Formula E will hold first open-wheel race in New York City in 2017
The all-electric Formula E championship will hold its first race in New York City during its 2016/2017 season.
Although the track for the race resembles a street circuit, the temporary circuit actually doesn't touch public roads and is fully enclosed within Pier 11 and the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal.
Located on the harbour in the Brooklyn neighbourhood of Red Hook, the site has impressive views of downtown Manhattan and the metropolis' Financial District.
The proposed track is 1.947 kilometres long and incorporates 13 turns, but has yet to be homologated by the FIA.
Two race days will be held back-to-back in New York City on July 29 and 30, 2017, with those races rounding out the 2016/2017 season.
The New York City ePrix will be the first FIA sanctioned open-wheel race to take place in the Big Apple. Previous attempts at securing a Formula One race in or near New York City have fallen through.
Most recently the Grand Prix of America was tentatively scheduled into the 2014 and 2015 Formula One seasons, but fell through. That proposed grand prix would have used a street circuit located by the shores of the Hudson River in the cities of Weehawken and West New York, New Jersey.
Between 1984 and 1991, IndyCar held the Meadowlands Grand Prix in East Rutherford, which is within the New York City metropolitan area, but outside the city proper and actually many miles away in New Jersey state.
The new Formula E championship year kicks off on October 9 in Hong Kong, and will include races in Buenos Aires, Mexico City, Monaco, Paris, Berlin, Brussels, Montreal, and Marrakech in Morocco.
At a press conference announcing the New York ePrix, Alejandro Agag, Formula E's CEO, said: “To race in New York City is a historic moment — not only for Formula E, but for motorsport in general — and again highlights the philosophy of Formula E to bring fully electric racing to the world’s greatest cities."
MORE: Formula E news
0
