{"id":513088,"date":"2026-03-02T03:31:15","date_gmt":"2026-03-02T03:31:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/513088\/"},"modified":"2026-03-02T03:31:15","modified_gmt":"2026-03-02T03:31:15","slug":"middle-east-conflict-casts-concern-over-major-motorsport-event","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/513088\/","title":{"rendered":"Middle East conflict casts concern over major motorsport event"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/XPB_1328849_HiRes.jpg\" alt=\"Middle East conflict casts concern over WEC race\"\/><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThe start of the FIA World Endurance Championship race at Lusail International Circuit. Image: Moy\/XPB Images<\/p>\n<p>Attacks by the United States and Israel on Iran led to retaliatory hits to Qatar, Bahrain and Dubai.<\/p>\n<p>WEC is poised to host its pre-season prologue on March 22-23 and the Qatar 1812 km on March 27-28 at the Lusail International Circuit.<\/p>\n<p>The Qatar 1812 km is the first major motorsport event in the region since the conflict escalated.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe FIA World Endurance Championship (FIA WEC) is closely monitoring the ongoing situation in the Middle East \u2013 a process of rigorous assessment that has been underway for several weeks,\u201d a category statement read.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe safety and security of our competitors, personnel and fans remains our absolute priority. Accordingly, the FIA WEC management is in constant, direct communication with the relevant authorities in Qatar.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFIA WEC is holding regular meetings with the Qatari authorities regarding the forthcoming Prologue and Qatar 1812km events, scheduled to take place on 22-23 March and 26-28 March respectively.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe will continue to evaluate the situation daily. Further updates will be communicated if necessary.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Pirelli cancelled its two-day tyre test at Bahrain International Circuit over security reasons.<\/p>\n<p>Airspace in the Middle East has been closed in parts, reportedly leaving McLaren and Mercedes personnel stranded, as well as Pirelli staff.<\/p>\n<p>There are implications for Australian Grand Prix attendees, who would typically travel from European countries via the Middle East.<\/p>\n<p>Major airlines \u2013 including Emirates, Etihad and Qatar Airways \u2013have suspended some flights until Monday morning.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/t.cfjump.com\/92797\/b\/285241\" rel=\"nofollow sponsored noopener\" data-bid=\"1\" data-no-instant=\"1\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"border: none; vertical-align: middle;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/285241.gif\" alt=\"\"\/><br \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The start of the FIA World Endurance Championship race at Lusail International Circuit. Image: Moy\/XPB Images Attacks by&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":513089,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[572],"tags":[64,63,806,805,803,804,85],"class_list":["post-513088","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-motosport","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-motor","tag-motor-sports","tag-motosport","tag-motosports","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/513088","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=513088"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/513088\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/513089"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=513088"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=513088"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=513088"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}