Formula E season two calendar confirmed: Paris joins, Miami and Monaco dropped - MotorSportsTalk

The World Motor Sport Council has approved the calendar for the second FIA Formula E season following its meeting in Mexico City earlier this week.

As expected, the majority of the races held in the first season have been retained for the second campaign, which will start in Beijing on October 17.

Formula E will once again head to Putrajaya in Malaysia for the second round of the season before rounding out the calendar year in Punta del Este, Uruguay.

Buenos Aires will host the first round of 2016, albeit a month later than it did in season one, before a “TBD” round that is slated for March 19. MotorSportsTalk understands that this will be in Mexico City at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.

The United States will only host one Formula E round in season two as the Miami round is cut from the schedule. Long Beach has been retained, though, and will welcome the series on April 2.

The championship will then head to Europe on April 23 for a race in Paris, new for season two, before a one month break ahead of the Berlin ePrix on May 21. The Monaco ePrix has been dropped.

Moscow is set to host an ePrix on June 4 before another double-header season finale in London. However, the date is yet to be confirmed, but may need to be shelved until July 10 to avoid clashing with a Formula 1 grand prix.

2015/2016 FIA Formula E Championship calendar

Round	Date	Country	ePrix
1	17 October 2015	China	Beijing
2	7 November 2015	Malaysia	Putrajaya
3	19 December 2015	Uruguay**	Punta del Este**
4	6 February 2016	Argentina**	Buenos Aires**
5	19 March 2016	TBD	TBD
6	2 April 2016	USA	Long Beach
7	23 April 2016	France	Paris
8	21 May 2016	Germany	Berlin
9	4 June 2016	Russia	Moscow
10 & 11	TBD	United Kingdom	London

The WMSC also approved plans for the introduction of an ‘e-licence’ in Formula E, required by all drivers participating in the series.

“In order to qualify for the e-Licence, the following is required:

A specific FIA training session on the most important points of electrical safety, technical and sporting aspects of the competition
To have accumulated in the previous three years at least 20 points of the FIA points system used to qualify for the F1 Super Licence, or to have previously held an F1 Super Licence, or to have participated in at least three races of the previous FIA Formula E Championship.”

Finally, the Formula E champion will be granted a super licence to race in F1 as part of the FIA’s revised points system to gain one. The series is not included in the points classification, though.

Follow @LukeSmithF1

Media and fan attention focused on a controversial run-in between Haiden Deegan and his Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing teammate Jordon Smith during Round 10 of the Monster Energy Supercross race at Detroit, after which the 250 East points’ Hunter Lawrence defends the young rider in the postrace news conference.

Deegan took the early lead in Heat 1 of the round, but the mood swiftly changed when he became embroiled in a spirited battle with teammate Smith.

On Lap 3, Smith caught Deegan with a fast pass through the whoops. Smith briefly held the lead heading into a bowl turn but Deegan had the inside line and threw a block pass. In the next few turns, the action heated up until Smith eventually ran into the back of Deegan’s Yamaha and crashed.

One of the highlights of the battle seemed to include a moment when Deegan waited on Smith in order to throw a second block pass, adding fuel to the controversy.

After his initial crash, Smith fell to seventh on the next lap. He would crash twice more during the event, ultimately finishing four laps off the pace in 20th.

The topic was inevitably part of the postrace news conference.

“It was good racing; it was fun,” Deegan said at about the 27-minute mark in the video above. “I just had some fun doing it.”

Smith had more trouble in the Last Chance Qualifier. He stalled his bike in heavy traffic, worked his way into a battle for fourth with the checkers in sight, but crashed a few yards shy of the finish line and was credited with seventh. Smith earned zero points and fell to sixth in the standings.

Lawrence defends Deegan — *Jordon Smith failed to make the Detroit Supercross Main and fell to sixth in the points. – Feld Motor Sports*

“I think he’s like fifth in points,” Deegan said. “He’s a little out of it. Beside that it was good, I don’t know. I wasn’t really paying attention.”

Deegan jokingly deflected an earlier question with the response that he wasn’t paying attention during the incident.

“He’s my teammate, but he’s a veteran, he’s been in this sport for a while,” Deegan said. “I was up there just battling. I want to win as much as everybody else. It doesn’t matter if it’s a heat race or a main; I just want to win. I was just trying to push that.”

As Deegan and Smith battled, Jeremy Martin took the lead. Deegan finished second in the heat and backed up his performance with a solid third-place showing in the main, which was his second podium finish in a short six-race career. Deegan’s first podium was earned at Daytona, just two rounds ago.

But as Deegan struggled to find something meaningful to say, unsurprisingly for a 17-year-old rider who was not scheduled to run the full 250 schedule this year, it was the championship leader Lawrence who came to his defense.

“I just want to point something out, which kind of amazes me,” Lawrence said during the conference. “So many of the people on social media, where everyone puts their expertise in, are saying the racing back in the ’80s, the early 90s, when me were men. They’re always talking about how gnarly it was and then anytime a block pass or something happens now, everyone cries about it.

“That’s just a little bit interesting. Pick one. You want the gnarly block passes from 10 years ago and then you get it, everyone makes a big song and dance about it.”

Pressed further, Lawrence defended not only the pass but the decision-making process that gets employed lap after lap in a Supercross race.

“It’s easy to point the finger,” Lawrence said. “We’re out there making decisions in a split millisecond. People have all month to pay their phone bill and they still can’t do that on time.

“We’re making decisions at such a fast reaction [time with] adrenaline. … I’m not just saying it for me or Haiden. I speak for all the guys. No one is perfect and we’re under a microscope out there. The media is really quick to point a finger when someone makes a mistake.”

The media is required to hold athletes accountable for their actions. They are also required to tell the complete story.

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