São Paulo – The sixth season of the Automobile International Federation (FIA) Formula E Championship will start later this week in Saudi Arabia. The first round of the electric car championship will take place at the circuit at Diriyah, a historic city close to the capital Riyadh, with races on Friday (22) and Saturday (23).
The competition’s first race in Saudi Arabia was held in 2018 and opened the championship too. The winner was Portuguese racer Antônio Félix da Costa (pictured above), then in BMW i Andretti Motorsport team.
Formula E are full of pilots from Formula 1 and other high-end world automobile competition. The 2019-20 season’s grid features Brazilian racers Felipe Massa (Venturi Motorsport) and Lucas Di Grassi (Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler), who won the 2016-17 season.
The favorite to win is the two-times champion Jean-Eric Vergne from France. He won the last two seasons and is now joined by Félix da Costa at the DS Techeetah team.
“We can show the world that you can race with electric cars. The sport is growing a lot and it is getting more and more difficult to win but that is part of the challenge,” said Andre Lotterer, pilot of the Tag Heuer Porsche, according to Saudi newspaper Arab News. is best known for his three victories in the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the drivers’ title of the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) in 2012.
In Brazil, the ePrix, as Formula E GPs are called, can be watched through the competition’s Facebook page, YouTube channel, official website, mobile app, and TV cable channel Fox Sports 2 (8:30 am BRT on both Friday and Saturday).
The championship to start next Friday will feature 12 teams and 24 pilots. It’ll include 14 races in 12 cities until the end of the season in July 2020. The Arab world will also see a round in Marrakesh, Morocco on February 29. All races take place in street circuits.
Diriyah has an extra, as the city was declared a World Heritage Site by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Diriyah is the original home of the Al Saud family, who rules Saudi Arabia, and served as the capital of the First Saudi State in the 18th century until it was attacked and nearly destroyed by the Ottoman Empire in the 19th, but a modern city was built at the base of the old ruins.
Watch below some of the highlights of last year’s Diriyah ePrix.
