World Endurance Championship signs North American rights deal

Cable and satellite-television broadcaster Velocity has acquired rights in the US and Canada to the World Endurance Championship motor-racing series.

The long-term deal gives Velocity and its Motor Trend service rights to show live coverage of all qualifying sessions and races from the WEC, which is sanctioned by the International Automobile Federation (FIA).

Coverage will be in association with international sports broadcaster Eurosport, which like Velocity is owned by Discovery Communications, and begins with the season-opening 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps event in Belgium on May 4-5.

Velocity will broadcast live coverage of the 2018-19 Super Season across its channels, as well as via Motor Trend’s mobile application and website. The partnership includes the WEC’s showpiece 24 Hours of Le Mans event.

WEC chief executive Gérard Neveu said: “We are very happy to have reached this agreement with Velocity, a channel which is available to more than half the households throughout the USA. The USA is a key market for the WEC and over 65 million people will now have access to it, offering our sport of endurance racing an extraordinary opportunity to engage with mass audiences.”