Extreme E marks one year of Racing For All programme

Informed by the findings of The Hamilton Commission, the programme creates opportunities for the next generation of mechanical and engineering talent to join the world’s most radical off-road electric racing series.

Inspired by The Hamilton Commission’s report 'Accelerating Change: Improving Representation of Black People in UK Motorsport' published in 2021, and initiatives like the FIA’s Girls on Track programme that the championship collaborates with, Extreme E has actively raised awareness of the barriers of opportunity and representation that exist within the motorsport talent pipeline. Published after ten months of research, The Hamilton Commission’s report provided a number of recommendations that the Commission believes will help to improve the representation of talent in UK motorsport, based around three key strands of action – Support and Empowerment, Accountability and Measurement, and Inspiration and Engagement.

Designed as a sport with purpose at the heart of the series, Extreme E seeks to accelerate cultural and behavioural change. Racing For All exemplifies the very foundation from which the series was created, which is to inspire, break barriers and encourage positive action. Extreme E seeks to inspire and empower all individuals to be a part of motorsport, providing equal opportunity between genders, backgrounds and across cultures.

The programme looks to provide opportunities for the next generation of motorsport talent, particularly encouraging candidates who are female, minority ethnic, or from a lower socio-economic background to apply. Aimed at those with less than one year’s professional motorsport experience, the programme provides the opportunity for mentorship and real-word experience, supporting them on their first step on the career ladder in a very competitive industry.

The initiative’s goal at the end of the campaign’s first season was to integrate half of Extreme E’s 10 racing teams with a candidate. This milestone was achieved ahead of schedule during the Hydro X Prix in Scotland, showcasing the continued developing significance of the initiative in the championship. Candidates have experienced the inner workings of an Extreme E outfit across the series, with roles ranging from recording data from runs out on course, to car and bodywork repairs.

When the Racing for All programme was first announced a year ago, Sir Lewis Hamilton, seven-time Formula 1^TM World Champion and Team Owner of X44 Vida Carbon Racing Extreme E team, said: “We know from the findings of The Hamilton Commission that our industry is a tough place to break into, particularly for those from underrepresented backgrounds, which is why it’s so important that the Racing for All programme will be creating genuine opportunities for the next generation. When I first discussed the idea of creating a programme with Alejandro and the Extreme E team, we all agreed that it had to be something which led to real change, and I believe Racing for All does just that.”

Alejandro Agag, Founder and CEO of Extreme E, said: “Extreme E breaks the boundaries of traditional motorsport: with the series employing the first gender-equal motorsport, we have witnessed that the championship has been a strong platform for our women drivers. Their increased presence has translated within the wider motorsport network and has shown to inspire the next generation.

“Everyone deserves an opportunity, motorsport should be inclusive and accessible for everyone, regardless of their background or factors like race or gender. Racing For All was the next step in continuing our mission to instigate positive change, and to complete our Season 3 goal of offering opportunities to candidates across 50% of our grid in just Race 2 shows our commitment to mentoring and creating a pathway for these young bright minds to grow and provide real industry opportunities.

“I look forward to continuing to welcome the next generation of talent into our championship, developing their skills and breaking down the barriers of traditional motorsport.”

Extreme E also works closely with EqualEngineers, whose Pathways Programme is supporting engineering students from diverse backgrounds to secure graduate employment in engineering. At the Hydro X Prix in Scotland, a team from EqualEngineers delivered engagement sessions supporting the Racing for All candidates, improving their practical and communications skills.

Guy Nicholls, Head of Sporting at Extreme E, said: “Welcoming the next generation of motorsport talent to the Extreme E paddock has been a rewarding experience, not only for the series, but personally within our Sporting team. Working with each of our teams through their recruitment processes and integrating the candidates into the paddock and the series’ operations has been fantastic.

“Scotland, especially being such an extreme track, really showed how our candidates can gain real-world, valuable experience. The Racing for All team members have been a real asset in assisting their teams across a wide variety of roles, providing valuable support during a challenging race weekend at a new venue. Mentorship is something I champion, and this programme provides exactly that to those who may not usually receive or have access to opportunities in motorsport.

“It has been truly a gratifying journey to watch the Racing for All initiative grow and I can’t wait to welcome more candidates to the paddock as we develop our programme.”

