Extreme E’s third sustainability report showed that the series maintained its status as a carbon neutral series throughout the 2023 season. The report, released on Tuesday, and produced in collaboration with EY, also showed that the championship …
Extreme E’s third sustainability report showed that the series maintained its status as a carbon neutral series throughout the 2023 season.
The report, released on Tuesday, and produced in collaboration with EY, also showed that the championship reduced its overall carbon footprint by 8.2 percent over the course of the 2023 season. The report calculated that 8,301 tCO2-e was emitted during Season 3 – down from 9,045 tCO2-e across Season 2 – despite each event becoming a double-header for 10 championship rounds overall.
The progress was aided by events being powered by 100 percent renewable energy, including from green hydrogen produced on-site. Innovative waste management procedures were also implemented, while catering at each event comprised of locally-sourced food and drink.
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“It is incredible that we have now completed three seasons of Extreme E. The pace of the journey we have been on since launching has been extraordinary and we are creating an exciting motorsport championship which will leave a long-lasting legacy, not just on track but off it, too,” said Extreme E founder and CEO Alejandro Agag. “Our latest Sustainability Report with EY represents those efforts, with strong progress once more in our sustainability and legacy initiatives to deliver a global racing championship with minimal environmental impact.
Aside from Extreme E’s green credentials, the annual report also detailed the continued shrinking gap between the male and female drivers in the series. Since the championships maiden season in 2021, the performance gap between the genders has closed by 51 percent, with the average gap now being just 1.5 second.
“We were a first in motorsport when we launched our gender-equal sporting format. EY teams’ calculations detailed in this latest report illustrate the importance of providing a greater platform for women to demonstrate their talents behind the wheel,” said Agag. “The 51 per cent reduction in the average male-female performance gap in just three seasons marks great progress and proves our format is a success, but there is still more we can do.”
NEOM McLaren driver Cristina Gutierrez, added: “I dreamt of being a driver in Extreme E because I understood the importance of the championship and I knew there were many other aspects including equality.
“As a woman in motorsport, Extreme E has given us confidence and it has provided so many opportunities since I started competing in the series. I think I have definitely grown a lot as a driver since the beginning, so I think Extreme E is giving us a great platform.”
The fourth season of Extreme E began in Saudi Arabia in mid-February with Rosberg X Racing’s Johan Kristoffersson and Mikaela Ahlin-Kottulinsky, and Acciona Sainz’s Fraser McConnell and Laia Sanz sharing the round victories. The season is set to continue on July 13-14 at a location to be confirmed in Europe.
Extreme E has reported another year-on-year increase in its global audience, with more than 144 million watching the all-electric off-road series during the 2023 season. It marks a six percent ride from the 2022 season, when the audience figure was …
Extreme E has reported another year-on-year increase in its global audience, with more than 144 million watching the all-electric off-road series during the 2023 season.
It marks a six percent ride from the 2022 season, when the audience figure was 135 million, and a substantial increase on the Season 1 figure of 102.8 million.
Digital numbers also rose, with 2.1 billion potential impressions and 109.8 million engagements across all social media posts relating to Extreme E, an 18 percent increase in engagements across Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), and Instagram, with X standing out as the strongest of the three with 53.7 million engagements and 699.7 million potential impressions. There was also a 71 percent increase in followers of the series’ official accounts.
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“We are proud to announce that Extreme E’s audience has grown substantially once again following the conclusion of Season 3,” said Extreme E managing director Ali Russell. “We have already got our fourth season underway for 2024 with a spectacular opening Desert X Prix in Saudi Arabia, and we are encouraged that the pace at which our championship is growing mirrors that of our worldwide audience.
“The popularity of Extreme E continues to grow year-on-year, and with the launch of Extreme H on the horizon I am delighted by the wider exposure our pioneering racing series has received. This is best demonstrated among our dedicated fanbase and our increasing audience engagement figures.
“Despite only launching in 2021, the championship is recognised as a respected motorsport series and this latest report evidences that, particularly in terms of audience growth on TV and via social media. We are looking forward to increasing our audience further as our championship moves towards a new era with another world first, our transition to hydrogen power — Extreme H — and an exciting future in the years ahead.”
NEOM McLaren sporting director Gary Paffett says that the team’s new driver pairing of Mattias Ekstrom and Cristina Gutierrez “exceeded expectations” at the Extreme E season opener in Saudi Arabia. The duo – Ekstrom the 2023 runner-up and Gutierrez …
NEOM McLaren sporting director Gary Paffett says that the team’s new driver pairing of Mattias Ekstrom and Cristina Gutierrez “exceeded expectations” at the Extreme E season opener in Saudi Arabia.
