Formula E gains world champ status

The ABB FIA Formula E electric car racing series gains world championship status for the 2020-2021 season.

It means that winners go from being just ‘champions’ to ‘world champions’, the series joining Formula 1, World Endurance, World Rally and World Rallycross in having the highest status with the governing body.

FIA’s World Motor Sport Council voted to approve the move at a recent meeting, and FE founder and chairman Alejandro Agag and FIA president Jean Todt finalised the agreement at the governing body’s Paris headquarters.

Formula E meets the world championship criteria by including having four manufacturer competitors and races on three continents.

“Since we started this journey, Formula E has undoubtedly gone from strength to strength,” says Todt who initially sketched the idea with Agag on the back of a napkin.

“Within a short timeframe, the series has proven itself relevant for the automotive industry with two more major car manufacturers having joined the championship at the start of the current season, bringing the total number to 10.”

The world championship status won’t apply to the present series which started in Diriyah, Saudi Arabia, on November 22 and 23, moving to Santiago in Chile on January 18, 2020 and finishing in London on July 25 and 26 next year.

Kiwis Mitch Evans and Brendon Hartley feature in the current series, with Evans’ brother Simon driving in the Jaguar I-Pace eTrophy support series.