The electric off-road championship kicks off its inaugural season this week. The series already has the backing of several Formula 1, World Rally and World Rallycross drivers.
Extreme E has been setup by the team behind Formula E and will try to promote climate change awareness. The championship was announced in 2019 and launched quite literally aboard the RMS St Helena. The ship has since been retrofitted to carry all Extreme E equipment to each race. This will reduce carbon emissions produced by the series which aims to have a net-zero carbon footprint from its first season. In addition to this, the ship’s propulsion has been changed to be more environmentally friendly.
Teams and Drivers
Many high profile teams and drivers are competing in the first season. Unique to Extreme E, each team must assign 2 drivers to every car, with one male and one female driver required. Each will drive half of every race and will act as co-driver for the other half. Leading the star studded entry list is reigning Formula 1 champion, Lewis Hamilton’s team, Team X44. They have enlisted the aid of 9 time World Rally champion Sebastien Loeb. Loeb has had plenty of experience in rallying, with some years in rallycross as well. Most recently he has competed at the Dakar Rally which is for cars similar to those in Extreme E. His teammate is Cristina Gutiérrez who this year, became the second woman every to win a Dakar Rally stage.
Loeb’s former WRC teammate and fellow Dakar racer Carlos Sainz will be looking to add to his 2 World Rally titles and 3 Dakar wins. The father of the Ferrari F1 driver with the same name will drive alongside Laia Sanz. She has won the Dakar rally 7 times in the female motorcycle class as well as 13 Women’s World Trial Championships. The Spanish pair will race for ACCIONA Sainz XE Team which is co-owned by the double rally champion.
Andretti Autosport and United Autosport have teamed up for the first time ahead of this season. Andretti are no stranger to off-road racing having won every American rallycross championship between 2015 and 2019. They have also competed in every season of Formula E. Hired to drive are World Rallycross champion Timmy Hansen and European ERC3 driver Catie Munnings.
Image Credit: Extreme E
2 other former Formula 1 champions have set up teams of their own. Nico Rosberg has founded Rosberg X Racing as an evolution of his father’s racing outfit, Team Rosberg. Triple World Rallycross champion Johan Kristoffersson will pilot the car fresh off the back of winning the 2020 WRX crown. Kristoffersson’s rallycross pace has been near unbeatable having won 22 of the last 29 events he competed in. 2016 Australian Rally Champion, Molly Taylor will compete alongside him.
Jenson Button is the other F1 champ to set up a team, JBXE and will compete as well as run the team. It marks a return to off-road racing for the Button family name after his father, John competed in British Rallycross in the 70s and 80s to good success. The 2009 F1 winner has competed in GT and Sportscar racing since his single seater retirement in 2017. Swedish touring car racer Mikaela Åhlin-Kottulinsky is the other driver in the team.
Image Credit: Extreme E
Chip Gnassi are set to compete in the series with an all American line-up. Kyle Leduc has the most experience of any competitor in Off-Road wheel to wheel racing. He is a 6 time Pro 4 champion with over 100 wins in the Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series. This series sees cars and circuits similar to what Extreme will encounter. Sara Price also has raced in a similar series, Stadium Super Trucks and has more recently been a stunt driver.
World Rallycross Champion Mattias Ekstrom competes for manufacturer backed, Abt Cupra XE. He has won 12 WRX events alongside 2 DTM titles and 3 Race of Champions events. Accomplished German GT racer Claudia Hürtgen makes up the team. World and British Rallycross racer Oliver Bennett has helped set up a team in the form of Hispano-Suiza Xite Energy Team. Christine Giampaoli Zonca, aka Chritine GZ completes the pairing with multiple national and regional rally class championships under her belt. Veloce Racing round up the 9 teams as they make their first steps into real world racing having competed in sim racing since 2018. Inaugural W Series champion Jamie Chadwick will make her off-road debut for the team alongside a return to the female only series this year. Experienced rally, sportscar and Formula E racer, Stéphane Sarrazin will race with Chadwick.
Joker drivers, able to take the place of any competitor will be Timo Schieder and Jutta Kleinschmidt, both of whom are well experienced in off-road racing.
Car
Formula E chassis constructor, Spark once again partnered with the promoters to create the ODYSSEY 21. This 1650kg vehicle produces 400kW of power, equivalent to 536hp. The 2.3 metre wide car can climb slopes up to 50 degrees in elevation. All cars will be powered by identical motors in season 1 with development opened up in 2022, as was the case when Formula E started. The tubular frame is the same for every car but each team can change the body kit that comes standard with each car. The car has already been given public runs at the 2019 Goodwood Festival of Speed and 2020 Dakar Rally where it competed in the final stage.
Format
Race weekends will be spread across 2 days with qualifying on Saturday followed by the finals on Sunday. Each race will see 4 or 5 cars race at the same time with qualifying points awarded based on race finishing position, not overall time as in rallycross. Once qualifying is complete the top 4 teams advance to semi-final 1 with the remaining 5 being placed in semi-final 2. In the first semi-final race the top 3 make it through to the final with last place eliminated. In semi-final 2, also known as the “Crazy Race” there are only 2 spots up for grabs among the 5 car field. The remaining 5 cars line up for the final with the driver combination crossing the line first winning the X-Prix.
Each race consists of 2 laps of a course adding to a total of around 16km. With 2 drivers aboard each must complete one lap with the pair swapping driving duties halfway through the race. Additionally, whichever car has completed the longest jump on the first lap gets a hyperdrive boost on lap 2. This gives the car a bit more power for a short length of time.
Locations
The initial calendar had 5 events starting in January 2021. The series will now run between April and December, keeping 5 rounds. Each event will focus on a different environment with the race titles reflecting the type of location the championship is in. These 5 events are Desert, Ocean, Artic, Amazon and Glacier. The dates are as follows for each event.
| Desert X-Prix | 3–4 April | Saudi Arabia |
| Ocean X-Prix | 29–30 May | Senegal |
| Arctic X-Prix | 28–29 August | Greenland |
| Amazon X-Prix | 23–24 October | Brazil |
| Glacier X-Prix | 11–12 December | Argentina |
Winning events will be crucial to challenge for the championship with a massive gap of 10 points between 1st and 2nd. Points extend down to 10th though only 9 teams will compete in the inaugural season after HWA pulled out before testing began.
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
Soon these electric beasts will be unleashed as they try to promote more sustainable living. With the first event just days away we’ll soon find out who will power to the front and who will be left behind in the dirt.
Feature Image Credit: Extreme E
