The Extreme E off-road racing championship, due to start in January 2021, continues to attract high profile interest, with six-times Formula 1 champion Lewis Hamilton recently announcing he will field a team. His outfit will join others including electric car manufacturer Fisker, and race teams Techeetah and Andretti Autosport/United Autosports.
Hamilton was positive both about the challenge of running a team and the series’ ethos. “I feel incredibly proud to announce my new race team and confirm its entry into Extreme E. Having my own team is a totally new challenge for me but one I feel very excited about. Extreme E really appealed to me because of its environmental focus. Every single one of us has the power to make a difference, and it means so much to me that I can use my love of racing, together with my love for our planet, to have a positive impact. Not only will we visit remote locations facing the front line of the climate crisis, we will also work closely with these locations and leading climate experts to share our knowledge and leave behind a positive legacy in each location which goes far beyond the race track.”
To minimize environmental impact, the championship rounds will not be open to spectators, with fans instead following the action through a live TV broadcast and on social media. The command center for the championship series will be on board the RMS St. Helena, a ship currently undergoing a refit to minimize emissions and transform her into the operations, logistics, accommodation and garage base for the championship.
The single make series will use cars constructed by Spark Racing, with the build of the first cars currently underway at the company’s French base, while testing of its prototypes continues across a range of locations, representative of the stages the cars will see in competition.
