Formula E hopes to expand to Africa,
India
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[June 29, 2015]
By Alan Baldwin
LONDON (Reuters) - The Formula E electric
car racing series is aiming to expand to Africa and India after a
successful debut season in Asia, the Americas and Europe.
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"We want to conquer as much of the world as we can," the series
chief executive Alejandro Agag told reporters after Sunday's final
round at London's Battersea Park on the south bank of the River
Thames.
"We will be looking for places maybe in Africa also."
Agag said the series, won by Brazilian Nelson Piquet junior for Team
China Racing, would probably have two new cities in the second
season although the number of races was likely to remain the same or
one more.
"We want to give the championship stability for the teams. Probably
grow another two races for season three," said the Spaniard.
One of those could be in India, with Mahindra & Mahindra Auto Group
President Pawan Goenka telling Reuters the choice was likely to be
between New Delhi and Bangalore.
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"It cannot happen in 2015/16, it's too late, but in 2016/17 we would
like to. The organizers have a general interest in bringing a race
to India," he said.
"Delhi will be ideal in terms of interest and visibility and the
backdrop that you get and wide roads -- but perhaps most difficult
at the same time -- followed by Bangalore. Mumbai is out of the
question."
Agag said the debut season, which kicked off in Beijing last
September and raced in 10 cities, had been a "great success,
especially when you consider how difficult it was to make it
happen."
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Virgin entrepreneur Richard Branson, whose British driver Sam Bird
won the final race on Sunday, told reporters Formula E would
overtake Formula One within five years but Agag played that down.
"We love Formula One and think it's great. But we think Formula E is
different. We would be making a big mistake if we tried to compete
with Formula One and be similar to Formula One," he said.
"We have to be radically different to Formula One to have a chance
of survival. I don't mean survival by beating Formula One but
co-existing complimentary to Formula One.
"I think that will be the only chance for us to have a long term
future in the world of motorsport. We stand no chance against
Formula One but we do stand a very strong chance on our own as a
different product."
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin, editing by Sudipto Ganguly)
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