Applicants who would like to apply to take part in the Racing for All programme should visit: https://www.extreme-e.com/en/racing-for-all and fill in their details.

Looking ahead, Extreme E will be returning to Sardinia with their candidates on 16-17 September for their penultimate X Prix, Rounds 7 and 8, of the 2023 campaign.

The series’ return to the region will mark the backdrop for Extreme E’s most competitive championship yet, with leaders ACCIONA | SAINZ XE Team heading the standings with 109 points, just four clear of nearest challengers and Season 1 Champions Rosberg X Racing. Veloce Racing, two-time winners in 2023, are a further 10 points back in third.

Extreme E:

Charlotte Sefton, Extreme E
E: charlotte@extreme-e.com / +44 7827 214807

Simra Gulzar, Communications Supervisor
E: media@extreme-e.com / T:+44 7552 858229

Josh Bell, MPA Creative:     
E: jb@mpacreative.com  / T: +44 7557 102540

NOTES TO EDITORS

About Extreme E:

Now in its third season, Extreme E is a radical off-road racing series, founded by the same team behind Formula E, which showcases electric SUVs and futuristic technologies in some of the world’s most remote and challenging environments.

This five-event global voyage utilises 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.

Season 3 Calendar: 

Saudi Arabia
11-12 March 2023
Scotland
13-14 May 2023
Sardinia, Italy
08-09 July 2023
Sardinia, Italy
16-17 September 2023
Chile
02-03 December 2023

About Continental Tires: Founding Partner and Official Tire Partner 
Continental develops pioneering technologies and services for sustainable and connected mobility of people and their goods. Founded in 1871, the technology company offers safe, efficient, intelligent, and affordable solutions for vehicles, machines, traffic and transportation. 
 
The tyres business area has 24 production and development locations worldwide. Continental is one of the leading tyre manufacturers with more than 56,000 employees and offers a broad product range for passenger cars, commercial and special-purpose vehicles as well as two-wheelers. Through continuous investment in research and development, Continental makes a major contribution to safe, cost effective and ecologically efficient mobility. The portfolio of the tyres business area includes services for the tyre trade and fleet applications, as well as digital management systems for tyres. 
 
Continental developed a new high-performance tyre for Extreme E Season 2, redesigned to include the use of more sustainable materials. Each of the 30 tyres that Continental has supplied to all ten Extreme E teams now contains recycled polyester made from approximately 60 PET bottles.  In total, around a third of each second-generation CrossContact Extreme E tyre consists of recycled and renewable raw materials. 
 
About LuisaViaRoma: Official Fashion Partner 
Defined by the Financial Times as “a haven for directional fashion,” LUISAVIAROMA.COM is the top online luxury fashion destination with 5,000,000 visitors per month and worldwide shipping. With each new season, the website presents the collections of more than 600 established designers and young emerging talents. 
 
About Enel X Way: Official Smart Charging Partner 
Enel X Way is the Enel Group's company fully dedicated to electric mobility. With around 25,000 managed public charging points, Enel X Way operates in 16 countries, both directly and through joint ventures such as Ewiva in Italy and Chargeway in India. As a global platform for e-Mobility, the company is focused on developing flexible charging technologies and solutions to improve the customer experience and to enable the electrification of transport for consumers, businesses, cities and public administrations. 
 
Find out more on https://enelxway.it/en/home  and follow Enel X Way on its social media channels: 
 
LinkedIn: Enel X Way  
Twitter: @enelxway 
Instagram: @enelxway   
Facebook: @enelxway 
 
About Zenith: Official Timekeeper and Founding Partner 
Zenith exists to inspire individuals to pursue their dreams and make them come true – against all odds. Since its establishment in 1865, Zenith became the first watch manufacture in the modern sense of the term, and its watches have accompanied extraordinary figures that dreamt big and strived to achieve the impossible – from Louis Blériot’s history-making flight across the English Channel to Felix Baumgartner’s record-setting stratospheric free-fall jump. Zenith is also highlighting visionary and trailblazing women – past and present – by celebrating their accomplishments and creating in 2020 its first-ever collection dedicated entirely to them, Defy Midnight. 
 
