For the first time in the series’ history, Formula E travels to Japan for the inaugural Tokyo E-Prix. For the fifth round of this season the championship heads to the first of three new tracks for Season 10. The Tokyo E-Prix has been a very anticipated event and hopes are high that it will be an exciting one.

The 20-turn track travels around the Tokyo International Exhibition Centre, the largest venue in all of Japan. The track features three long straights and also features a few small elevation changes and bumps. Overtaking opportunities at the track are likely to be minimal, and energy management won’t be a huge factor. This means the type of racing we’ll see, will be closer to the Diriyah E-Prix than what we saw at the São Paulo E-Prix earlier this month.

Oliver Rowland, Nissan Formula E Team, Nissan e-4ORCE 04 (©Simon Galloway/FIA Formula E)

The starting straight leads into a tight sequence of corners, making the start of the race prone to an incident. Turn 4 is a long hairpin and is also the corner where drivers will have to take attack mode. The sequence of turns 5 to 8 follows each other quickly and leads onto a straight broken up by a small kink at turn 9. The straight ends with the chicane of turns 10 and 11. Speed remains quick throughout the latter half of the lap with a last-minute extra chicane added to the end of the lap at turn 16 as a safety measure. A slow chicane at turns 19 and 20 leads drivers back onto the starting straight.

What to look out for?

Nissan’s Oliver Rowland has scored a podium in the past two races and hopes to continue that streak at his team’s home race. The Nissan powertrain has shown improvement with McLaren’s Sam Bird taking victory in São Paulo.

Oliver Rowland of Nissan Formula E Team during the Mexico City E-Prix (©Simon Galloway/FIA Formula E)

Championship leader Nick Cassidy failed to continue his perfect podium streak in São Paulo when a loose front wing on his Jaguar caught under his car which made any steering input useless, causing him to end the race in the wall. Cassidy will be set to make amends in Tokyo. His teammate, Mitch Evans, took his first podium earlier this month in São Paulo and should try to continue that if he wants to make a real challenge for this year’s championship.

The same counts for reigning champion Jake Dennis, aside from a win in Diriyah, he has not made a mark yet. So Tokyo could be the chance for him to make a real challenge at defending his title.

Track Layout:

Past Winners

Inaugural Race

Race Info:

• Race Length: 33 Laps
• Turns: 20
• Attack Mode Place: T4
• Attack Mode: 8 Minutes
• Track Length: 2.585 km