at the prestigious North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) in Detroit on Tuesday 13 January. The FIA WEC is holding a press conference at 1:25 pm as part of the show schedule where the world’s leading sportscar championship will be presented to the American media.
As well as presenting the World Endurance Championship concept, which includes the legendary 24 Hours of Le Mans as one of its eight rounds, there will also be a special emphasis on the North American round, the Lone Star Le Mans event, which will be held at the Circuit of the Americas in Texas on Saturday 19 September. North American teams and drivers who will be joining the WEC this season will be participants in the conference.
Pierre Fillon, President of the Automobile Club de l’Ouest (ACO), commented: “Since 1923 the 24 Hours of Le Mans has provided manufacturers with the perfect test bed for new ideas, technology and innovations that eventually feature on their production vehicles and this still continues to be the case today. The hybrid technology that was introduced for the LMP1 category has seen a 30% reduction in the fuel used in 2014, with race speeds being maintained or even exceeded. We look forward to presenting the FIA World Endurance Championship and the 24 Hours of Le Mans next week in Detroit.”
“The North American International Auto Show is the first major automotive show of the year and it is a great opportunity to present the FIA WEC to all the major manufacturers and to the American automotive media, both of which are very important to us and the ACO,” said Gerard Neveu, CEO of the FIA World Endurance Championship. “With Audi, Porsche, Toyota, Nissan, Aston Martin and Ferrari the FIA WEC has more manufacturers than any other championship in the world and, with the new hybrid regulations employed, the WEC and the 24 Hours of Le Mans has real world relevance to the research and development programmes of the manufacturers that are competing. The NAIAS provides the perfect setting to present this to the manufacturers gathered in Detroit.”