The worldwide championship, which was unveiled in Johannesburg on Monday, has been co-founded by three key gamers within the A1 Grand Prix World Cup of Motorsport of 2004/05 to 2008/09.
Liu Yu and Tokyo Sexwale, the previous seat holders of the nationwide A1GP groups from China and South Africa respectively, have joined forces with the championship’s normal supervisor after which business head throughout its growth and first two seasons, Stephen Watson, to determine the Elite World Cup in time for a winter-season marketing campaign in 2024/25.
Their sequence has no reference to the A1GP revival deliberate by the Origin Sports activities Group, which introduced in Could that it has purchased the rights to the identify and is searching for to lift £80 million for a relaunch.
The founders of the Elite World Cup have revealed that they have already got the finance in place to get the sequence off the bottom with the construct 50 EV racers, which can almost definitely be based mostly on the 2000bhp Evija hypercar or supersportscar first proven in 2019.
They’re engaged in ultimate talks with Lotus Automobiles and mother or father firm Geely to finalise an settlement to make use of the Evija, which offered the centrepiece for Monday’s launch in South Africa.
The Elite World Cup is aiming to draw buy-in from 25 nationwide groups utilizing the same franchise mannequin to the unique A1GP.
Ex-System 3000 racer Watson, who was subsequently event director of the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, defined that discussions are already underway with potential franchisees.
“We’ve got shared our concepts with some events and we’ve robust curiosity already — we’ve individuals telling us they’re coming in,” he advised Autosport.
Elite World Cup founders Stephen Watson, Tokyo Sexwale and Liu Yu
Photograph by: Elite World Cup
The phrase Elite within the identify of the sequence refers back to the profile of driver it’s trying to draw.
“A1GP in a short time grew to become a type of junior formulation, a stepping-stone for younger drivers,” mentioned Watson.
“We would like drivers who’ve flown the flag for his or her nation in System 1, IndyCar, NASCAR or different high-level sequence, together with the World Rally Championship.
“We all know what having an enormous identify representing their nation does for a sequence from A1GP occasions: when Jos Verstappen was driving for the Dutch workforce, the dunes at Zandvoort for his dwelling race had been a sea of orange.
“That’s the reason we’re calling this the Elite World Cup, as a result of we would like essentially the most distinguished and highest profile drivers attainable from every nation.”
Every nationwide workforce would require a minimal of two drivers.
Race weekends will probably be made up of a dash race on the Saturday of round 40 minutes, earlier than a mini-endurance race of roughly one hour and 20 minutes on Sunday.
Each races will in essence be relays: when one automotive pits it will likely be changed on observe by the workforce’s second entry.
There will probably be a minimal of 1 pitstop within the dash and three in the primary race, which suggests fast-charging will probably be employed to replenish battery ranges.
So-called rising motorsport nations will solely be required to run one driver from their very own nation and might signal non-nationals for the opposite seat or seats.
Watson defined that the choice to not comply with the single-seater route had been taken to present the sequence a singular promoting level.
“I believe that area is totally captured with the success of F1 and we didn’t need to go the route of replicating A1GP with EVs as a result of there’s already System E on the market,” he defined.
“An electrical hypercar will resonate extra with the person on the road as a result of it’s nearer to one thing you’ll be able to see on the street, and it additionally appealed to our funding group, which is predominantly Chinese language.”
The Elite World Cup is focusing on 18 nations for its debut season of eight race weekends beginning in September or October subsequent 12 months, with a hoped-for 25 international locations competing over 10 occasions in season two.