Blog of RENAULT NISSAN Alliance

Saturday, 13 September 2014 will go down in the history of motor racing as the day on which the first ever FIA Formula E championship race took place. Held in the streets of Beijing, the inaugural round was closely contested throughout.

After months of preparation, the FIA Formula E championship took definite shape with the first round of the ten-race season that will reach its climax in June 2015 on the streets of London. Winding round the Bird's Nest stadium built to host the 2008 Olympic Games, the Beijing course supplied all usual ingredients of a city-centre circuit, with a succession of straights, chicanes and 90° bends.

For this inaugural season, the entire field competed in Spark-Renault STR01E single-seaters. The months of preparation with the teams and the work done by all the partners produced a highly successful opening weekend, in which 35 of the 40 cars entered crossed the finishing line without incident.

The Renault Sport teams who have been very involved in this project since the beginning in 2012, working on the architecture and safety of the single-seaters, are especially proud to have successfully taken on the challenge. The technical solutions approved ensured that all the cars competing in the ePrix were quick, reliable and safe right from the word go.

There was no shortage of racing action and despite the closeness of safety barriers, the characteristics of the Spark-Renault SRT01_E enabled the drivers to outbrake one another at the corners, much to the delight of the spectators!

Our heartfelt congratulations go to all of the Teams involved in this first, the sensational 2014 Beijing ePrix!

Read more from the press release here.