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Reuters
Reuters
Business

Motor racing - London to host part-indoor Formula E race in 2020

Motor racing - Formula E - Santiago ePrix - Santiago, Chile - January 26, 2019 Venturi's Felipe Massa in action during the race REUTERS/Rodrigo Garrido

LONDON (Reuters) - London will host the season finale of the all-electric Formula E series in July next year with a double-header of races that will start and end indoors at the ExCel centre in the city's Docklands.

The return to the capital after a three-year absence was announced by Formula E chairman Alejandro Agag at the Geneva Motor Show on Tuesday.

The ePrix on July 25-26 will have an indoor stadium section as part of a 2.4km clockwise circuit taking in the waterfront of the Royal Docks and streets around the centre in East London which hosted events at the 2012 London Olympics.

Motor racing - Formula E - Santiago ePrix - Santiago, Chile - January 26, 2019 Geox Dragon's Maximilian Gunther in action during the race REUTERS/Rodrigo Garrido

"Every motorsport series would love to host an event in London. This has been our desire for quite some time now," commented Agag.

"Formula E coming back to the UK extends beyond pure racing excitement, it’s also a strong message for London to tackle inner-city air pollution by promoting clean technologies and electric sustainable mobility."

Formula E is based in Britain but London has been off the calendar since 2016 after a race in Battersea Park led to complaints by local residents about disruption on their doorstep.

Agag, a Spaniard, had likened Formula E's absence from London to Real Madrid not playing in Madrid.

The series is in its fifth season with a race in Hong Kong this weekend.

Mercedes and Porsche are set to enter the sixth season in 2019-20, joining manufacturers like Nissan, Citroen, BMW, Jaguar, Audi and Mahindra.

(Reporting by Alan Baldwin, editing by Amlan Chakraborty)

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