Defending Formula E Champion Sebastien Buemi has been granted permission to miss the World Endurance Championship Prologue to catch an overnight flight to Mexico to compete in the Mexico City ePrix.
The Renault e.dams driver will be present at the Toyota LMP1 programme launch which takes place on Friday 31st March, but will not be part of the test that will take place that weekend at Monza as he will travel to Mexico to continue the defence of his Formula E title.
This means the Swiss driver is expected to miss the drivers’ briefing and Friday’s shakedown, but should be ready to go in practice on Saturday morning barring any travel issues.
“Toyota don’t want to block me if there is a solution – it’s a normal test day and not a must to be there,” he told Autosport.
“It’s not easy because I’m going to land at 4am on Saturday morning, but I have the opportunity to do the race and maybe not lose the championship.”
Despite being able to make the Mexico City ePrix, the defending champion is currently set to miss the double-header in New York as the series clashes with World Endurance Championship’ round at the Nurburgring, with the endurance series taking priority for the Swiss driver. Though Buemi is still hopeful of a solution being found before the clash takes place.
“I know at the moment the FIA is pushing very hard to make no clash in New York and I would expect the FIA to find a solution,” he informed Autosport.
“In all honesty I struggle to understand how we can’t find a way to avoid clashes – it’s a total of 20 weekends we have to fit in 48 or 49 weeks. If they don’t, hopefully if I concentrate maybe by the time I get to New York we can have the opportunity to fight for the title still.”
The defending champion is not the only driver with WEC commitments on the Formula E grid, with teammate Nico Prost, DS Virgin’s Sam Bird and Jose Maria Lopez and Venturi’s Stephane Sarrazin all currently having links to the endurance series. However, all of them are expected to be in Mexico City for the ePrix with Lopez and Sarrazin predicted to make an overnight flight, arriving in Mexico at a similar time to Buemi.
