The Seoul ePrix is an annual race of the

single-seater An open-wheel single-seater (often known as formula car) is a car with the wheels outside the car's main body, and usually having only one seat. Open-wheel cars contrast with street cars, sports cars, stock cars, and touring cars, which have the ...

, electrically powered Formula E championship, to be held at the Seoul Street Circuit in

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 ...

, the capital of

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

. It was first raced in the 2021–2022 season as the first ePrix in South Korea and fifth Asian country to host an ePrix, following

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

(including

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...

, and

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

. It is the first time in nine years that South Korea has hosted large motorsports events since the last

Formula One Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...

Korean Grand Prix The Korean Grand Prix ( Korean: 코리아 그랑프리) was a Formula One race held in South Korea, from 2010 until 2013, when it was dropped from the Formula One calendar. History On 2 October 2006 it was confirmed that the event would take ...

held in

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

History

South Korea's previous attempts at hosting motorsport events include the Korean Grand Prix situated at

Yeongam Yeongam () is a city and county in South Jeolla Province, South Korea. Bordered with Mokpo and Naju to the north, Jangheung County to the east, and Haenam and Gangjin to the south, Yeongam County comprises two '' eups'' and nine '' myeons'', popul ...

, which ran from 2010 to 2013. Low attendance figures, five hours of traveling time from Seoul and unfulfilled resort facilities around the track were the main reasons for the event's short existence. On 30 November 2018, Formula E CEO,

Alejandro Agag Alejandro Tarik Agag Longo (born 18 September 1970, in Madrid) is a Spanish businessman and former politician. He is based in London as the Chairman of Addax Capital LLP. Early life and education Born to an Algerian-Belgium, Belgian father You ...

signed an agreement with Moon Jae-sik, chairman of JSM Holdings. South Korea was given the right to hold the ABB Formula E Championship from 2020 to 2025. The aim is to expand the Asian market and provide a platform for cooperation between Formula E and South Korean automobile industrial technology and eco-friendly innovations. The Formula E race will be served as an annual attraction for

motor sport ''Motor Sport'' is a monthly motor racing magazine, founded in the United Kingdom in 1924 as the ''Brooklands Gazette''. The name was changed to ''Motor Sport'' for the August 1925 issue. The magazine covers motor sport in general, although from ...

fans from nearby countries such as China and

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. Three other candidates in the Asia-Pacific region considered for hosting included

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

, and

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. The inaugural Seoul ePrix was cancelled in response to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, then it was due to take place on 23 May 2021 as the 9th round of the 2021 Formula E season. But due to the ongoing situation of the

, the race's first running will be on the 2022 Formula E season. On 19 June 2021, Seoul city government announced that the race's first running would be set to form part of the Seoul Fest celebrations on the days of 13–14 August 2022 The Seoul ePrix was set to return for the

2022-23 Formula E season The hyphen-minus is the most commonly used type of hyphen, widely used in digital documents. It is the only character that looks like a minus sign or a dash in many character sets such as ASCII or on most keyboards, so it is also used as such. ...

on 20 and 21 May 2023, but renovation works to the Jamsil Stadium meant that the event would not be able to take place, and it was replaced by the

Cape Town ePrix The Cape Town ePrix is a Formula E event held in Cape Town, South Africa. Its first edition took place on 25 February 2023. It was the first Formula E race held in Sub-Saharan Africa. History Initially planned to be held in 2022, the r ...

Circuit

On 23 July 2018, a feasibility study on candidate areas including

Gwanghwamun Gwanghwamun () is the main and largest gate of Gyeongbok Palace, in Jongno-gu, Seoul, South Korea. It is located at a three-way intersection at the northern end of Sejongno. As a landmark and symbol of Seoul's long history as the capital city dur ...

in Seoul was completed. As a result of the survey, the popular tourist area around

Gwanghwamun Square Gwanghwamun Plaza (, also known as Gwanghwamun Square) is a public open space on Sejongno, Jongno-gu, Seoul, South Korea. The plaza was opened on 1 August 2009 by the Seoul Metropolitan Government and is part of the City's plans for environmenta ...

and City Hall Square was selected as a candidate region. The exact location was eventually revealed to be the Jamsil Sports Complex.

Results

References

International sports competitions hosted by South Korea Motorsport in South Korea Recurring sporting events established in 2022 2022 establishments in Asia {{Motorsport-stub