The European Le Mans Series announces its 2013 calendar

With the year now closed under the umbrella of the AMLS, the European endurance series has announced its calendar and some changes that will reduce teams’ costs. After big changes had been announced, it is frankly little short of disappointing to learn that things will carry on almost as they are now.

The 2013 calendar will consist of 5 races, most of them held as a support event to other “big-name” categories. The race format has also been changed: instead of the usual 6 hours, they have been cut to 3 hours in length and race day has been moved to Saturday.

Only one of the races will run alongside the WEC, the first race at Silverstone. At Imola, the second race, it will share the bill with the FFSA GT, while for the remaining three, to be held at the Red Bull Ring, Hungaroring and Paul Ricard, it will share the stage with the World Series by Renault.

Remember that the ACO has taken control of the ELMS, giving its teams the chance to be special invitees at the 24 Hours of Le Mans; for its part, the WEC will assign some resources and personnel to help organise the races on the European calendar.

Entries open on 12 December, although I am not very hopeful that the European series will manage to increase the number and quality of its participants.

Via | Media European Le Mans Series