Formual E CEO Alejandro Agag said that London will likely not host a race in '14 and "now looks like it is going to be the closing race in 2015," according to Christian Sylt of the London INDEPENDENT. The new Formula E electric racing series "will launch in September next year and has cars with a top speed of 150mph." All of the races will be held on city streets, and Agag said "he is looking at Wembley as well as Westminster and the Olympic Park in Stratford." However, the decision on where to host the London race "is taking longer than anticipated and when Formula E announces its inaugural calendar on Friday next week it will reveal that London is not the season-opener as expected." When the list of host cities was announced in March, London Mayor Boris Johnson said, "Zero-emission world-class motor racing is a scintillating concept, and I am hugely keen that London be involved in the birth of Formula E." Formula E "is ready and able to hold its first race in London." But Agag said that progress "is very slow because there are so many layers." He added, "It is not the Mayor who controls this, it is the borough. For logistical reasons, it is better to start in a continent and stay in the same continent, so we are putting together all of the races in Europe. London now looks like it is going to be the closing race in 2015." Agag said that "the curtain-raiser will instead take place in Beijing" (INDEPENDENT, 9/22).
