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Moving Berlin ePrix location "a real shame" - Engel

Formula E driver Maro Engel has expressed his disappointment that the Berlin ePrix will not take part on the city streets as scheduled this June.

Start: Jean-Eric Vergne, DS Virgin Racing leads

Start: Jean-Eric Vergne, DS Virgin Racing leads

FIA Formula E

#3 Black Falcon Mercedes AMG GT3: Maro Engel
Jean-Eric Vergne, DS Virgin Racing
Daniel Abt, Audi Sport Team Abt
Berlin ePrix track layout
Maro Engel, Venturi
Maro Engel, Mercedes-AMG Driving Academy Mercedes-AMG GT3
Ma Qing Hua, Team Aguri and Bruno Senna, Mahindra Racing

The German round of the all-electric series is set to return to the Tempelhof airport after a local environmental party – the Alliance 90 Greens – successfully lobbied the Berlin senate to switch venues.

Tempelhof was abandoned after the the inaugural Berlin ePrix, held in May 2015, as the facility was given over to housing refugees, with Formula E using a street layout centred around Karl-Marx-Allee instead.

But the former airport, which closed in 2008, is now believed to be the only option for Formula E to return to Berlin, which is scheduled to host the series on June 10.

"It is extremely disappointing to hear this bad news, because Formula E and the green racing it promotes is something that is very positively received all over the world," Engel told Motorsport.com.

"So it is a real shame that in Berlin they have decided that the race cannot take place at this venue."

Engel added that the recent escalation in interest of German manufacturers and technology companies means that an ePrix in his homeland is essential for the development of electric mobility.

As well as technology giant ZF, which entered a partnership with Engel's team Venturi at the start of season three, Audi and BMW now have works involvement in Formula E.

Mercedes also has an option to join the electric championship's grid from season five onwards.

"Electric mobility is a big and vital theme for the future and for car manufacturers, including major German manufacturers," continued Engel.

"I just really hope that we can find an alternative solution and that there will be a race in Berlin, or at least in Germany, because I think the country deserves to have a Formula E race."

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