FORMULA E DRIVERS MEET IN LONDON FOR TWO RACES

As the 2021-2022 season of the Formula E World Championship approaches its epilogue, the 2 London rounds this weekend might be decisive, simply earlier than the final two races scheduled for mid-August in Seoul, South Korea. .

The capital of the United Kingdom has a really intimate historical past with Formula E as a result of the primary two seasons of the self-discipline (2014-2015 and 2015-2016) certainly resulted in Battersea Park, an 83-hectare botanical space which had lent its paths to the Championship.

In 2020-2021, the collection had this time invested the enclosure of the large web site of ExCeL London, an exhibition middle in XXL format. Built on the banks of the Thames, within the district of Newham, this place hosts all types of occasions on the previous docks of the Royal Victoria.

Inaugurated in 2000, it was the scene of the 2012 Olympic Games with numerous occasions (wrestling, boxing, desk tennis, weightlifting, and so forth.).

Last yr motor races had been held there for the primary time. Building on the success, two new E-Prix might be held there on July 30 and 31.

2.14 km lengthy with 22 bends, the route has the particularity of being roughly 25% “indoor”, in different phrases with almost 600 meters indoors. The automobiles enter it after having crossed an entry ramp, and discover there one other physiognomy of the circuit, in addition to a altering grip on a really abrasive resin ground.

This was the case final yr when the rain began to fall, logically watering the one outer a part of the route. What was wanted then had been tires able to dealing with the transition between dry and moist floor in the identical lap. A efficiency that solely Michelin tires had been capable of present in competitors!

Mirko Piracchio, Michelin’s Formula E supervisor, explains:

“This Championship is unique”.

And he continues:

“It’s the one self-discipline to prepare races in such totally different configurations. Since 2014, we have now needed to cope with all of the hazards of a metropolis middle route, but additionally with the specificities of everlasting circuits or adapting to utterly totally different climate situations relying on the continents and international locations. Our particularity is to have raced with the identical tire every time! In London, on a circuit created from scratch a yr in the past, we added the “indoor resin floor” brick, with a excessive stage of grip and put on that we found after we arrived on web site. This yr, as we have now analyzed all the information collected final season, we all know what to anticipate. The temperatures, which ought to flirt with 30°C within the air if the solar comes out, and the potential precipitation may nonetheless trigger some surprises. But we’re assured in regards to the efficiency of the MICHELIN Pilot Sport EVs as a result of these are situations we have now already encountered, and on a monitor whose specificities we grasp. »

For the 2 London E-Prix, the tire allocation has been calibrated on twelve tires per automotive (six entrance tires and as many for the rear).

That’s the identical variety of tires as in New York two weeks in the past. A restricted variety of envelopes highlights the sustainable nature of Michelin’s Motorsport actions. Fewer tires utilized in every race means fewer supplies used, restricted vitality sources, but additionally much less logistics and fewer tires to recycle.

According to Michelin Motorsport, that is how we intend to make motorsport extra accountable!

Finally, let’s recall the present provisional basic classification after the 2 rounds of the current New York Grand Prix:

1.Vandoorne: 155 dots – 2. Mortara: 144 – 3.Evans: 139 – 4. Vergne: 128– 5.Frijns: 104 – 6.Da Costa: 100 – 7.Di Grassi: 84 – 8. De Vries: 83 – 9.Wehrlein and Lotterer: 63

Gilles GAIGNAULT

Photos: FORMULA E