Can have Formula E race on Mumbai-Nagpur highway: CM Shinde

Eknath Shinde (second from left), CM of Maharashtra and Nitin Gadkari (2nd from right), the Union road transport minister, during Thursday’s Formula E launch event at the Gateway of India. Pic/Sameer Markande

Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Union Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari urged Formula E race organisers to have their next race on the Mumbai-Nagpur Balasaheb Thackeray Samruddhi Highway.

The fourth round of the Formula E World Championships will be held in India for the first time with 22 drivers from leading manufacturers like McLaren, Maserati, Porsche, Jaguar, Nissan, and Mahindra Racing set to feature in the Hyderabad E-Prix in the backdrop of the picturesque Hussain Sagar Lake in Hyderabad on February 11.

Formula E, part of the FIA Formula E World Championship, is a single-seater motorsport championship for electric cars.

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With 30 days to go for the Hyderabad E-Prix, Shinde and Gadkari gave the race their best wishes during a promotional event at the Gateway of India on Thursday night, when they also unveiled a new E car. "We are very glad to welcome the Formula E team to Mumbai. I told Anil ji [Anil Kumar Chalamalasetty, Founder of Greenko and Ace group, who are behind the Hyderabad leg of the race] and Gadkarisaheb that this race should be held in Mumbai. The competitors will be pleased to race at across the new Balasaheb Thackeray Samruddhi [Mumbai-Nagpur] Highway. The concept behind this championship will power us through a sustainable future," added the chief minister.