Germany could get two Formula E races in 2028 but the likelihood of a possible addition to the Berlin Tempelhof location is unlikely to be the Norisring street circuit in Nuremberg.
Talks between Formula E and the organising body of the Norisring event, the Motorsport-Club Nurnberg (MCN), took place earlier this year but broke down over several topics, including possibilities of modifying the classic street circuit to include and extra regen feature on the configuration.
That triggered Formula E continuing its multi-year agreement with Berlin Tempelhof, which was once the world’s largest airport and has since 2015 hosted the German round of the all-electric series.
Answering a question posed by Formula E Notebook at a recent media roundtable session, Formula E’s co-founder and chief championship officer, Alberto Longo, said that a second race in Germany in the near future is a possibility.
“We said that we were going to have to two races in China. We do. We said that we were going to have to raise it in the US. We have. We said that we were going to increase the number of races that we have in Europe. We have,” outlined Longo.
Do we want to increase the number of races in Europe and potentially in Germany? Why not?
“Maybe five years ago I would have told you that we will never have two races in the same country. That is changing,” added Longo.
Opel will join an expanded Porsche operation next season, meaning that six factory cars run by the German manufacturers will be on the grid. Add in the new Porsche factory team and another brace of CUPRA Kiro cars, as the American flagged team are set to continue with Porsche, it means that eight German cars are in-line to be on the grid next season.
“The impact that Opel, together with the two teams of Porsche, we could consider doing more than one race or more than one city in Germany, is that something that is going to happen next year?” speculated Longo.
“At the moment we have open discussions with some of them, but I don’t see that happening in season 14 (20267-28).
“Having said that, maybe in six months’ time when we have another interview, I will tell you already that we have another race again. I think Germany is a key market, and Europe in general drives a lot of viewership to our championship, which is exactly what we need and what we want. So why not?”
Formula E is also understood to have looked at the Hockenheim-Ring near Heidelberg, which has hosted Grand Prix between 1970 and 2019.
A street race in Germany took place at the Alexander-Platz layout in 2016 when Tempelhof as unavailable due to the airfield being used to house refugees. But reprising that initiative is not thought to viable in the near future.
Street circuits in Dresden, Munich and Cologne have also been looked at by various motorsport series in recent years but to no positive outcome.