With innovation as its guiding star, Zenith features exceptional in-house developed and manufactured movements in all its watches. Since the creation of the El Primero in 1969, the world’s first automatic chronograph calibre, Zenith has gone on to master fractions of the second with the Chronomaster Sport and its 1/10th of a second precision and the DEFY 21 with a precision of 1/100th of a second. 
 
About ENOWA: Official Green Hydrogen Partner 
ENOWA is a world-class energy, water and hydrogen company founded in NEOM, Saudi Arabia. ENOWA produces and delivers clean and sustainable resources for industrial and commercial applications using a customer-centric smart and connected system, designed to be circular and takes advantage of NEOM's optimal solar and wind energy profile. ENOWA benefits from NEOM's greenfield site, which has no legacy infrastructure, to advance Energy, Water, and Hydrogen innovation. 
 
ENOWA will act as a catalyst and incubator for developing new, sustainable energy and water businesses while creating a robust economic sector regionally. Through its commitment to renewable energy and efficient water management, ENOWA seeks to become a global reference for industry leaders and setting a benchmark for sustainable economic circular systems around the world. 
 
For more information, please visit: enowa.neom.com 
 
About Vodafone Business: Official Technology and Communication Partner 
With expertise in connectivity, global scale and the leading IoT platform, Vodafone Business is a leading technology communications company helping organisations succeed in a digital world and keeping society connected. Vodafone’s purpose is to connect for a better future, enabling an inclusive and sustainable digital society, and many of its solutions have sustainability and inclusivity embedded. 
 
Unique in its scale as the largest pan-European and African technology communications company, Vodafone transforms the way we live and work through its innovation, technology, connectivity, platforms, products and services. Vodafone operates mobile and fixed networks in 21 countries, and partners with mobile networks in 52 more.  As of 31 December 2021, they had over 300m mobile customers, more than 28m fixed broadband customers and over 22m TV customers. 
 
This collaboration will see Vodafone Business leading innovations and capabilities such as 5G, MPN, IOT and MEC, integrated into Extreme E’s global operations and will include full involvement in the purpose- driven elements of the series, with special prominence on Extreme E’s Legacy Programmes and the Science Laboratory on board the St Helena. Through its IOT solutions, Vodafone Business is helping sustainability efforts, including agriculture, forestation and decarbonisation of energy grids. 
 
Find out more on http://www.Vodafone.com/business  and follow Vodafone on its social media channels: 
 
Twitter: @VodafoneGroup  
LinkedIn:  www.linkedin.com/company/vodafone 
 
About EY: Official Sustainability Partner 
EY is a global leader in assurance, consulting, strategy, transactions and tax services, and already plays a significant role in working with Extreme E. Originally announcing its collaboration with the championship back in 2020, EY came on board to help Extreme E achieve its commitment to minimising its overall footprint whilst creating a positive legacy. 
 
Whilst Extreme E strives ‘to race without a trace’, the framework provided by EY has helped the series to minimize its environmental impact across each of its remote race locations. Both prior and post-racing impact assessments have supported Extreme E to strategically plan their actions within these areas. 
 
EY and Extreme E will work closely together to promote the five pillars of Extreme E (or “Five Es”) through the adoption of ‘XE Talks’. These informative presentations, facilitated by Extreme E’s Scientific Committee, will shed light on the Five Es, showcasing the joint commitment of EY and Extreme E. 
 
About CBMM: Founding Supplier  
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.  
 
CBMM offers technical innovation to customers around the globe through a team of over 2,000 highly trained, dedicated professionals providing cutting-edge niobium products and technology to over 400 clients in around 40 countries. 
 
About Kaizen Clean Energy: Official Clean Energy Technology Provider 
Kaizen Clean Energy (KCE), a manufacturer of hydrogen generators, is developing integrated solutions for electric vehicle (EV) charging, hydrogen fuelling, and distributed power for the grid and critical assets. 
 
KCE offers its mobile microgrid to customers through an Energy as a Service contract, which eliminates large capital expenses and provides customers with the flexibility to scale with energy needs over time.  
 
Kaizen Clean Energy will support ENOWA - NEOM’s energy, water, and hydrogen subsidiary and Green Hydrogen Power Partner to Extreme E - in delivering a pioneering hydrogen microgrid solution to the championship. 
 
Find out more on: www.kaizencleanenergy.com.