The duo – Ekstrom the 2023 runner-up and Gutierrez the 2022 champion – joined in the off-season as McLaren looked to move on from being underachievers to championship challengers, and Paffet says it was a strong start to the team’s new era.
“My overall feeling from the weekend is really positive,” he told RACER. “We knew what Mattias and Cristina could do from looking from the outside at other teams. Now we’ve got them here, they’ve certainly lived up to and in some ways exceeded expectations.
“They’ve both been incredible in the car – Cristina just with her calmness under immense pressure and her ability to fight so close to people, and the moves that she makes on track. Her racecraft is really good. And Mattias with his creativeness, as always, opens up gaps that you don’t know that are there. They’ve both really done an incredible job.”
Motorsport Images
While a podium finish on Saturday and a Redemption Race win on Sunday represents a solid return, Paffett admitted that it hadn’t been plain sailing, with the team quietly battling persistent mechanical issues during the event.
“We haven’t had the smoothest of weekends. We’ve had a lot of problems with the car, and we still haven’t got to the bottom of the problem that we have,” he said. “I still don’t think we were at peak performance there with the car, so there was a bit of work to do.”
On Saturday the team grabbed its first podium since last May’s Hydro X Prix in Scotland, thanks to a genius move by Ekstrom who entered the first corner on the opening lap several meters wide, only to use the subsequent momentum to power up the inside in the second phase of the turn. It was a move that Ekstrom had planned in advance, but one that the team didn’t expect to work as well as it did.
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“With Mattias you have someone that looks everywhere,” Paffett said of his former DTM rival. “He doesn’t just look from one waypoint to the next, drive there and look at the next one, he looks at the whole environment and where he can make a difference, where he can find a different line, especially in Turn 1 and things like this.
“I spoke to him after the course walk and it was already in his head; he already knew what he wanted to do. I think the first time he did it in Saturday’s final, it turned out better than he thought it would. We spoke about it and agreed it was worth a go and we were expecting one, maybe two places, and when he came out in the lead it was like, ‘That worked better than we thought.’
“So that’s what Mattias does — he’s creative and that’s going to be really important when you’re fighting against all these really top drivers.”
The team’s subsequent Redemption Race win on Sunday – which it got after missing out on a final berth thanks to a Traction Challenge time result tiebreaker – would have been a somewhat meaningless victory last season, but with it now awarding the same number of points as finishing last in the final, it carries more weight, offering real “redemption.”
“On Sunday we were struggling a lot with performance, so getting the result we did, the win in the Redemption Race, with that being worth extra points now, is key,” said Paffett. “In the final itself, we got the same amount of points as Rosberg, which is really key because they’re obviously going to be championship challengers, so I would say there’s a lot of positives, but I would also say there’s stuff we really need to get on top of if we want to be fighting for a championship. We showed, certainly from Saturday, that we can do that because we can fight with the best.
“It is [crucial] because, like today, we didn’t make the Redemption Race because we were equal on [qualifying] points with Veloce, so it wasn’t a points thing, it was a Traction Challenge pace thing which is sometimes difficult because the circuit changes depending on what heat you’re in, so it’s not always a nice way for it to be decided if you make a final or not. To be in a Redemption Race with a competitive car and to be able to win and get the same points as someone in the final is really important.”
Acciona Sainz came within a lap of winning the Extreme E championship in 2023, and with that painful heartbreak still fresh in the mind – after all, last season’s finale was only two short months ago – the team was keen to get this year off to a …
Acciona Sainz came within a lap of winning the Extreme E championship in 2023, and with that painful heartbreak still fresh in the mind – after all, last season’s finale was only two short months ago – the team was keen to get this year off to a strong start to banish those memories.
Saturday’s Desert X Prix final brought an unlucky slow roll in deep sand and perhaps wasn’t the best start to the team’s latest crusade, but a victory in Sunday’s final more than made up for it.
“I think it was a fantastic way to start the season for the team,” team boss Carlos Sainz Sr. told RACER. “It’s very good for the confidence of the team, also the way we finished last year was very hard and we were a little bit down. Saturday wasn’t easy, but in the end this victory will give the whole team a good boost, the drivers good confidence, and for the morale, it’s really the best way to start.”
The win was Acciona Sainz’s third in Extreme E, and a repeat of last year when it won the second part of the season opener then, too. A key difference this time around, though, was the addition of Fraser McConnell who joined the team in the off season, replacing Mattias Ekstrom, and the former X44 man is already impressing his new boss.
