A weekend of fast cars, fan experiences and frantic street racing awaits motorsport fans on SuperSport as Formula E comes to South Africa for the first time this weekend.
With designs on being ranked among the top three cities on the Formula E calendar, Cape Town has delivered a stunning backdrop along the tight 2,94km circuit where thousands are expected to gather to witness history (and great racing) on an action-packed weekend.
The exhilarating circuit promises to be one of the fastest on the global series calendar.
Festivities for the race, the first of its kind in Sub-Saharan Africa, will begin on Friday when the drivers take to the track in free practice one. On Saturday, the spectacle will be unrelenting with free practice two, the qualifying session and the race all taking place.
Now in season nine, Formula E has amassed millions of fans and viewers drawn to the thrill of the racing in many of the world’s most exotic cities, clocking top speeds of around 320km/hour in the Gen3.
Formula E’s blueprint is standard: 11 teams of two drivers compete over 16 rounds in 11 different countries. Big-name teams like Maserati, McLaren, Nissan and Porsche all feature.
Look out, too, for South Africa’s own Kelvin van der Linde, who last month made his Formula E World Championship debut in Saudi Arabia with ABT Cupra.
Formula E also brings racing innovation. Unlike in Formula One (three qualifying rounds), Formula E goes for a straight knock-out format. And while an E-Prix is raced along a set number of laps, more can be added if there is a disrupting safety car or yellow-flag episode.
Another wild innovation is “Attack Mode”, which allows them to deliver an extra 50kW of power for four minutes – either used in segments of two minutes each or in a three-one split.
In addition to the big race, SuperSport will have exclusive behind-the-scenes footage that will be available across a range of platforms, including Blitz, supersport.com, Catch Up, social and the SS Motorsport and Variety channels.
These platforms will deliver content focused on pit walks, mechanics, hospitality, VIP and celebrity guests, shadow laps and the comings and goings of the drivers themselves. The lifestyles, glitz and glamour of elite-level racing will all be on display, and central to SuperSport’s broadcast.
The SuperSport Blitz channel will focus on news-specific events around the Formula E, including race-day events and reports and post-race moments and interviews.