DIRIYAH: Street-circuit specialist Edo Mortara has praised Diriyah鈥檚 course as 鈥渙ne of my favorite racing tracks of the entire Formula E season鈥� ahead of this weekend鈥檚 races, and loves the beauty of the At-Turaif UNESCO World Heritage Site setting.

The 37-year-old Mahindra Racing driver is relishing the next stage of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship in Diriyah on Friday and Saturday, after the opening race of the season in Mexico two weeks ago.

With Diriyah a doubleheader, and both races taking place at night, Mortara feels the Riyadh street circuit is the ideal location to shine.

鈥淒iriyah is a very special racing track,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 am kind of considered a street-course specialist because I鈥檝e won many times in Macau and other street-racing courses, and I actually feel that Diriyah is quite similar. This is why I like it so much.

鈥淗ere, you need to have a nice flow through the corners. And it鈥檚 also very important in a street-racing course to be extremely precise, to go very close to the walls. I think that for racing drivers here it鈥檚 extremely demanding, it鈥檚 very challenging, but I like it.鈥�

The track flows past Diriyah鈥檚 15th century At-Turaif UNESCO World Heritage Site, which showcases 萝莉视频鈥檚 cultural heritage.

鈥淚 like actually to see the various historical sites that we have here, and I did visit them when I came on Tuesday. I also visited them last year, and it鈥檚 always a pleasure to be here racing in such a historical site. It鈥檚 lovely. Obviously when we are getting closer to the race weekend, then we need to be more focused on the racing.鈥�

Over the past five editions of the Diriyah E-Prix, which began in December 2018, around 60 percent of attendees have been under the age of 35, and 35 percent women and girls.

The Swiss-Italian-French national, who this weekend hopes to improve on his 13th place finish in Mexico, said: 鈥淗aving the races here inspires the next generation. I think that the population here is very young and I believe that fits quite well with our sport and hopefully it can trigger something in the people and motivate them into maybe becoming a racing driver or working in the motorsport environment. This would be great. We are providing entertainment, but maybe we can also provide the inspiration to become a racing driver or engineer or mechanic.

鈥淚 mean, I feel extremely lucky to be living and to be working in such a fantastic environment and to be doing what I鈥檓 doing. It鈥檚 always a pleasure to be racing 鈥� and when you鈥檙e racing at one of your favorite racing tracks of the season, it鈥檚 even better.鈥