You have to get the fundamentals right before you start worrying about the details. It's a truism that holds whether you're building a house or developing a racing series, but there's a step before that, too: you need to decide what those fundamentals are.
If the idea is to do something new, then leaning too heavily on what defines other series is a comfy way to try to do it but not one that's all that likely to go well. No one wants to watch "Formula One but-," after all.
This weekend, after two months of sitting idle, Extreme E is roaring back to life in Sardinia.