In the melee of yesterday’s announcements of the major changes coming for the FIA WEC some details of the 2018 ELMS have as yet gone largely unreported.

The first is that the intention is to publish the calendar for the 2018 season during the weekend of the next ELMS meeting at Spa Francorchamps.

We already know though what look set to be the opening two rounds for the coming season are already set.

The opening race will take place on the weekend after the revised WEC Prologue test at Paul Ricard with the ELMS runners likely to benefit from extended testing in the days prior to the race meeting proper. Some guest entries from the WEC ranks are very likely with Mike Wainwright confirming to DSC yesterday that he intends to race his newly acquired 911 RSR in the ELMS event with other WEC GTE and LMP2 teams telling DSC that they too are considering adding at least the Paul Ricard race to their schedules.

The WEC race at Silverstone is gone for now but senior sources have confirmed that the ELMS race will continue in 2018 at Silverstone though with the date not yet confirmed publicly.

Beyond that, and the calendar rejig that the switch for Ricard entails, there is unlikely to be any fundamental change.

All ELMS events this season so far have been successful, and with LMEM extended elsewhere with the transition, some steady state will be a welcome relief!