Why the India race was a massive success: Formula E co-founder Alberto Longo

Despite several challenges and last-minute preparations, India saw the return of a global motorsport event for the first time in a decade with Hyderabad successfully hosting its maiden Formula E race on February 11.

DS Penske’s Jean-Eric Vergne won the first-ever Hyderabad E-Prix in thrilling fashion as his car ran out of energy on the line of the 2.83km temporary Hyderabad Street Circuit, just 0.4 seconds ahead of second-placed Nick Cassidy, watched by the approximately 25,000 racing fans who turned up to watch the race.

“The first-ever Formula E race in India was a massive success. The people who watched the race on TV in different parts of the world, now want to come to Hyderabad. We don't have the fine details right now but I can tell you around 40 million (people watched it) on TV. It was probably one of the biggest races we have ever done on social media because of the impact of obviously the fantastic celebrities that came,” Formula E co-founder Alberto Longo said from Cape Town, which will host the next race on Saturday.

Hosting a new event at a new venue always has its own challenges. The Hyderabad E-Prix was no different. Since the race took place on a temporary street circuit, the facilities and arrangements were also largely temporary, leading to several issues like massive traffic disruption, lack of restrooms in the paddock, last-minute arrangements, issues with the track at a couple of turns etc.

“Now we have a whole year (for the second race) to keep working. It is true that we deal or finalise things at the very last minute. That was something we raised to our partner locally, who did a fantastic event. I am absolutely positive that in the years to come this will be a much smoother operation as we have done in many other locations. Of course, the race and operations were not perfect but we all need to understand that the race track 14 days before the race was a completely different picture,” said Longo, who is also the Formula E Chief Championship Officer.

“We transformed the heart of the beautiful city of Hyderabad into a permanent track. So, there were a lot of challenges. We tried to minimise the disruption to the neighbourhood, to the people who are around and that sometimes creates some challenges but nothing like we haven’t had in cities like Hong Kong, Paris, Mexico, Rome, London etc. Definitely, (there is) room to improve and we will do it.

The fourth race of the 16-round calendar, the Hyderabad E-Prix was broadcast in more than 150 countries. This was the first race of the four-year contract the local authorities have signed with Formula E with the option of hosting four more. This was also India’s first major motorsport event since the unceremonious exit of Formula E after the third and final Indian Grand Prix in 2013.

"We face challenges every time we go to a new city. There are a lot of things we need to do. We have demonstrated over the course of years that the first year is always a bit more challenging than the next ones. I will keep on with the positive that we have had an amazing race and hopefully in the years to come it will be better and better as we always do in every race that we repeat,” added Longo.

Asked what plans they have to improve the spectacle for next year, Longo kept the matter a secret.

“We are famous in the motorsport world for changing things year on year. That is obviously going to happen. But I cannot tell you today because I would be breaking news but for sure we will bring a new sort of sporting format that will make the race even better. We are always thinking how to improve our product and you'll definitely see next year,” he said.

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