“Yesterday, obviously he was honestly unlucky… He really did a fantastic job the whole weekend, settled really well in the team,” said Sainz. “I was sure he was going to deliver, but now he delivered a very good race, a very good weekend. Now we just need to keep pushing, keep working. This is only the first step.”
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Joining such a high caliber team and replacing an equally high caliber driver, McConnell knew he had big shoes to fill, but is relishing the opportunity to work with the Spanish outfit.
“Joining a team with everyone who’s so experienced, so knowledgeable with the car, a really professional group of guys and Laia (Sanz) of course is so fast – Last year she proved herself to be the fastest girl bar none – I knew I was filling quite a big role,” he said. “I really prepared as much as I could and gave the team absolutely everything while I was out on track.
“Yesterday, maybe I tried too much, but if I see tomorrow, I’m going to do it again. It was a great feeling to come back again today and finish the weekend high.
“We know we can do it. We’re not here to participate, we’re here to win. Red Bull coming onboard as well, everyone at QEV, Acciona, Sparco have given me this chance to go out there and show that I can do it so I’m living the dream and I’m going to round three even stronger.”
McConnell these days is firmly established as one of off-road racing’s elite, but at Acciona Sainz he’s surrounded by legendary talent in teammates — the multiple trials champion Sanz, and double World Rally and recently-minted four-time Dakar Rally winner Sainz, both of whom he’s keen to keep impressing.
“There’s still such a far way for me to go,” he insisted. “It’s only my fifth year racing internationally, and Carlos was and still is an inspiration, so when you get to race for one of your childhood heroes you almost have to pinch yourself. I’ve been giving absolutely everything to try and make sure I’m going out there and doing what they signed me up for.”
Acciona Sainz avenged its roll in Saturday’s Desert X Prix final to win the second part of the Extreme E season opener in Saudi Arabia. In what was a dominant performance in Sunday’s main event, Fraser McConnell got the holeshot from the start as …
Acciona Sainz avenged its roll in Saturday’s Desert X Prix final to win the second part of the Extreme E season opener in Saudi Arabia.
In what was a dominant performance in Sunday’s main event, Fraser McConnell got the holeshot from the start as he, along with two others, used the Hyperdrive power boost as soon as the start lights turned green. Rosberg X Racing’s Mikaela Ahlin-Kottulinsky saved her single use of the power boost for the approach to the turn at the second waypoint, however, which allowed her to sneak up the inside of E.ON Veloce Racing’s Molly Taylor.
Both rubbed doors, which allowed Andretti Altawkilat’s Timmy Hansen to slip past both for second. McConnell, free from the squabble behind, was able to eke out a 1.264s gap by the mid-race driver change, when he handed the car over to Laia Sanz. Catie Munnings, meanwhile, inherited the Andretti entry.
Behind Munnings, Kevin Hansen was now in the Veloce car and used his boost early in the lap to close up to his brother’s teammate, whom he was more than six seconds adrift of. Munnings, though, was more concerned with her charge for Sanz up front, and began her stint less than a second off the lead.
On the final lap, she gained a tenth in the first sector, but lost two in the next. The gap continued to increase for the remainder of the lap, even with Munnings using her Hyperdrive in the final stanza of the race.
Sanz eventually brought the Acciona Sainz car home with a 1.372s advantage, with Veloce a further 3.256s back. RXR took the fourth spot, having slowed early on following a heavy jump landing for Ahlin-Kottulinsky.
In the Redemption Race, Travis Pastrana’s pre-event aim to beat Mattias Ekstrom fell just short.
The Legacy Motor Club driver made a strong start to the race — a second start after an aborted first attempt following a roll for JBXE’s Dania Akeel after contact with NEOM McLaren’s Cristina Gutierrez. By the mid-race driver change, Pastrana handed off the Legacy M.C. car to Gray Leadbetter with a 4.018s lead over SUN Minimeal’s Timo Scheider, who made way for Klara Andersson.
But Ekstrom, now in the McLaren, wasn’t out of the fight. He got by Andersson up the inside at Waypoint 5, although she didn’t back down, immediately retaking the position, and it wasn’t until Waypoint 10 that Ekstom finally made the move stick.
He then set about hunting down Leadbetter. The 19-year-old put on an impressive performance to fend off the veteran DTM and World Rallycross champion, but in the end experience prevailed over youth, with Ekstrom edging past near the end of the final lap.
