Formula E adds races in Vancouver, Cape Town to 2022 calendar

Earlier this April, the Vancouver City Council voted in favour of partnering with Montreal-based One Stop Strategy Group for an FE race in the third biggest metropolitan area of Canada, with a venue proposed in the False Creek region.

The sport’s regulatory body has now confirmed that FE will return to Canada for the first time since 2016, with the inaugural Vancouver E-Prix provisionally scheduled for 2 July, forming a two-part American leg along with New York.

South Africa’s legislative capital Cape Town has also earned a place on next season’s schedule, with the race currently earmarked for 26 February.

As expected, South Korea will bring the campaign to a close with a pair of races to be held on 13-14 August as part of the Seoul Fest celebrations in the capital.

There are other changes elsewhere on the calendar, with Monaco retaining its slot on 30 April.

Previously, FE and Monaco Historique meetings have alternated on a biennial basis, but the all-electric championship was believed to be working on hosting races every year in Monte Carlo following the success of this year’s event at a revised version of the full grand prix circuit.

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Meanwhile, China will play host to an FE race for the first time since the 2019 Sanya E-Prix on 19 March, although the venue for this is yet to be confirmed.

FE CEO Jamie Reigle told Autosport last month that Sanya remains the series’ primary target but other cities including Shanghai, Shenzhen and Chengdu remain under evaluation.

Apart from China, there’s also a to-be-confirmed event on the weekend of 4 June, less than a month after the Berlin race that has been moved back to May.

FE will return to its preferred Mexico City location on 12 February following this year’s even at the Puebla circuit.

Intriguingly, both Jakarta and Eindhoven are absent from the calendar, despite strongly being linked to debut races in 2022. However, one of those could still theoretically secure a spot on the TBA date.

Valencia, which hosted a double header this year due to the coronavrius crisis, is also absent from the 2021-22 schedule, which will begin in Saudi Arabia on 28-29 January, 2022.

In all, there are 16 races on the calendar – including double headers in Diriyah, New York, London and Seoul – the highest tally in the championship’s history.

2021-22 Formula E calendar

The FIA also announced that, with immediate effect, the race director can now stop a Formula E race that began under the safety car and resume it with a standing start.

This follows several wet races in the early part of the season where the championship was forced to begin races behind the safety car, leading to little action at the restart.

The governing body also noted that the maximum power for each car will be increased from 200kW to 220kW in the race mode, as stipulated under the Gen2 roadmap.