2021 Extreme E Championship

PRODRIVE PARTNERS WITH LEWIS HAMILTON’S EXTREME E TEAM, X44

Posted: April 2, 2021 9:47 AM

The world-leading motorsport business is partnering with X44 to run the team at each round of the five-race series.

X44 will take its followers on a journey of discovery, to show first-hand how human actions are damaging the planet, racing electric vehicles in five remote locations that are already damaged or severely under threat of climate change. The five locations will highlight a variety of serious climate issues including melting ice caps in Greenland, deforestation in Brazil, and rising sea levels in Senegal.

Each X-Prix race weekend will include two days of all-action, short, sharp wheel-to-wheel racing, with world-class drivers and nine teams. Prodrive-contracted drivers Sébastien Loeb, and fellow Dakar competitor, Cristina Gutiérrez, will compete in the X44 ODYSSEY 21. The bespoke E-SUV produces 400 kW (550 bhp) and is capable of reaching 100 kph in 4.5 seconds.

Sébastien Loeb is one of the greatest rally drivers of all time and a legend of the motorsport world, with a record nine World Rally Championships and 79 WRC wins to his name. He has also achieved three Race of Champions wins in which he competed against the world’s best racing and rally drivers.

Driving alongside Sébastien will be gifted Spanish driver Cristina Gutiérrez. Gutierréz is a promising upcoming talent who made history in the 2017 Dakar Rally by becoming the first Spanish female driver to finish the race in the car category, finishing fifth place among the debutantes. Widely known as the toughest rally in the world, Cristina has now finished the race five times, and her talents have been further showcased in her home country, where she previously secured a second-place overall position in the mixed-gender All-Terrain Spanish Rally Championships, finishing top of the female category between 2011 and 2016.

Prodrive chairman and founder David Richards said: “Extreme E is such an exciting and unique concept and I have been fascinated by the project ever since Alejandro launched it almost two years ago. When Lewis then announced his interest in a team it was a great opportunity for Prodrive to help him realise his personal ambitions from the series.”

Prodrive is one of the most successful motorsport businesses in the world. The company has won six World Rally Championship titles; six Le Mans titles; five British Touring Championships; and is the reigning FIA World Endurance Championship GT Manufacturers’ and Drivers’ champions with Aston Martin Racing.

Where to watch it!

Posted: April 2, 2021 9:40 AM

Extreme E Website extreme-e.com
Race on Sundays available on:
Virgin Media 2, Virgin Media Sport, UTV/ITV1, Eurosport 2, Sky Sports
Also on the BBC iPlayer and ITV Hub

Extreme E's GridPlay explained

Posted: March 28, 2021 8:58 AM

Extreme E, the electric off-road racing series, gets underway next weekend (3-4 April) in AlUla, Saudi Arabia and the series can now reveal how GridPlay - its fan engagement concept - will work.

What is it?

GridPlay puts fans at the heart of the action, giving them the opportunity to vote for their favourite driver. Teams with the most votes can select their spot on the starting line for the final race.

How does it work?

Fans vote for their favourite driver and those votes are added together to calculate the team score. The five teams that have qualified for the Final take its percentage of the votes. The four teams that don’t make the Final ‘gift’ their votes to a team of their choice so every vote matters.

The team with the most votes is able to select its grid position for the Final first, followed by the team with the second most votes and so on.

When can you vote?

Voting opens four days before the final and closes one hour after the start of the Crazy Race. For Saudi Arabia, votes can be cast from Wednesday 31 March to 11:00 Saudi Arabia time on Sunday 4 April.

Where can you vote?

Fans can vote for their favourite driver twice per day via the Extreme E website and on Twitter using #GridPlay #DriverName.

When will the winning team be revealed?

Viewers can watch the GridPlay winner selection ceremony live on the Sunday of the X Prix through the broadcast.

Alejandro Agag, Founder and CEO of Extreme E, said: “Engaging with fans is a key priority for Extreme E, and I’m really looking forward to seeing GridPlay in action in Saudi Arabia. The Extreme E team has certainly created an element of theatre, which is super important as Extreme E is an entertainment product.”

Molly Taylor, Rosberg X Racing driver, said: “A huge part of Extreme E is putting the fans in the driving seat at each amazing race location we visit, especially as they won’t physically be with us. It’s going to be fascinating and a lot of fun to see how GridPlay pans out as fans vote for their favourite teams and drivers to give them the edge on track. Bring it on!”

