Extreme E underway in the deserts of Saudi Arabia

AlUla, Saudi Arabia, April 2 2021: Green machines perform to the extreme. The new world-wide racing category about to launch, Extreme E should serve up some unique racing enjoyment.

A motor-sport termed “platform for climate action”, Extreme E has its very first race, the Desert X Prix, in AlUla, Saudi Arabia on the weekend, and the bumper field of teams and drivers are all set for an epic adventure ahead.

The theme for the event is to highlight the dangers posed to the ice caps, the forests, oceans and glaciers. The event with Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg on board as a team owners and heavy-weights Jenson Button, Carlos Sainz and Sebastien Loeb as drivers, is the brainchild of Alejandro Agag.

Agag, a Spanish entrepreneur hopes that the all-electric SUVs of Extreme E will draw attention to some of the world’s most pressing environmental issues. He wants to show the world what human activity is doing to the planet and aims to “drive” home the challenges of climate change.

Nine teams will compete wheel-to-wheel in an innovative format likened to ‘Star Wars pod racing meets Dakar Rally’. Designed to put driver performance firmly in focus, Extreme-E X Prix will incorporate two laps over a total distance of approximately 18KM. In a motorsport world-first, teams will field one male and one female driver, promoting gender equality and a level playing field amongst competitors.

There are five Extreme E rounds in total. After the Al-Ula round in the sands of Saudi, the competition will switch to Senegal’s Lac Rose, Greenland, the Amazon in Brazil and the glaciers of Tierra del Fuego in Argentina.

The driving duties will be split equally between male and female drivers.  A ship, the St Helena, which once served as a command room in the battle against Somali pirates, has been refitted as Extreme E’s floating paddock.

Organizers prefer the low-carbon, ocean-going means of transport with lower carbon emissions as opposed to than gas-guzzling airlines. On the sidelines of the five races will exist environmental legacy projects with carbon offset programmes. For example, mangroves will be planted in Senegal and trees in the Amazon.

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