Having searched for several years now to find a second major motorsport event, Circuit Gilles Villeneuve may be on the verge of landing a 2015 round of the FIA World Endurance Championship.
According to the French-language Le Journal de Montreal, talks have begun about a possible WEC event at CGV, which annually serves as the home of Formula One’s Canadian Grand Prix.
However, CGV has been lacking a second event to compliment the F1 race since 2012, when the NASCAR Nationwide Series left Montreal after a six-year run.
An event in Canada could make for a North American “swing” with the series’ U.S. round at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas.
Or it may very well become the lone WEC race on the continent depending on whether or not COTA can draw more of a crowd.
Last year, when the WEC ran together with the now-defunct American Le Mans Series, reportedly less than 8,000 people among the overall weekend attendance of 35,000 took in the WEC’s six-hour event.
COTA is scheduled to host the WEC and the new TUDOR United SportsCar Championship again this September as part of the “Lone Star Le Mans” weekend.
Back in March, WEC head Gerard Neveu indicated that he’d like his series to start expanding its presence in North America but that any potential opportunities would have to make sense.
“We don’t want to make one more date just to do one more date,” he said during the WEC’s preseason test sessions according to SportsCar365. “We have to do one more date if there is a very good opportunity.
“It means a good race track, good market, good fan base, good financial interest, good media interest and good interest for the manufacturers.
“I will not add a date on a very small island in the middle of the Pacific because they pay a lot. It doesn’t make sense. The idea is to find a fair destination for everybody.”
