In gentle of what the sequence is politely calling “the geopolitical situation in the Red Sea,” the FIA World Endurance Championship will likely be sending the total grid of 37 automobiles, plus all associated tools, by air as an alternative of slower and much inexpensive sea freight. The “situation” is that Houthi rebels within the Yemen have been firing on commerce ships within the Red Sea in an try to help Hamas by ongoing warfare in Gaza. For apparent causes, it’s a lot better for the sequence that these automobiles don’t get firebombed at sea.
The ensuing ripple impact sea freight delays that these assaults have precipitated meant that a lot of the WEC grid didn’t arrive to Qatar in time for pre-season testing final month. The delay meant that the testing session was delayed two days, although Saturday’s first race of the season, the Qatar 1812KM, went off and not using a hitch. Shipping the automobiles by water to the Imola 6 Hour race, scheduled for April 21, would have meant traversing the Red Sea to journey by the Suez Canal into the Mediterranean Sea.
“This was the only viable solution which would guarantee the safety of the WEC’s freight, as well as everything arriving on time for Imola,” the sequence mentioned in a press release.
The sequence isn’t merely being benevolent right here, as the price of air freighting will likely be handed alongside to the groups. According to studies from Motorsport.com, some groups face a transport invoice as excessive as $318,000 to get their automobiles to Italy this week. Teams taking part in testing classes at Imola this Sunday got first transport precedence.
The Chip Ganassi Cadillac workforce was the one Hypercar workforce to choose to ship their automobiles on the water, which meant their automobiles and elements arrived late, whereas many of the GT3-class automobiles took that choice. It is smart that these smaller and lighter-funded lower-class automobiles would go for a slower-but-cheaper methodology. For this upcoming spherical, no less than, their choice was made for them by the sequence.
Source: jalopnik.com