As the FIA World Endurance Championship moves into the second part of its Asian tour and makes a welcome return to the spectacular Shanghai International Circuit, a comprehensive TV distribution package has been arranged. Those who are not able to attend the sixth round of the championship in person will therefore be able to experience the sights and sounds of the world’s most exciting sports prototype and GT cars as it happens or soon afterwards.
Opening up the FIA WEC to a massive audience in China, Channel Max Shanghai will show the whole race LIVE and direct, while China’s Great Sports Channel will show the first hour and closing 30 minutes to capture the excitement and drama of the race for its 16 million viewers. In addition, CCTV 5’s 80 million potential viewers will also be able to view a short highlights package in a magazine programme from where they will learn all about the stars and cars, technology and variety of the world championship.
The pearl of the Orient, Shanghai hosts the 6 Hours of Shanghai on Sunday, 2nd November and Audi and Porsche will be determined not to let Toyota stretch its lead further in the world championship standings. In the LMGTE categories too, Aston Martin and Porsche will be looking to stop Ferrari from taking all the victory laurels…the competition will be fierce throughout the field.
There will be much focus on the LMP2 category which not only includes China’s David Cheng and Ho-Pin Tung in the OAK Racing Morgan Judd entry, but also the ever-improving Hong Kong-based KCMG team. The class is boosted for this round by the entry of the two Extreme Speed Motorsports cars and the racing is sure to be dynamic.
A full weekend of racing from the FIA WEC and support series, plus off track entertainment, is planned for the thousands of fans expected and the start of the 6 Hours of Shanghai will be given at 11h00 local (04h00 CET).
Eurosport Asia Pacific will broadcast the race to its 13 territories LIVE (part) and on a delayed basis on the 4th November. Australia’s Fox Sports will be covering the whole race live and will additionally show repeat highlights shows in the following days, while Japan’s J Sports and New Zealand’s TV3 will show a 52 minutes highlights package – the show being repeated in Japan numerous times over the coming month. Sony Six’s 45 million potential viewers will have the chance to experience the best that endurance racing has to offer through a 52 minute highlights package, as do Thailand’s fans via the Grand Prix Channel.
In Europe, the 6 Hours of Shanghai will be available live to over 132 million potential viewers on Eurosport Inter and Motors TV – which is now free to view in the UK – and highlights will also be shown on Eurosport Inter and Eurosport 2 in the days following the race. Player Eurosport will broadcast the race live plus show delayed highlights.
Bosnia, Croatia, Slovenia, Serbia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Hungary, Denmark, Austria, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and Italy will all be broadcasting a 52-minutes highlights programme – many of those nations being represented by drivers or indeed teams within the FIA WEC. Greece will not only air the same programme on its OTE Sport 6 channel, but will also broadcast repeats in two weeks following the race.
Fox Sports 1 and Fox LATAM will air the highlights show, while Sport TV or TV Globo in Brazil, the venue for the final round of the 2014 Championship, will show the first and last hours of the race live. With the focus turning immediately to the Middle East after the Chinese round, for the 6 Hours of Bahrain, BeIn Sports will once again be broadcasting the race live on top of a 52 minute highlight show.
In addition to the TV coverage, the race can be followed live and direct, together with full timekeeping, via the FIA WEC’s updated second screen ‘App’, available to download from the iTunes store or Google Play Store - search for ‘FIA World Endurance Championship’ or ‘FIA WEC’.
Internationally renowned endurance racing radioweb service, Radio Le Mans (www.radiolemans.com), will once again be available for its huge number of listeners all around the world. News access will also be available on EBU/Eurovision, SNTV, Reuters and Omnisports worldwide.
The whole broadcast schedule can be found HERE.
