Silverstone to host six-hour World Endurance race

Silverstone will host a round of the World Endurance Championship next year.

The six-hour race becomes the ninth event on the 2027 WEC calendar released on Friday,, external which also includes the famous Le Mans 24 Hours.

The series has rediscovered its popularity since the introduction of new 'hypercar' rules for the top class of cars in 2021 - with manufacturers including Ferrari, Peugeot, Alpine, BMW, Toyota, Genesis, Cadillac and Aston Martin.

Silverstone's 5.891km track is loved by drivers and fans for its fast, sweeping corners and will be a test for cars in the WEC, which also includes showroom-style LMGT3 cars.

The British race will be the season's third event, from 23-25 April, with the series also visiting Qatar (Lusail), Italy (Imola), Belgium (Spa), Le Mans, Brazil (Sao Paulo), the United States (Circuit of the Americas), Japan (Fuji) and Bahrain (Sakhir).

"Silverstone is a venue steeped in motorsport history and boasts a long legacy of top-flight endurance racing, including eight hugely successful FIA WEC events from 2012 to 2019," said Frederic Lequien, CEO of WEC.

"It is a circuit beloved by competitors, and from a driving and engineering point of view, it presents a tremendous challenge.

"Not only that, but British fans are famously enthusiastic and knowledgeable about the sport, and we are delighted that they will once again be able to enjoy the indescribable thrill of a world championship round up close on home soil."

Le Mans is a sell-out each year as around 300,000 fans flock to the Circuit de la Sarthe, and other races such as the Six Hours of Spa are also growing in popularity.

Several former F1 drivers take part in WEC, including last year's Le Mans winner Robert Kubica, of Poland, who drives the AF Course number 83 Ferrari 499P with Britain's Phil Hanson and Ye Yifei of China.

Along with the reintroduction of the Silverstone race, both Ford and McLaren will enter the series in the hypercar category next year - the former rekindling its legendary rivalry with Ferrari.

Four-time Formula 1 world champion Max Verstappen is rumoured to be keen to contest Le Mans in the future following his participation in GT racing this year.

This year's Le Mans 24 Hours gets underway at 15:00 BST on Saturday in north west France.