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Formula E offers support to MotoE organisers after Jerez fire

ABB FIA Formula E CEO Alejandro Agag says he has offered support to the MotoE championship organisers after a pre-season fire destroyed its fleet of electric bikes

The incident, which was caused by a short circuit that ignited a high-density battery in a charging point, at the Jerez circuit last month caused the inaugural MotoE season to be delayed and cut by two rounds.

Agag said he reached out "just to show my solidarity to them" as a fellow electric motorsport series.

"I sent a message to the guys from Dorna the next day saying that if they need our help, we're here to help," he confirmed to Autosport.

"This should make people understand that doing these things is not easy.

"We've done 50 races [with] not one single incident, not one single short circuit. But this takes a lot of work, a lot of experience, a lot of effort to make sure everything works.

"So this just shows how Formula E has done [well], and I have to thank my team, especially on the infrastructure operations team, the electric team in Formula E - they do an amazing job, because it's not easy.

"The proof that it's not easy is that the first time they [MotoE] put the things together, the thing catches fire.

"We're not working in any kind of ultra-risky environment, but this is something that is not easy and has to be properly done.

"And we are here to help our friends from Dorna if they need it."

When asked if MotoE could ever run as a support series to FE events, Agag said: "It's difficult, because of the layout of the tracks.

"The problem for motorbikes is that a city street race for motorbikes is very dangerous, and we see that every year in Macau.

"So the level of risk of bikes going on tracks like ours - in Hong Kong, in Paris [the narrow FE circuits] - is too high. We don't want to see bikers dying within the Formula E weekend.

"Maybe some exceptions would be Mexico or something like that - maybe one-offs - but in general the concept is difficult."

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