By Emanuele Venturoli| Posted January 20, 2026 | In WEC
By Emanuele Venturoli| Posted January 20, 2026 | In WEC
The FIA World Endurance Championship continues to consolidate its role as the absolute benchmark in the globalendurance racing scene. After surpassing 750,000 total spectators in 2025 and recording record attendance at Spa-Francorchamps, the 2026 season is set to raise the bar even higher in terms of audience, sporting relevance and commercial value.
For the third consecutive year, the championship will touch five regions of the world – Europe, North America, South America, Asia-Pacific and the Middle East – confirming the truly global dimension of the series. The calendar, officially approved by the FIA World Motor Sport Council in Macau, maintains eight rounds, reinforcing the WEC project’s stage of stability and maturity.
The WEC today represents one of the most sophisticated and strategically relevant sports marketing platforms for international automakers and brands. The combination of technology, sustainability, sports heritage and storytelling makes the championship an ideal vehicle for premium positioning, engagement and brand reputation strategies.
The 2026 WEC calendar perfectly reflects this balance, combining iconic circuits, key markets and a logistical structure optimized to keep participation costs down.
Frédéric Lequien, FIA WEC CEO, stressed that the 2026 calendar represents the natural evolution of a winning format, capable of enhancing each circuit and offering a top-level spectacle in all regions of the world.
Pierre Fillon, president of the ACO, highlighted how the stability of the championship in terms of partners, teams and venues is one of the key elements of the WEC’s steady growth, making it an increasingly attractive platform for manufacturers.
Finally, Richard Mille, chairman of the FIA Endurance Commission, remarked on the importance of the consolidation phase, which is essential to ensure the economic sustainability of the championship and the continued development of the Hypercar category.
| Event | Race | Country | Dates |
|---|---|---|---|
| Prologue | Official Prologue | Qatar | March 22-23 |
| Round 1 | Qatar 1812 km | Qatar | March 26-28 |
| Round 2 | 6 Hours of Imola | Italy | April 17-19 |
| Round 3 | TotalEnergies 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps. | Belgium | May 7-9 |
| Round 4 | 24 Hours of Le Mans | France | June 10-14 |
| Round 5 | Rolex 6 Hours of São Paulo | Brazil | July 10-12 |
| Round 6 | Lone Star Le Mans | USA | September 4-6 |
| Round 7 | 6 Hours of Fuji | Japan | September 25-27 |
| Round 8 | Bapco Energies 8 Hours of Bahrain | Bahrain | November 5-7 |
The 2026 calendar demonstrates how the FIA WEC has reached a stage of strategic maturity, where the balance between global expansion and operational sustainability becomes central. The presence of historic circuits such as Le Mans, Spa, Fuji and Imola, flanked by emerging and established markets, further enhances the attractiveness of the championship to sponsors, broadcasters and stakeholders.
The FIA World Endurance Championship 2026 is confirmed as one of the most solid, credible and interesting championships on the international motorsports scene. A sporting product that continues to grow in value, visibility and commercial relevance, offering companies a global communication platform that is difficult to replicate in other sporting contexts.
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A graduate in Public, Social and Political Communication from the University of Bologna, he has always been passionate about marketing, design and sport.
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Read MoreIn an era where it is possible to get anywhere with a click, there is a strong temptation to approach teams and properties directly for sponsorship projects.
By doing so, we are convinced that we are shortening the value chain, saving time and money. However, these DYI methods are anything but risk-free and what initially appears to be a competitive advantage soon turns into a problem that is difficult to resolve. That’s why there are agencies. And this is why you should rely on us for your sponsorships.
When first approaching a motorsport sponsorship project, it is difficult to know immediately which stakeholders are correct, what the decision flow is, and what the right timelines are for each process. Motorsport is a very specialized field of action, and fitting effectively into its paths can take a lot of time and therefore money. We, on the other hand, know referents and spheres of action and know who to talk to, when and how. So you are also more effective.