With a new rule change for 2024, a redemption race victory awards as many points as the last spot in the final, going some way to soften the blow of McLaren missing the final after appearing in it on Saturday.
A third place behind RXR and Veloce in the opening Q1 race wasn’t the best start to the day, while the team finished second to Andretti after losing a secure lead in the driver switch zone. Acciona Sainz was the other victor in the first round of qualifying, while RXR made it a preliminary round sweep with another victory in Q2.
With two rounds of the 2024 Extreme E season now in the books, RXR finds itself in a familiar position at the top of the points table. It’s a slender lead, however, with Acciona Sainz just two points off the lead and Veloce a further six points back.
Season 4 of Extreme E will resume in Europe on July 13-14.
Championship standings
1. Rosberg X Racing 41 points
2. ACCIONA | SAINZ XE Team 39 points
3. E.ON Veloce Racing 33 points
4. Andretti Altawkilat Extreme E 31 points
5. NEOM McLaren Extreme E Team 30 points
6. LEGACY MOTOR CLUB IN ASSOCIATION WITH JIMMIE JOHNSON 18 points
7. SUN Minimeal Team 10 points
8. JBXE 10 points
Rosberg X Racing got its Extreme E title defense underway in strong fashion with a win in the first part of the Desert X Prix in Saudi Arabia, but it wasn’t straightforward, with the winning margin being the closest in the series’ history. The …
Rosberg X Racing got its Extreme E title defense underway in strong fashion with a win in the first part of the Desert X Prix in Saudi Arabia, but it wasn’t straightforward, with the winning margin being the closest in the series’ history.
The champion pairing of Johan Kristoffersson and Mikaela Ahlin-Kottulinsky had to fend off the new NEOM McLaren duo of Mattias Ekstrom and Cristina Gutierrez, eventually crossing the line just 0.167s ahead of the papaya car.
Ekstrom looked to have made the weakest getaway at the start of the race, being last of the four starters in the initial phase, but a hugely wide approach into the first turn allowed him to undercut the rest of the field and emerge from that turn in the lead. The RXR car, piloted by Kristoffersson for the first two laps, kept Ekstrom honest, though, ending the first lap just 0.666s behind.
Turn 1 proved to be pivotal on the next lap, too, with Kristoffersson this time finding the grip on the inside line to snatch the race lead. RXR entered the mid-race driver switch with a decent 1.813s lead, while a race-best third sector on lap two allowed E.ON Veloce Racing’s Kevin Hansen to join the race lead conversation, ending his stint just 0.415s off the back of the McLaren.
That hard work by Hansen was almost undone by a mistake refitting the cockpit side netting during the driver change, but the team ultimately lost little time and the three-way fight for the win resumed on lap 3 with them all covered by 1.928s. After losing out at the start and a visibility-affected run in the first two laps, Acciona Sainz’s Laia Sanz handed the Spanish team’s car over to new signing Fraser McConnell more than seven seconds back.
Up front, a slow first sector for RXR and an early use of the Hyperdrive boost helped McLaren’s Gutierrez keep on Ahlin-Kottulinsky’s tail – a chase that resulted in the two coming together on the Waypoint 5 jump landing. The right-front damage on the McLaren and the left-rear damage on the RXR car was merely cosmetic, though, allowing the duel to continue into the final lap.
There, both entered the first corner side-by-side once again, but it wasn’t until Waypoint 13 where Guiterrez was able to find a way past. The move to the fore ended up being temporary, however, with Ahlin-Kottulinsky repassing four gates later, and just holding on to take RXR’s record-extending ninth Extreme E win.
The battle up front, while firmly a two-car affair, did allow the other finalists to close in until a charging McConnell, looking to snatch third from Veloce’s Taylor, ended up rolling at Waypoint 13. This brought the 2023 runner-up team’s day to a premature end, while Veloce consolidated third as a result.
In the redemption race, Andretti Altawkilat dominated after Catie Munnings made a perfect start. All runners used the Hyperdrive off the start, but Munnings was the last to hit the button, doing so after managing the wheelspin, allowing her to use the power boost deeper into the first corner approach.
Munnings handed the car off to Timmy Hansen at the end of her two-lap stint with a mammoth 4.264s lead over JBXE’s Andreas Bakkerud, who made way for Saudi driver Dania Akeel for the final two laps.
Behind them, a problem for SUN Minimeal’s Timo Scheider allowed Legacy Motor Club’s Travis Pastrana to move up a place. He continued his charge on the final lap, hunting down Akeel and passing her around the outside at Waypoint 8.
