Posted on 30th March 2016
At the Mexico ePrix five weeks ago, Dragon Racing driver Jerome D'Ambrosio won his first Formula ePrix win of the 2016 season after Lucas Di Grassi was disqualified after his car was found to have under the legal limit ahead of Sebastien Buemi in second place and Nicolas Prost in third place.
With the Formula E Championship heading to Long Beach this weekend for round 6, Long Beach might be the longest running street race in the USA, but the track has undergone a host of changes over years. The only constant has been the presence of the startline on Shoreline Drive.
The original 1975 layout remained unchanged all the way through to the end of 1981. For the '82 race a host of revisions we made altering the look of the layout significantly. There were even more dramatic changes for '83, the most notable being the removal of the Ocean Boulevard back stretch, which had been the location of the finishing line since the race started. Instead, the track was routed down Seaside Way, which it continues to do to this day.
The Le Gasomet hairpin was removed for 1984, while further tweaks were made to the piece of track leading up to Seaside Way for the 1987 race. These were simplified even further in 1992, while the Marina section was added to the layout in 1999. The run from the Marina to the Tecate Turn was included in 2001 – the last major revision to the layout until this weekend's race.
However, Formula E uses a shortened version of the track; with the Marina section cut out, and the cars taking a hard right at Tecate. The rest of the track which including the famous Shoreline drive startline does remains the same.
Last year Nelson Piquet Jr made a sensational start and dominated the race and claimed his first Formula E win at the same track where his triple world champion father scored the first of his 24 F1 wins.
The Brazilian is having a tough title defence at the moment, therefore leaving the way open for another driver to add their name to the illustrious list of Long Beach winners.
To watch the coverage of the Long Beach this weekend, ITV 4 will be covering the event on Saturday 2nd April at 11pm, with highlights being shown on ITV on Sunday 3rd April at 9.25am.
The Long Beach ePrix will also be streamed live online in the UK via YouTube, Dailymotion and through the official Formula E App and website – http://www.fiaformuale.com
Keep checking Driving for Pleasure for coverage of the 2016 Long Beach ePrix with our reports of each session.
Sarah Jones- @jonesy_laaa
