It’s race week again, and for the first time, the FIA Formula E Championship makes its way to Japan. Motorsport Week has you covered for everything you need to know ahead of the inaugural Tokyo E-Prix.
Formula E’s first visit to Japan is the fifth round of the season, with the previous four seeing four different race-winners. After crashing out of the last round in Sao Paulo, title-leader Jaguar TCS Racing’s Nick Cassidy will be looking to get back on track in a country he knows well, the Kiwi having won three different motorsport championships there, including the Japanese Formula 3 title. Sam Bird will be looking to keep the momentum going for his NEOM McLaren team, having scored their first-ever FE victory in Brazil. Tag Heuer Porsche’s Pascal Wehrlein and Cassidy’s Jaguar team-mate Mitch Evans will be looking to further close the gap at the top of the Drivers’ Championship.
THE CIRCUIT
The 20-corner, 2.585 km anti-clockwise circuit has a mixture of fast turns and slow chicanes, with the twistiest part of the track coming in the first sector. Between turns eight and ten comes the fast part of the circuit, with a flat-out, sweeping right-hand curve sitting between a short straight with an uphill crest and a long back straight. Attack Mode can be activated on the exit of turn four.
WHEN
You’ll need to set your alarms nice and early! All times below is in GMT:
Friday, March 29:
FP1 – 07:25am
FP2 – 22:55pm
Saturday, March 30:
Qualifying: 01:20am
Race: 06:03am
WEATHER
Rain is due to fall in the hours prior to FP1 with sunshine expected around an hour before the session commences. Saturday will be sunny and warm, reaching a peak of around 21 degrees.
NEWS OF NOTE
DODDS HOPEFUL OF FURTHER RACES IN ASIA
Ahead of this weekend’s race, Formula E’s CEO Jeff Dodds told BlackBook Motorsport that the chance to hold an E-Prix in Tokyo was too good to decline, explaining: “they’ve never shut down the centre of Tokyo for anything outside of the Tokyo Marathon,” adding that tickets for the race “were sold out within a day.”
Dodds also hinted the sport will be looking to exploit the Asian market further, one he feels is “underserved”, adding: “Also, Asian markets [are] the fastest adopting EV markets in the world. In China, 38 per cent of new cars sold are electric vehicles, equating to 20 per cent of all new EVs globally. The Prime Minister of Thailand told me] that 40 per cent of new cars being sold in the Thai market are EV. It’s a perfect market for us.”
