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The biennial Le Mans Classic, one of the biggest historic racing festivals of the summer, has been postponed for 12 months and will now run in July 2021.

Event promoter Peter Auto has agreed with the Automobile Club de l'Ouest to postpone the event from the first weekend of July to the corresponding date in 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic, which has decimated the current motorsports calendar, with many series forced to either postpone or cancel events worldwide.

The next edition of the Le Mans Classic will now take place on 1-4 July, 2021, though it is not yet confirmed if the following edition will be held in 2022 or 2023.

Due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, Peter Auto decided that postponing Le Mans Classic to 2021 was the best solution for this world-famous event, which attracts cars from the Le Mans story from the 1920s to the 2000s.

Competitors from across the world, including many from the UK, race in a series of sprint races for age-based grids over a 24-hour period.

Patrick Peter of Peter Auto said: "Le Mans Classic is an international event that brings together close to 200,000 spectators in one place.

"As you can imagine, keeping this event at the original dates in the current context was therefore not an option.

"We have, in line with our partners and the Automobile Club de l'Ouest, decided to postpone Le Mans Classic to 2021 where everyone can take full advantage of this magnificent retrospective of the best hours of the 24 Hours of Le Mans."

Pierre Fillon, Automobile Club de l'Ouest: "Le Mans Classic is a monument in the vintage auto world.

"Safety and quality are therefore key to the organisation of such a prominent event.

"We are momentarily unable to guarantee these essential requirements and postponement is our only option.

"We can now focus on 2021 and look forward to welcoming you all then."

The 2020 Le Mans 24 Hours has also been postponed from its original June slot to September, with the World Endurance Championship abandoning its winter series format to get in the remaining rounds of the current 2019/20 campaign.

