Next February’s first ever Formula E race in South Africa will race around the perimeter roads of the Cape Town Stadium but could also run through it in the future.
The Cape Town E-Prix, which was given a slot on the 2022 calendar at the FIA World Motorsport Council meeting earlier this month, is set to have the iconic Table Mountain and Robben Island as part of the backdrop to the circuit.
The stadium, which is often known colloquially as the Green Point stadium in reference to the area of the capital in which it lies, was built for the 2010 FIFA World Cup and hosted the semi-final between Uruguay and the Netherlands.
It is also the home of two soccer clubs – Cape Town Spurs and Cape Town City and has a current capacity of 53,000.
But the inside of the stadium will not be utilised for the E-Prix itself unlike the Jamsil Stadium in Seoul which will see the cars enter and exit the arena while also employing the perimeter roads.
The chairman of the e-movement company which will be the chief promoters of the Cape Town E-Prix, Iain Banner confirmed to The Race at a special press conference in London last week that the width of the entry in to and out of the stadium was the ultimate reason why it cannot race inside.
“We wanted to design a track through the stadium but in order to achieve that, you need a minimum of seven metre width into the stadium and unfortunately the current is 5.3 metres,” said Banner.
“So we’re not able to do that but we’ll look at it in the future.”
Banner also confirmed that the track will have a “separate reveal” but would be racing beside the Atlantic ocean “obviously on a street circuit.”
According to Banner the plans also include a “five day programme based around sustainability and e-mobility.”
“We have a two day conference of emobility and we will have all things EV from OEM’s, bicycles, possibly a plane to showcase to the public what EV is all about.,” said Banner.
“We’ve got a golf tournament, which Ernie Els is hosting for us, where the drivers and the team principals and people in the ecosystem and our sponsors will play at the metropolitan golf course.
Additionally a climate change summit “where we will be talking about all things sustainable,” will be held.
Formula E co-founder and chief championship officer, Alberto Longo described Formula E’s need to go to cities such as Cape Town as “a great moment because we are at an expansion point where major cities with a sporting reputation like Cape Town want a Formula E race.”
“It will be an amazing location for everyone and this deal that we have with the Tourist Board is super exciting for us,” Longo told The Race.
That referenced a five-year deal between the promoters, Formula E and the Cape Town Tourist Board which was announced at the press conference.
International motorsport in South Africa has had a fractured recent record with the last world championship race being the 1993 South African Grand Prix at Kyalami which was won by Alain Prost’s Williams FW14.
Since then several international events have been held including the 1998 International Sports Racing Series race and more recently the SRO promoted GT races.
Cape Town’s only local track is the Killarney facility which hosted three rounds of the World Rallycross championship between 2017-19.
Talking at the same press conference, Jaguar Racing’s Sporting Manager, Gary Ekerold, who was born and raised in South Africa told The Race that the event will be “a majorly big deal for Cape Town and Formula E from a commercial and sporting perspective.
“There is a great heritage of racing in South Africa and a thirst for different types of motorsport, so I believe that Formula E will be a big boost for the city and vice versa,” added Ekerold, whose father Jon won the 1980 350cc world motorcycling championship.
