Formula E
Formula E agrees August 2022 date for first South Korea race
Formula E will finally make its maiden visit to South Korea with a Seoul E-Prix announced for an August race date in 2022.
Matt Kew
Edited: Jun 19, 2021, 12:11 PM
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As reported by Motorsport.com last month, the country's capital city will join the 2021-22 season schedule after the race was twice cancelled due to the global health crisis.
The Seoul city government has announced a August 13-14 slot in 2022 for a maiden event, with the race set to form part of the Seoul Fest celebrations.
However, Motorsport.com understands that the two-day date does not guarantee that the South Korean round will be a double-header.
Instead, the August 13-14 slot could more come to define the race and the preceding day of media activities in which the Jamsil Sports Complex location will be closed to the public.
Formerly the venue of the 1988 Olympic Games, the 19-turn Jamsil circuit configuration was first revealed back in July 2019 ahead of an anticipated race during the latter half of the 2019-20 season.
However, as a result of the pandemic, the first running of the Seoul E-Prix was cancelled before the race then lost its May 23 date on the provisional calendar for the 2021 season.
The mayor of Seoul, Oh Se-hoon, has announced the Formula E event ahead of the July 9 meeting of the FIA World Motor Sport Council, which is traditionally when the provisional calendar is revealed.
Asked why the confirmation of a Seoul race had come early, Formula E chief executive officer Jamie Reigle told Motorsport.com: “That announcement went out on a local basis in Korea and we didn't do a global announcement as there's been a lot of discussion around the feasibility of that event.
“There was a change in government, a change in mayor, and we've been in discussions with that mayor around whether they would support a Formula E race as well as this event called the Seoul Fest, which is really a celebration of Korean pop culture.
“There's been all this debate about when we could confirm or not a race in Seoul and the mayor and his government said actually, ‘Yes, we'd love to do it because we believe by the summer of 2022 Korea will be vaccinated and open to tourism’.
“We want to have a very large event to celebrate the reopening of Korea and Seoul, in particular their tourism.
“Once the mayor decided he was keen to support that, they wanted to sign it and make an announcement.
“That jives against the timing of the World Motor Sport Council, the time we would normally announce a calendar, but we really want to support them locally, which is why it was done in Korea and not as a global announcement.”
Formula E is expected to announce a new calendar with an inaugural race in Jakarta set to feature – its debut similarly delayed – in addition to a first visit to Cape Town.
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