Formula E: foretaste of ePrix Zurich
DRIVE VISIT FROM AUDI SPORT In two months, the first Formula E race in Switzerland will already be history. The visit by Mexico winner Daniel Abt and Head of Audi Sport Dieter Gass to the Swiss venue gave a foretaste of the Zurich ePrix. The countdown to the Formula E race in Zurich on June 10 began this week. [...]
The countdown to the Formula E race in Zurich on June 10 began this week. On Monday, all tickets for the grandstands were sold out within an hour of advance sales opening.
"I had hoped that there would be a lot of interest, but certainly not like this," said Pascal Derron, head of Swiss ePrix Operations, the company responsible for organizing the event, who was pleasantly surprised.
Home game for Daniel Abt
On Tuesday, Derron accepted an invitation from Audi Switzerland and LGT Private Banking, which is one of the sponsors of the Audi Sport Abt Schaeffler team involved in Formula E. Dieter Gass, Head of Audi Sport, came to Zurich in person, accompanied by his driver Daniel Abt, who was officially victorious in Mexico for the first time (his triumph in Hong Kong in December was disallowed due to a formal error in the homologation of the Audi e-tron FE04), although the DTM test drives were taking place in Hockenheim on the same day. This shows the importance of Formula E in Ingolstadt.
For Daniel Abt from the Allgäu, the last European race before the finale in New York in mid-July will be a home race, so to speak.
Daniel Abt: "Yes, actually it is. It's half as far from us in Kempten to Zurich as it is to the German Formula E race in Berlin. Many friends, colleagues and family members will also be coming here. What's more, the Swiss and Germans are very close anyway."
Streetcar rails are no problem
According to Pascal Derron, track construction will begin on May 24. The concrete walls will be placed in such a way that nothing is impaired. From Friday evening, June 8, the gaps on the course with start/finish at the Enge/Mythenquai harbor will be closed.
By 5 a.m. on Monday morning, everything has to be removed so that everyday traffic can pass through the streets that were used as a race track the day before without any problems. This is a challenge, says Derron, but it doesn't cause him any sleepless nights.
Contrary to the original intention to close the streetcar tracks, they remain untouched. The effort would be too great beforehand and the risk that something would no longer work during dismantling would be too great afterwards.
This doesn't seem to be a problem for the drivers themselves anyway, especially as they only have to cross the tracks. "This also happened in Miami in the first season. We discussed it beforehand, but when we drove onto the track, nobody was interested anymore," Daniel Abt points out.
Free admission
And at this point we would like to repeat: spectators can circulate freely along the route and do not need an admission ticket. The E-Village will be set up on the Arboretum, the meadow in the Mythenquai/General-Guisan-Quai/Uferpromenade triangle. This will offer entertainment and information on all aspects of Formula E and electromobility.
A good opportunity not only for those with a positive attitude, but also for critics to get an idea of such a mega-event and electric motorsport without any preconceptions.
