Date change for 2013 24 Hours of Le Mans
The 2013 Le Mans 24 Hours will take place on 22-23 June, one week later than originally scheduled, and the official test day will now be held on Sunday 9th June.
The dates of the 2013 Le Mans 24 Hours, initially scheduled for 15-16 June, have been put back by a week at the request of the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) in order to harmonize the world calendar of motor racing events.
Thus, the Automobile Club de l’Ouest, the FIA’s partner in the World Endurance Championship, has decided to put back the blue riband event on its own calendar by seven days.
The test day will again take place two weeks before the race on Sunday 9th June 2013. Scrutineering (technical and administrative checks) will be on Sunday 16th and Monday 17th June.
The Automobile Club de l’Ouest will celebrate in the style it deserves the 90th anniversary of the Le Mans 24 Hours on 22-23 June 2013. It is worth recalling that this event was conceived at the 1922 Motor Show in the Grand Palais in Paris. The idea emerged from a meeting between Charles Faroux, a journalist from La Vie Automobile, Georges Durand, the ACO general secretary, some eminent members of the club, and Emille Coquille, the French representative of the Rudge-Whitworth detachable wheels company.
The first Le Mans 24 hours took place on 26-27 May 1923. For info, it’s the fifteenth time in 81 events that the Le Mans 24 Hours will take place at the end of the 25th week on the calendar.
The full calendar of the 2013 FIA World Endurance Championship, of which the Le Mans 24 Hours race is the blue riband event, will be announced in September 2012.
Fiona Miller (from Automobile Club de l'Ouest press release)
PHOTO: CIRCUIT DES 24 HEURES (LE MANS, SARTHE), SUNDAY, 17TH JUNE 2012. THE WINNING AUDI R18 E-TRON QUATTRO CROSSING THE FINISH LINE IN THIS YEAR'S 24 HOURS OF LE MANS.