The ABB FIA Formula E Championship has been granted World Championship status from the coming 2020/21 season onwards.
The members for the FIA World Motorsport Council have decided to upgrade the series an official championship level, after “just” being run as an FIA series since its inaugural season in 2014/15.
The new status does, however, mean that ABB will disappear from the name of the series, since World Championships can’t have a title sponsor as part of the official name, according to FIA rules.
The series has had a big push lately, with big factory teams like BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Audi, and Porsche fighting against eight other teams. Electric cars are currently the big buzzword in the automotive world, so the car manufacturers see it as pretty much a must to participate in the series – and that is part of the reason why the FIA has awarded it with World Championship status.
The next round of the 2019/20 Championship will be run on 18 January 2020 in Santiago, Chile.