Formula E Diriyah E-Prix Preview

Formula E returns on Thursday for its first double-header of the 2023 season with two back-to-back rounds in Saudi Arabia for the Diryah E-Prix.

Formula E will have its first race under the lights in 2023 as the sport heads off to Saudi Arabia for the 2023 CORE Diriyah E-Prix which completes rounds two and three. The event comes after an eventful season opener in Mexico where the Gen3 race cars made their debut.

The usual season opener in Saudi Arabia – which has been demoted down to rounds two and three this season, will see the teams and driver tackle their first street circuit of the season after they battled it out on Mexico City’s Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.

The Diriyah Street Circuit, which snakes through the UNESCO world heritage site, provides a unique challenge for the drivers as they must work out the best balance of energy management and outright pace.

Avalanche Andretti and Dennis on top

Avalanche Andretti, and their British driver; Jake Dennis, stand on top of the world championship after round one, in Mexico. Andretti leads the teams table with 38 points to their name, Dennis shares most of the points haul with 26 points alongside Andre Lotterer’s 12pts.

Dennis got the American outfit off to a great start after a front-row appearance, alongside Mahindra Racing’s Lucas Di Grassi – who started the Mexico City race on pole position. However, the Briton soon converted his second-place start into the race lead early on.

At the moment, despite it being early in the season, Dennis and Andretti are under pressure from Tag Heuer Porsche who line up second in both the drivers and team standings. The team currently have 24 points to their name while their leading driver, Pascal Wehrlein sits P2 on 18 points – a shared points tally with Di Grassi in third.

New milestones and achievements

Since Formula E’s inception, back in , only one driver has reached the 100-race milestone; Di Grassi. The Brazilian secured the impressive statistic in South Korea’s Seoul when the sport ended its Gen2 era with an impressive championship battle in the final race of the season.

However, In Mexico, Sam Bird, Sebastien Buemi (Envision Racing) and, double-time world champion, Jean-Eric Vergne joined that list in Mexico.

There will be a new face on the grid as Kelvin van der Linde will step in for ABT Cupra’s Robin Frijns who suffered a wrist injury on the opening lap in Mexico. As such, Linde’s appearance sees him become the first South African driver to take place on the grid in the sports history.

When is it on and how can I watch?

Available as a free to view on Channel 4 Sports and Formula E’s official YouTube channels, the second and third rounds of the championship will get underway on Thursday, January 26, 2023.

Free Practice 1 gets underway a day prior to qualifying and the race for round 2, on January 26 at 2:55pm (GMT), 5:55pm local time.

On the following day, Free Practice 2 starts at 10:25am GMT (1:25pm local time) with qualifying starting at 12:40pm GMT (3:40pm local). The second round is set to start at 5pm GMT (8pm local time).

In the wake of the first race, the third – and final – practice session in Diriyah will begin at 10:25am GMT (1:25pm local time), on January 28, 2023. Qualifying for round three will start at 12:40pm GMT (3:40pm local time) with the race set to get underway at 5pm GMT (8pm local time.)

Free practice, qualifying and the race will all be available to watch on Channel 4 Sport’s YouTube channel while Formula E’s official YouTube channel will only showcase practice.

That’s it for the article: Formula E Diriyah E-Prix Preview!

What are you looking forward to in this weekend’s Formula E race? Let us know in the comments!

Read more Formula E here:

• FE Mexico E-prix: Dennis secures first win of 2023
• NIO 333 take the covers off their Gen3 racer
• ABT Sportsline reveal Gen3 car as they return to Formula E
• Avalanche Andretti reveal Gen3 challenger
• Portland completes Formula E Season 9 Calendar
• Maserati MSG Racing unveil Gen3 Tipo Folgore

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Kamron Kent

Hi, I’m Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion.

I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I’ve loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.

Kamron Kent

Hi, I'm Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion. I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I've loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.