Motorsport

BT Sport has secured live rights to the ABB FIA Formula E Championship, beginning with Season Five, which gets underway on 15th December in Ad Diriyah, Saudi Arabia.

The agreement adds to BT Sport's motorsport rights portfolio, which also includes MotoGP, European Le Mans, Grand Prix, British Speedway and the World Rally Championship.

The broadcaster is promising the UK's "most comprehensive" coverage of the 13-race series, which is set to introduce a number of innovations in 2018-19.

The new season of electric street racing series Formula E will get underway with a new look; new broadcasters on-board and a new, influencer-focussed Youtube partership.

Founder and CEO Alejandro Agag appeared both as a hologram and in person at a launch event to kick off the action, accompanied by vlogger KSI.

The addition of an 'Attack Mode' element for 2018/19 will see drivers able to twice go through a zone off the racing line to get a short-term speed boost.

The Motor Sports Association, the governing body of motorsport in the UK, has rebranded as Motorsport UK, heralding what the organisation describes as a “new chapter in its history.”

It claims the move signals a shift of emphasis away from regulation, putting promotion of the sport and customer service at the forefront of its mission.

The ABB FIA Formula E Championship has strengthened its senior management team with the addition of Jerome Hiquet as chief marketing officer.

Hiquet joins Formula E ahead of the fifth season of the fully electric street racing series, which gets underway in Saudi Arabia on the 15th December.

He joins having departed his role as CMO at Tough Mudder, where for the last four years he specialised in building brand awareness and helped the mass participation obstacle event to grow in the early phase of launching the concept.

Formula E has scored a landmark terrestrial broadcast rights deal in the UK.

The BBC, for the first time, will screen every race of the 2018/19 ABB FIA Formula E Championship via its website and TV red button platforms.

The new partnership deal with the British public broadcaster will see the fully electric street racing series aired live across the BBC, starting on the 15th December with the opening race of season five.

Heineken and Formula E have agreed a partnership for the brewery to become an official partner of the ABB FIA Formula E Championship. 

The five-year partnership will begin in the forthcoming 2018/19 season and will see Heineken join the electric street racing series as official Beer and Cider Partner.

Alongside becoming a worldwide partner of Formula E, Heineken will also have substantial pouring, activation and access rights across events and key race locations including Santiago de Chile, Mexico City, Rome and New York City.

Hugh Chambers, the current COO of World Sailing, has been announced as the new CEO of The UK Motor Sports Association (MSA).

Chambers will assume the position from November, taking on the leadership of the UK’s governing body for motorsport, responsible for the overall strategy, leadership and management of the organisation, which represents around 30,000 competitors, 10,000 volunteer marshals, 3,200 officials, and 720 clubs. 

Organisers of the Le Mans 24 Hours race and the Motorsport Network are partnering to launch an esports series.

The announcement of the series coincided with this year’s race, which was won by Formula One champion Fernando Alonso. FA Racing, the esports team set up by Alonso in 2017, will also take part in the series.

The new series will feature gamers competing on the Forza Motorsport title, launching in August.

Fans can now compete against Formula E drivers after the all-electric series announced a long-term partnership extension with the entertainment company Virtually Live.  

As part of the deal, Virtually Live will create a ‘live ghost racing app’ across a variety of platforms, which will allow fans to race against Formula E drivers in real-time, using computer-generated imagery (CGI).

BT Sport has signed a three-year extension to continue as the exclusive live broadcaster of MotoGP in the UK and Ireland, taking the broadcaster’s partnership through until the end of the 2021 season.

As part of the agreement, MotoGP fans will be able to access every minute of race weekends, with BT Sport broadcasting all 19 Grands Prix, with coverage from MotoGP, Moto2 and Moto3.