Updated Formula E Season 9 calendar: Cape Town in, Seoul out

Formula E will have three new E-Prix in 2023 as Cape Town replaces Seoul in an updated calendar for the first season of the Gen3 era.

Cape Town will become the second-ever African Formula E venue when it hosts round five of the 2023 season, as the Seoul E-Prix drops off the calendar due to the renovation work at the Olympic Park.

It will be sandwiched by two more new races, coming two weeks after the Hyderabad ePrix in India and a month before round six in Sao Paolo.

“We are excited to announce Cape Town as a new destination for our series in Season 9,” said Formula E chief championship officer Alberto Longo.

“Our local partners are working incredibly hard to bring an ABB FIA Formula E World Championship race to the city and we cannot wait to see the futuristic Gen3 race cars competing against the iconic natural backdrop of Table Mountain.”

Further announcements to come

Even with this news, there’s still two ‘TBA’ slots on the calendar with less than two months to go until pre-season begins testing in Valencia.

“We cannot return to the same location next season as originally planned and so we are exploring other options in South Korea to replace this venue,” Longo added.

“We are also in active discussions with more world cities and venues to host an event on the other date without a confirmed location.”

With ten cities hosting 2023 E-Prix, Longo has said he’d be willing to fill out the remaining rounds with double-headers as long as the number of separate venues remains in double-figures.

A return to Marrakesh has been mooted, although with one African race already on the calendar it’s unlikely that will happen.

The most likely location will be in the US or Canada, with the series reportedly desperate to add another North American race.

However, Brooklyn looks to reached the end of the line as a Formula E location with dock expansions taking place around the track area.

There’s been an appetite for an E-Prix in Canada for years but Montreal and Vancouver races have fallen through in the past, and plans for replacement events in Toronto or south of the border in St Petersburg also look to be dead.

“The Brooklyn venue today is practically impossible for us to race there,” Longo told The Race. because of them getting smaller and we’re getting bigger and that’s a mix that doesn’t really work.

“We have a good relationship with them [St Petersburg and Toronto], we have been trying with the mayors; St Pete’s told us that he couldn’t do it for season nine but would explore the opportunity from season 10 onwards, and then Toronto a little bit the same.”

Formula E Season 9 provisional calendar