Timmy Hansen, Andretti United driver, said: "Extreme E is always thinking up different and innovative ways of doing things and GridPlay is another excellent example of this. As spectators can't be onsite for the races, GridPlay is a fantastic way of involving the fans and will help provide an exciting spectacle for the TV show too. We hope lots of fans get behind this idea and we can't wait to see how GridPlay shakes up proceedings for our very first race in Saudi Arabia!"

What is Extreme E?

Posted: March 28, 2021 7:30 AM

Extreme E

Extreme E is a radical new off-road racing series, founded by the same visionary behind Formula E, which will showcase electric SUVs and futuristic technologies in some of the world’s most remote and challenging environments.

This five-event global voyage will utilise its sporting platform for the purpose of promoting electrification, environment and equality. The series’ goal is to highlight the impact of climate change in some of the world’s most endangered environments, promote the adoption of electric vehicles to pave the way for a lower carbon future, and provide a world-first gender-equal motorsport platform.

The first sport to ever be built out of a social purpose, Extreme E aims to minimise environmental impact while maximising awareness, racing in places that have already been damaged or affected by climate change or human interference and taking fans deep into the heart of the most pressing issues facing our planet’s future.

Not only that, but Extreme E is also helping the car industry to develop future-facing technology using racing as a platform for road innovation, which accelerates change ten-fold.

Format

The series has devised an innovative format unlike any other, likened to ‘Star Wars pod racing meets Dakar Rally’, which is designed to display short, sharp wheel-to-wheel racing action. Each race, which will be known as an X Prix and incorporate two laps over a total distance of approximately 16 kilometres.

Teams, with two drivers – one male, one female – race against each other over the two-day event. Each driver will complete one lap behind the wheel of the ODYSSEY 21 electric SUV, with a driver changeover, the ‘Switch’, slotted into the race format.

A ‘Hyperdrive’ boost will also be available to each driver on each lap of the race. Activated when the driver presses a button on their steering wheel, they will enjoy an increase in power for a fixed amount of time.

Qualifying takes place on day one, to determine the top four runners who will progress through into Semi-Final 1 and the remaining competitors who will go on to take part in Semi-Final 2: the unique ‘Crazy Race’.

The ‘Crazy Race’ will be a tooth-and-nail, allor-nothing fight, with the quickest two teams progressing into the Final, while the top three will make it through from Semi-Final 1. The winner of the Final – the fastest combination of team, drivers, car and engineers over the epic two-day battle – will then be crowned the X Prix Winner.

X Prix courses will incorporate natural challenges that will leave viewers on the edge of their seats, and drivers and teams will be pushed right to the limits of their abilities, with hazards to navigate and defeat such as extreme gradients, jumps, banks, berms, pits, dunes and water splashes.



In a motorsport world-first, teams will field one male and one female driver, promoting gender equality and a level playing field amongst competitors. The teams will determine which driver goes first to best suit their strategy and driver order selections are made confidentially, with competitors kept in the dark as to other teams’ choices until the cars reach the start-line. Contests between males and females will therefore be ensured.

Engaging with fans is a key priority for Extreme E, which is why the championship is enlisting fan voting, through GridPlay, where fans can vote for their favourite driver. When voting has finished, the driver’s votes are added together to give each team a final percentage of the votes. Those teams that don’t make the Final race must ‘gift’ their votes to their preferred opponent in the Final. The grid places for the Final are based upon the voting results once all teams not in the Final have gifted their votes to the other teams.

Points system
Championship points will be awarded after the Final as follows:

1st 25 points
2nd 15 points
3rd 10 points
4th 7 points
5th 6 points
6th 5 points
7th 4 points
8th 3 points
9th 2 points
10th 1 point

Car: ODyssey 21

The championship cars are a one design fleet, a fully electric SUV, named ODYSSEY 21. In order to withstand the harsh conditions it will face, the car’s peak 400kw (550bhp) output is capable of firing the 1780-kilogram, 2.3-metre wide e-SUV from 0-62mph in 4.5 seconds, at gradients of up to 130 per cent.

Each vehicle comprises a common package of standardised parts, manufactured by Spark Racing Technology with a battery produced by Williams Advanced Engineering. This encompasses a niobium-reinforced steel alloy tubular frame, as well as crash structure and roll cage, whilst its tyres, the vehicle’s crucial connection to these terrains are designed especially for the extreme conditions by founding partner Continental Tyres.

