Formula E chief executive Alejandro Agag has revealed the new motor racing series is in talks to introduce street races in New York and Paris.
Formula E in December finalised its calendar for its debut season, with Rio de Janeiro stepping in to replace Hong Kong on the 2014-15 schedule. Beijing will be the host venue for the world’s first ever fully-electric race commencing on September 13. After the opening round, Formula E will remain in Asia for the second event in Putrajaya, the federal administrative centre of Malaysia.
Round three will see the championship head to Rio in place of Hong Kong, before continuing in South America in Punta del Este, Uruguay and Buenos Aires, Argentina. The championship then travels to North America for rounds six and seven in New York’s fellow American cities Los Angeles and Miami. Europe will conclude the season in Monte Carlo, Monaco and Berlin, Germany. London will host the final race of the inaugural season on June 27, 2015.
Regarding future calendar plans, Agag told the Forbes website: “We are working with New York but we are kind of waiting to see what happens with Formula One.” Agag’s comments come with New Jersey’s Grand Prix of America F1 street circuit having suffered numerous difficulties in its development schedule.
Having been initially scheduled to make its debut as the United States’ second race last season, organisers of the Grand Prix of America are now targeting a place on the 2015 calendar. The New York street race, which had been scheduled for June 1 on the series’ provisional 2014 calendar, has been postponed while organisers attempt to secure “restructured financial arrangements for a 2015 race.”
Forbes said Formula E is seeking to build its calendar by arranging many of the races itself and not charging the cities for doing so. In return, the series requires cities to provide prime locations for a race as well as assistance with the preparations and introductions to local sponsors.
Agag added: “Paris is ready. A street race in the centre of Paris. We have been looking at every place in Paris but there are really cool places where you have all the monuments in the background.”
source: sportbusiness
