The 2016 FIA World Endurance Championship will expand with Mexico City joining the championship as the second North American event.

A total of nine races will now be held with Mexico City scheduled close to the Circuit of The Americas event to minimize costs for teams. The Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez race will be staged on September 4 with COTA taking place two weeks later on September 17.

Mexico joins the UK, Belgium, France, Germany, US, Japan, China and Bahrain in hosting the championship.

“We believe that the time is right to expand the WEC, and the nine?race calendar for 2016 allows us to continue to build the tradition of 6?hour events in the countries we visit – some of which were not so familiar with endurance racing when we began in 2012,” said Pierre Fillon, President of the ACO.

“Each year we return, the Spirit of Le Mans is more and more obvious, with increasing entertainment and sporting action for larger numbers of spectators and TV audiences to enjoy.

“Of course, the legendary 24 Hours of Le Mans is the race that everyone knows about and wants to compete in, but the legend is now being extended to the 6?hour races as well and moving into countries with strong historic links to endurance, such as Mexico City.

“We are very proud to have maintained the level of stability in the four years of the WEC, and we look forward to seeing you all in 2016.”

“The opportunity offered by Mexico City to take endurance racing back to Latin America was the right one at the right time,,” said Ge?rard Neveu, CEO of the WEC.

Sportscar racing returns to Mexico City for the first time since the Rolex Grand-Am Series ran at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez from 2005 to 2008.

“In consultation with our partners and competitors, we believe that the countries in which we race have all fully embraced endurance racing and that was one of the considerations for any further rounds.

“The WEC Promoter will be responsible for the full freight costs for competitors from Europe to Mexico so that there will not be any significant impact on their logistic budgets.

“Using the stability and consistency already in place with our other rounds, we will continue to ensure that the WEC continues to offer fans access to the most technologically relevant, competitive, and open championship possible.

“We are looking forward to welcoming Ford back to top level GTE racing in 2016, and we are confident that Aston Martin, Ferrari and Porsche are equally excited about their entry. We have worked with the teams and circuits to reduce the long summer gap following Le Mans, and this new calendar will keep the action going through the summer.”

Circuit of The Americas will again host the FIA World Endurance Championship and the newly renamed WeatherTech IMSA Sports Car Championship on the same day.

The calendar also features a tighter gap after Le Mans with teams gathering at the Nurburgring only a month later. Teams will again enjoy the traditional mid-summer break in August.

There are two clashes with the WeatherTech IMSA Sports Car Championship – the Silverstone FIA WEC round clashes with Long Beach while the Nurburgring race clashes with the Lime Rock Park weekend.

2016 FIA WEC CALENDAR

March 25-26: Prologue (Paul Ricard)
April 15-17:  Silverstone
May 5-7:  Spa-Francorchamps
June 5: Le Mans Test Day
June 18-19: 24 Hours of Le Mans
July 22-24:  Nürburgring
Sept. 2-4: Mexico City (TBC)
September 15-17: Circuit of The Americas
October 14-16: Fuji Speedway
November 4-6: Shanghai
November 17-19: Bahrain