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WTCC set for Friday finale in Qatar

The season finale for the World Touring Car Championship is set to change to Friday 27 November due to a political event in the region which now clashes with the originally planned date of 22 November.

Start race 1

Start race 1

FIA WTCC

Yvan Muller, Citroën C-Elysée WTCC, Citroën World Touring Car team
Jose Maria Lopez, Citroën C-Elysée WTCC, Citroën World Touring Car team
Citroën World Touring Car team area
Yvan Muller, Citroën C-Elysée WTCC, Citroën World Touring Car team

The new date is subject to approval from the FIA World Motor Sport Council.

The planned night race at the Losail circuit in Qatar will now move to the following Friday, in order to avoid clashing with other major FIA events such as the World Rally Championship and Formula 1's two final races, which are scheduled for the weekends before and after.

"It's currently going to the World Motor Sport Council," said WTCC boss Francois Ribeiro.

"Very recently I had a phone call from the Qatari World Motorsport Council, and the government has requested to all the sports federations not to have any events during the third week of November as they're hosting a very important political summit, because of security concerns, all hotels will be fully booked.

"When it's a request from the state, (you have to do it). If we did it the week before, we'd have clashed with the final of the World Rally Championship and the Formula 1 Grand Prix of Brazil in terms of time zone. The week after is Abu Dhabi, so I proposed that we do it Friday evening."

The race will become the first time the WTCC has taken place on a Friday, with the broadcast set to take place in the evening.

Neil Hudson / TouringCarTimes

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