By Alan Baldwin
LONDON, Aug 6 (Reuters) - Formula E is confident its 2026-27 season will start in Saudi Arabia in December but can push back the opening race to Mexico in January if events in the region dictate, the all-electric racing series' chief executive Jeff Dodds said on Thursday.
The Liberty Global-controlled championship is due to start a new Gen4 era with two races in Jeddah on December 18-19, before Mexico City on January 16.
Formula One and the World Rally Championship are due to end their
seasons in the Middle East in November and December, the latter series in Saudi Arabia on November 11-14, but have said they will take a decision in mid-September for logistical reasons.
Formula One cancelled April rounds in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia due to the Iran war, with Bahrain now rescheduled for Malaysia in October.
F1 boss Stefano Domenicali has said a decision on the November and December races in Qatar and Abu Dhabi will be taken next month and the season will end at a European circuit if they cannot happen.
Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis have imposed a naval blockade on Saudi Arabia in the Red Sea, with some attacks on tankers, since July in response to what they described as a Saudi siege on Yemen, an allegation Riyadh has denied.
The Iran war began in February when the United States and Israel attacked Iran and Tehran responded with its own strikes on Israel and Gulf states that host U.S. bases.
"We talk to the kingdom on a very regular basis and obviously we're monitoring what's happening in that part of the world," Dodds told reporters ahead of the season's title-deciding finale in London on August 15-16.
"Of course the situation changes so rapidly that monitoring it in July, August when you've got a race in December is maybe not that helpful. But there comes a point where a decision has to be taken because we start to ship cars and logistics out there. I personally have a very high confidence that the race will go ahead in December in Jeddah.
"If we collectively decided that we didn't think that was the right answer, we also have a date pencilled into the calendar as a contingency date later in the following year that we could move the race to."
Dodds said there would be no need to replace the race with another in December.
"If we couldn't start the season in Saudi Arabia in December, then the season will just start in January in Mexico at the next calendar race," he said.
The annual Dakar Rally, held entirely in Saudi Arabia, also remains scheduled for January 1 to 15 as the opening round of the governing FIA's world rally-raid championship, followed by the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge on March 21 to 26.
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin; Editing by Ken Ferris)
