Reigning Formula E champion and current championship leader Sebastien Buemi will race in the Mexico City ePrix after being given permission by Toyota to miss the WEC pre-season test.
Buemi will however have to be present for Toyota’s car launch on Friday 31 March, meaning he will have to make an overnight dash to get to Mexico in time.
His flight is expected to land at 4am on the Saturday, meaning that he will be late to sign on for the race, and will miss the drivers’ briefing and shakedown.
The Swiss driver admitted it won’t be easy, but said that he wasn’t going to use it as an excuse if the race doesn’t go according to plan.
“Toyota don’t want to block me if there is a solution – it’s a normal test day and not a must to be there,” Buemi told Autosport.
“It’s not easy because I’m going land at 4am on Saturday but I have the opportunity to do the race and maybe not lose the championship.
“I’m not going to find excuses if it doesn’t go well.
“In Argentina and Mexico last year I arrived last minute and I was on the podium, it’s not impossible.”
Buemi’s dual commitments will also see him miss the Formula E double-header in New York later on in the season as it clashes with the Nurburgring round of the WEC.
Missing two races would be devastating to his title challenge, and Buemi is just one of several drivers on the Formula E grid who face the same dilemma.
However, he said that he was confident that a compromise can be found between the two series to sort out the conflict to allow him to race in both.
“I know at the moment the FIA is pushing very hard to make no clash in New York and I would expect the FIA to find a solution,” he said.
“In all honesty I struggle to understand how we can’t find a way to avoid clashes – it’s a total of 20 weekends we have to fit in 48 or 49 weeks.
“If they don’t, hopefully if I concentrate maybe by the time I get to New York we can have the opportunity to fight for the title still.”