For Season 1, teams had the choice to use championship bodywork, or work with an automotive partner, such as Chip Ganassi has done with the GM HUMMER EV, to put its own bodywork on the common chassis in order to utilise its platform to speak directly to the consumer market.

The exterior shell of the ODYSSEY 21 is made from Bcomp’s natural flax fibre, in a bid to be more sustainable. The two products of the shell, ampliTex™ and powerRibs™, are made from natural flax fibres and carry a variety of environmental benefits including a 75 per cent reduction in carbon footprint from cradle to gate, all whilst providing the best in safety standards

Tyres

The tyres have been designed and produced by Extreme E’s Founding Partner, Continental. The German tyre brand carefully examined the requirements of the race series and built an ultra-high-performance tyre that specifically addresses the needs of the competing teams.

This performance-optimised tyre is not just built for extreme conditions, but also for the unique characteristics of Extreme E’s pure electric SUVs. There will be one specification of tyre based on the Continental CrossContact series, a tyre with a specially-designed tread to enhance traction and stability on practically any surface. The tyres for the ODYSSEY 21 will be able to cope with all conditions, from the scorching heat to blistering cold plus muddy, sandy or icy terrains.

Each tyre will be fitted with Continental’s state of-the-art ContiConnect, a digital tyre-monitoring system meaning greater safety for car and driver.

The system collects, measures and analyses data such as tyre pressure and temperature in real time, transmitting that information to the driver via a display in the cockpit.
Diameter 37 inches (940 mm)
Width 12.50 inches (317.5 mm)
Weight 33.9 Kg
Tread depth 13.9 mm
Each team is allocated one set of tyres per race, and two used tyres from the previous race.

Battery

The batteries are specially-designed and developed by Williams Advanced Engineering, plugging into the expertise and experience of the same minds who will be supplying the batteries for Gen3 of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, starting in 2023.

Designed to withstand the extreme temperatures, conditions and terrains, the batteries will produce a maximum power output of 400 kWh (equivalent to 550bhp). Teams have been provided with identical 54kWh battery packs to be used in the first two seasons of Extreme E

Chassis

CBMM | Niobium is a founding supplier of Extreme E and the championship’s official Niobium Technology Supplier and Chassis Technology Supplier.

Critical to the automotive sector, niobium produces stronger, lighter and more sustainable cars with better energy efficiency. Its technologies are already widely applied in different areas, including light-weighting, safety, emissions reduction and electronics that will help lead to a sustainable sector transformation. Key applications of niobium in the Mobility sector include chassis, brakes and exhaust systems, drivetrains, batteries and EV charging stations and any number of ancillary components.

Its qualities mean materials can be made lighter, stronger, more robust and more reliable – all while being more sustainable than other materials.

Teams

ABT CUPRA XE
Mattias Ekström
Claudia Hürtgen

ACCIONA | Sainz XE Team
Carlos Sainz
Laia Sana

ANDRETTI UNITED EXTREME E
Timmy Hansen
Catie Munnings

SEGI TV CHIP GANASSI RACING
Kyle Leduc
Sara Price

HISPANO SUIZA XITE ENERGY TEAM
Oliver Bennett
Christine Giampaoli Zonca

JBXE
Mikaela Åhlin-Kottulinsky
Jenson Button

ROSBERG X RACING (RXR)
Johan Kristoffersson
Molly Taylor

VELOCE RACING
Jamie Chadwick
Stéphane Sarrazin

X44
Cristina Gutiérrez
Sébastien Loeb

Championship/Back-up Drivers
Jutta Kleinschmidt
Timo Scheider

More Details:

2021 Extreme E Championship - Press Pack

extreme-e.com

Championship Rounds

Posted: March 28, 2021 7:28 AM

• Extreme E Desert X Prix: AlUla, Saudi Arabia - 3-4 Apr 21
• Extreme E Ocean X Prix: Lac Rose, Senegal - 29-30 May 21
• Extreme E Arctic X Prix: Kangerlussuaq, Greenland - 28-29 Aug 21
• Extreme E Amazon X Prix: Para, Brazil - 23-24 Oct 21
• Extreme E Glacier X Prix: Tierra del Fuego, Argentina - 11-12 Dec 21

extreme-e.com