The 2019 FIA WEC Sebring race, set for its first running in March 2019 as part of the transitional ‘Super Season’ is to be known as the ‘1500 Miles of Sebring’.

That aligns with comments from Sebring officials at CoTA this weekend and from the FIA WEC’s CEO Gerard Neveu.

Wayne Estes president and general manager of Sebring International Raceway told DSCs Stephen Kilbey:

“The Mobil 1 12 Hours of Sebring is the 12 Hours of Sebring. The WEC initially said a 12-hour race, to see what the reaction would be be. But we need to keep the identity of the 12 hours of Sebring. So I think they’re going to go with a distance or timed race.”

Other sources have now confirmed that the plan is for a 1500 mile event for the WEC.

The race will start, as originally announced, at midnight, Neveu rejecting criticism that the logistics involved in transitioning the pits and circuit from the IMSA 12 Hours of Sebring would prove a barrier to a Midnight start.

The move to a mileage-related event in part prevents the potential confusion of a pair of back to back 12 Hour events though it is not yet clear whether the 1500 Mile proposal includes a time cut-off, and if so when that would be.