Motorsport is an immense passion, and for our heart colors we would be willing to do anything. But business is a different business, and it is important to make the best possible strategic decisions based on independent research, statistics and reliable data. A motorsport sponsorship agency like RTR has an objective, 360-degree picture of the scenario and can tell you what is really best for you: which racing series, which athlete, which team. This is because we possess a great deal of data and information on ratings, segmentation and attitudes. Because the numbers don’t lie. Never.
Activations are the real heart of motorsport sponsorship. Without them, there remains only a blank sticker on a motorcycle, car or uniform and no contact with the public, no emotional connection, no impact on the bottom line. Then how do you do it? It certainly won’t be the teams or the athletes who will help you leverage sponsorship and enjoy the many marketing rights you have paid for. To bring out the best in a motorsport marketing project, you need an agency that knows how to use sponsorship to engage the fanbase online, to reach out to Shopping Centers, to organize hospitality, to develop B2B and B2C opportunities, and to get “your” athletes in front of millions of potential consumers.
Would you ever go to the dealer who sold you the car and ask if the competitor’s car is better? No, of course. So, how do you expect to get firm measurements of the effectiveness of your sponsorship if you do not rely on someone super partes? At RTR, we have always worked with independent third-party agencies that allow us to know the return on any exposure of your brand on TV and in the media. In addition, we believe in calculating ROI as the ultimate measure of your success-so we can tell you for every penny you spend how much you are making.
We have been involved in motorsport sponsorship and sports marketing for more than 15 years. We are consultants in the sense that our goal is to maximize your investment, but we are also an agency that manages the project from start to finish. We have been doing this since 1995 with passion and professionalism, following three principles that have become cornerstones of our business: independence, verticality and transparency.
I would like to highlight the fact that one of the qualities of RTR is its great ability to approach the sponsorship scenario strategically, together with its passionate attitude, its amazing enthusiasm for solving problems, and its high level of professionalism.
Gianluca Degliesposti
Executive Director Server&Storage EMEA
Eurosport is truly delighted with its business relationship with Riccardo Tafà, who has become extremely popular, thanks to his detailed knowledge of the sports marketing sector and his highly diligent attitude to work.
Francois Ribeiro
Commercial Director
Passion and Expertise are the features that I have found in RTR since the very beginning. Serious and reliable professionals but also very helpful, nice and open-mind people, willing to listen and compare different ideas. All the values in which RTR believes make this agency a partner, not just a supplier, a partner with whom we have had the opportunity to achieve significant commercial results in term of success and image.
Luca Pacitto
Head of Communication
We have been working with RTR Sports Marketing for over 10 years. The objectives and the programmes of collaboration continue to be renewed and to grow with mutual satisfaction. I believe RTR is a team of great professionals led by Riccardo Tafà, who I consider a manager of exceptional skills and with a great passion for his work.
Lucio Cecchinello
Team Principal
I have known and worked with Riccardo Tafà since 1995 when we collaborated for the first time on a project for the Williams Formula 1 team. Several clients followed. After leaving Williams to work for Gerhard Berger then owner of the Toro Rosso F1 Team, I turned again to Riccardo to seek his help in finding a tool supplier for the team and Riccardo duly obliged with an introduction to USAG, a partnership with Toro Rosso which endured for five years. I recently started a new role as Group Commercial Director for the renowned Andretti Autosport organisation and I find myself working with Riccardo once again on a number of interesting projects. Why has this relationship with Riccardo endured ? He’s smart, knows the commercial side of sport inside out and back to front and he’s honest and trustworthy. Riccardo Tafà is a “doer” not a “talker”: in over 20 years I have never had a dispute either with him or with a company that he has introduced and each partnership introduced by Riccardo has delivered quantifiable ROI to rights holder and sponsor alike. I can think of no better testimonial of Riccardo’s diligence, knowledge, contact base and hard work than that.
Jim Wright
Group Commercial Director
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