There is probably not going to be an Eprix in Sochi
I have been wrong before but. Sometimes I am more certain I am right.
Autosport/Motorsport today reported that Australian city Adelaide and two locations in the Russian Federation were bidding for a Formula E race. Adelaide has verified backing from the mayor and seems like a fairly credible bid (there’s a Superprix street circuit there that the layout of can be used) if Formula E can be persuaded down under.
Ooooon the other hand there’s the Russian Federation rumours, which come in various shades of things that make you go ‘hmmm’ if you’ve ever engaged in the fine art of Kremlinology,
Most news outlets in the RF have to be treated with a pinch of salt, TASS with the sort of sodium overload only available in a backwater Ukrainian kebab shop. So when I saw it appearing as a source for the Deputy PM sounding off about Formula E about a month ago I was pretty summarily dismissive — anything that comes exclusively from a Kremlin source, with no verifying quote from a second party, is immediately a puff piece you can ignore.
Kozak can have discussed anything with Jean Todt — there’s still an F1 race in Russia, of course — but even the contexts of the article, where it was suggested the remotely-located and definitely-not-a-street-circuit Sochi Autodrome would be used were pretty patently nonsense.
Anyway, another day another few wild announcements. It is 2018, after all.
The original TASS article did mention the possibility of St Petersburg, which is more plausible as a venue. And the Russian Federation is keen to show it can host sports at the minute, maybe slightly high off the World Cup supply, so it’s a time for making wild statements.
The Autosport/Motorsport report today cited a TASS source I can’t find any sign of, in English or Russian, that “Formula E promoter” ‘Vorobyev’, said -
“We have an interesting situation with Formula E,” Vorobyev told Russian state news agency TASS.
“There are two regions in which the organiser of the championship is interested: Krasnodar Krai and St Petersburg.
“We are now negotiating it with the owner of Formula E, it’s just the commercial negotiations. We are aiming to have the most profitable deal.
“It can take long, because we are fighting our corner very hard.”
There’s an immediate issue here, which is that Sergey Vorobyov is not the Russian Formula E promoter, he is the Russian Formula 1 promoter. Which explains the Sochi fixation. (Sochi is in Krasnodar Krai, a region on the Black Sea just north of the Caucasus mountain range)
But also, if you’re used to reading news stories from the Russian Federation, anything that claims it can’t make an announcement for a long time due to secrets and negotiations is…. made up. Vorobyov may be calling Alejandro’s office daily or I guess there’s a slim chance they may be seconds from inking a contract but there’s nothing in that quote that should assure you of that.
The last confirmed Russian Formula E promoter was Valentin Buhtoyarov, for Formula E Holdings Russia. He’s a mining magnate still but I can’t find any mention of him doing anything to do with racing that isn’t on horseback, of late.
Formula E won’t outright confirm or deny anything, because bits of next year’s calendar is still being negotiated. But it’d be pretty daft to attempt to take that as agreement with (potentially deleted) TASS reportage.
That said, for all I know St Petersburg may actually be a credible concern, since a repeat of Moscow isn’t on the cards following a very challenging first event and I guess Novosibirsk and Yekaterinburg are scary words for a Western audience. St Petersburg does have a dramatic backdrop and racing on the streets would be unique (unlike the alleged plan to use Sochi circuit) so it could potentially appeal to Formula E.
But for now and with the caveat every time I feel confident about one of these things it’s announced as a decade-long concern the next day, I am pretty sure we are not taking a series for racing in city centres here:
Which is a shame as the Black Sea is nice. On the other hand, it is only 20 miles north of a conflicted border and a few hundred miles west of homosexual death camps so. Perhaps Varna would be nicer.
