Recently, with world-COVID implications, the idea of having Formula racing in an outdoor environment started to appeal to a lot of people. Extreme E is an off-road racing series that’s designed to rely on electric SUVs which will race in remote parts of the world. Some of the locations chosen for this series would be Nepal or Greenland, so they are going to test the driver endurance and resilience.
Why was Extreme E Formula created?
The main idea behind it is to show what people are capable of with the right electric SUV and how they can survive even in the most challenging locations. They are also choosing all the racing locations with the idea of raising awareness for many aspects of climate change. Extreme E Formula also offers environmental and social support for those locations. The creator of this series is Formula E founder Alejandro Agag and he also has support from Lewis Hamilton, among many others.
How does the Extreme E Formula experience work?
An entire Extreme E Formula race will take place over a weekend and it has 5 rounds.
You have 2 qualifying rounds during Saturday, and then you have 2 semi-finals and the final on Sunday.
During the qualifying rounds you will have 2 races, with 4 cars each, and the contestants receive points according to their finishing positions.
The 4 cars with the highest points go for the first semifinals and the losers go in the semifinal 2.
The top 3 cars from the first semifinal and the winner of the second semifinal will compete in the final.
The race is easy to understand, you need to complete 2 laps of the course, and every member will be a driver in one race and a co-driver on the other race. It’s important to note that teams need to have a female and a male driver that will have the same duties. This help bring in a level playing field for all racers, while also integrating things like gender equality which is very important at this time.
Where will the races take place?
An important thing to keep in mind is that the first races are due to take place in Dakar on the 23rd of January. On top of that, there will be other races taking place in Brazil, Nepal, Greenland, Saudi Arabia and Senegal. The 2 laps are covering 16 km, so this is quite a large race system with plenty of intriguing features.
The Spark ODYSSEY 21 SUV was already presented and it’s a very powerful, all-terrain vehicle that everyone will need to take advantage of during these amazing races. The car was already shown in action at the beginning of 2020 in Saudi Arabia, and it’s extremely powerful and dependable. More and more racing teams are joining to compete in this unique formula race experience, with Lewis Hamilton creating his own team specifically for this. It’s an extraordinary racing system, and one that will test the endurance and resilience of all drivers!
Provisional Extreme E Season 1 (2021) calendar:
23-24 January: Lac Rose, Dakar, Senegal
5-6 March: Sharaan, Al-‘Ula, Saudi Arabia
14-15 May: Kali Gandaki Valley, Mustang District, Nepal
28-29 August: Kangerlussuaq, Greenland
30-31 October: Santarém, Pará, Brazil
Extreme E Team X44 is headlined by none-other than Lewis Hamilton, with no introduction needed he is certainly one to watch out for. Let the races begin!
Check out this video below for an overview !
Photos: EXTREME E
For more info visit: www.extreme-e.com
