体坛英语新闻：Bosch becomes new sponsor of Formula E

BERLIN, Oct. 16 (Xinhua) -- Robert Bosch GmbH will become one of the new major sponsors of the ABB FIA Formula E racing series, the German automotive supplier announced on Tuesday.

"Bosch is the number one partner for electric driving. We are now demonstrating this as an official partner of Formula E," said Markus Heyn, managing director of Robert Bosch GmbH.

The cooperation between the world's largest automotive supplier and the world's leading all-electric racing series is set for the next three years and will initially focus solely on an advertising partnership "and the global marketing platform of Formula E," Annette Fischer press spokeswoman for mobility solutions at Bosch told Xinhua on Tuesday.

A technical partnership concerning the Formula E vehicles would be taken into closer consideration by Bosch, the ABB FIA Formula E and the racing teams, added Fischer. "We are already working with the first teams on corresponding products and systems."

The ABB FIA Formula E Championship was first launched at the initiative by the former head of Ferrari's Formula 1 team Jean Todt in 2014. The first race of the 2018/2019 season will take place in the Saudi Arabian city of Ad Diriyah. The raceway near the Saudi Arabian capital Riad is scheduled to host the opening race on December 5th.

Also on Tuesday, the Indian Formula E Team Mahindra announced that Pascal Wehrlein, former Formula 1 driver and youngest champion of the German touring car championship (DTM), will be competing for Mahindra in the coming season. 23-year-old Wehrlein will replace the German pilot Nick Heidfeld, who raced in Formula 1 as well.

Formula E racing teams will be joined by two prominent German car manufacturers. This season, Mercedes will race for the first time in the all-electric racing series while Porsche announced that it will start to compete in Formula E in 2019/2020 as well.

"The possibilities and performance of electric drivetrains have been a central issue at Porsche for some time now. We can hardly wait to receive our first Formula E vehicle at the beginning of 2019," said Andreas Seidl, head of the technical development of the Porsche Formula E program. Enditem