‘Hyperboost’ gets the go-ahead

Apart from its confirmation that World Rallycross will go electric for 2020, the FIA World Motor Sport Council also firmed up the temporarily titled ‘hyperboost’ plan for the new Gen2 Formula E car, which makes its competition debut this December.

With the standard race setting set at 200kw, the higher power mode (225kw) will be activated once a driver goes through an activation zone. It is understood that the zones will be away from the racing line in order to slow the drivers down, with digital screens placed to signal the area to spectators.

It had previously been suggested that the system would be available twice during FE races and that the duration would last four minutes each time. But it has now been confirmed that “the number of activations and the duration of the use of the higher power mode will be determined at each race by the FIA, according to the individual features of the circuit”. This would be a barrier towards teams all gravitating towards the same strategy

The FIA has also announced that FE races will no longer run to a set number of laps, but will now have a maximum time limit of 45 minutes plus one lap. The current point for fastest lap will be replaced by a new reward for the driver in the top five positions who uses the least amount of energy. The superpole segment of qualifying will be expanded to six cars after the addition of the HWA team in 2018-19, with the grid rising to 22.

The WMSC also approved a new breed of prototype cars to replace LMP1 for the World Endurance Championship from the 2020-21 season, with a “freedom of design based on a hypercar concept”. More details about the rules, which have the working title GTP, will be released this week at the Le Mans 24 Hours.