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Adelaide and Russian cities in Formula E frame

Representatives from potential host organisations in Adelaide and St Petersburg say they are in negotiations with Formula E about future calendar slots.

A well-funded bid from technology investors in Adelaide is reported to be under way, while Sergey Vorobyev, deputy executive director of Rosgonki, the promoter of Formula 1's Russian Grand Prix, said his organisation was in talks over hosting a race in the Krasnodar Krai region, which includes Sochi, or St Petersburg.

FE's recently-released season five calendar includes two races listed as TBA - with one earmarked for a mainland China event - but Autosport understands that any new city would be joining for season six.

Former F1 host Adelaide is the latest Australian city to be linked to FE and the fresh bid is led by tech entrepreneur Valdi Dunis and backed by billionaire industrialist Sanjeev Gupta.

According to local reports, Gupta - who has recently made a significant, high-profile investment in South Australia's Whyalla steelworks - aims to tie up an FE round with building electric cars in Adelaide.

"The biggest [FE] viewership is in China and Japan so it fits really well with our timezone," Dunis told the Adelaide Advertiser.

"We have one big Chinese company that has invested in the Hong Kong race and we're in talks with them to help us bring a race to Adelaide.

"Our biggest selling point is we did Formula 1 really well, we do the Bay to Birdwood [classic car event], the solar challenge, the Adelaide 500 - we have a real car culture that the other cities don't.

"We ran the best F1 race in the world and the FE people tell us how much they'd love to bring a race to Adelaide."

The plans, supported by Adelaide Lord Mayor Martin Haese, include running an FE race on a modified version of the well-known Adelaide street circuit, which is now used for the Supercars season-opener.

Russia has hosted an FE race before, the series racing in Moscow in its inaugural season.

"We have an interesting situation with Formula E," Vorobyev told Russian state news agency TASS.

"There are two regions in which the organiser of the championship is interested: Krasnodar Krai and St Petersburg.

"We are now negotiating it with the owner of Formula E, it's just the commercial negotiations. We are aiming to have the most profitable deal.

"It can take long, because we are fighting our corner very hard."

FE was approached for comment regarding potential races in Adelaide and Russia, but was unable to remark on any negotiations as it is in the early stages of talks with numerous cities.

The first TBA date on the 2018/19 calendar - round three on January 26 - is highly likely to be confirmed as a South American race.

FE has held a race in that region at that stage of the season during each of its four championships so far, with Santiago's debut in that slot this year.

Zdroj: autosport.com