Veloce won the opening round of the morning’s qualifying heats, only to briefly lose it due to a penalty for a switch zone infringement that was later rescinded, while RXR won the other Q1 race. Acciona Sainz was victorious in the first heat of Q2, while RXR set up what would go on to be a perfect day with another heat victory.
Acciona Sainz topped practice for the Desert X Prix as the fourth Extreme E season got underway in Saudi Arabia. Laia Sanz and Fraser McConnell’s combined four-lap time of 10m05.933s was 1.21s quicker than defending champions Rosberg X Racing …
Acciona Sainz topped practice for the Desert X Prix as the fourth Extreme E season got underway in Saudi Arabia.
Laia Sanz and Fraser McConnell’s combined four-lap time of 10m05.933s was 1.21s quicker than defending champions Rosberg X Racing (Mikaela Ahlin-Kottulinsky and Johan Kristoffersson), despite a dramatic moment for McConnell at the end of the team’s run.
Coming over the final jump, just before the finish line, McConnell landed the car on its nose, destroying the front bodywork, but the damage proved to be only superficial and he was able to continue the final few meters to the finish line without issue.
Andretti Altawkilat’s Catie Munnings and Timmy Hansen were third fastest, a further four tenths back, despite Hansen setting session-best times in sectors two and three, while McLaren’s new pairing of Cristina Gutierrez and Mattias Ekstrom topped the morning session, but wound up fourth in the afternoon, aided by penalties for a couple of teams.
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E.ON Veloce Racing’s Molly Taylor and Kevin Hansen would have been fourth but for a pair of 10 second penalties — one of each driver — for knocking over waypoint flags. Sixth placed SUN Minimeal (Klara Andersson and Timo Schieder) were also hit with a 15.2s penalty for speeding in the Switch Zone.
Legacy Motor Club’s Travis Pastrana and Gray Leadbetter were seventh quickest on their first day in Extreme E, with JBXE’s Dania Akeel and Andreas Bakkerud completing the runners in eighth, more than a minute off the pace.
Extreme E has announced that Symbio will be its official hydrogen fuel cell supplier when the series is rechristened Extreme H in 2025. The electric off-road series will be making the change from battery-powered cars to fuel cell cars next season, …
Extreme E has announced that Symbio will be its official hydrogen fuel cell supplier when the series is rechristened Extreme H in 2025.
The electric off-road series will be making the change from battery-powered cars to fuel cell cars next season, in doing so becoming the world’s first full hydrogen-powered racing series. The Symbio announcement is the first major partnership confirmation for the series’ new era.
“We are delighted to announce Symbio as our official hydrogen fuel cell provider ahead of our first season as Extreme H in 2025,” said Ali Russell, managing director of Extreme E. “This is an exciting transition for the championship, which has pioneered sustainable technology solutions since its inception.
“We cannot wait to go racing with Symbio next year in the inaugural campaign of Extreme H — the world’s first off-road racing series powered by hydrogen.”
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Symbio — whose ownership group includes Michelin and Stellantis, the world’s third-biggest automaker — already supplies fuel cells for a number of applications, including light and mid-size commercial vehicles, buses and coaches, pickups and heavy-duty trucks, as well as construction equipment. It will supply a 75kW hydrogen fuel cell to Extreme H, which will be fueled by hydrogen created on-site using solar power.
“We are delighted that Extreme E, a pioneer in sustainable racing, trusts Symbio as its official fuel cell provider for its upcoming, groundbreaking hydrogen series,” said Philippe Rosier, CEO of Symbio. “This partnership is testimonial of our technological lead.
“Furthermore, at Symbio we believe motorsport offers a unique laboratory in extreme and real-life conditions that enables us to test and adapt our technology to the most intense and demanding uses. We go the extra mile to design, deliver and sell the most performant and competitive zero emission fuel cell solutions tailored to every market need.”
The final season of Extreme E in its battery-powered form gets underway in Saudi Arabia this weekend with an eight-car field featuring the likes of six-time World Rallycross champion Johan Kristofferson, DTM and World RX champion Mattias Ekstrom, action sports icon Travis Pastrana, and Dakar class winners Laia Sanz and Cristina Gutierrez all taking part.
‘Transition year’. It’s almost a metaphor for those “pardon our appearance” signs that pop up around construction work. It basically says “bear with us, this year might be boring, but next year will be better”. Extreme E is about to embark on its …
‘Transition year’. It’s almost a metaphor for those “pardon our appearance” signs that pop up around construction work. It basically says “bear with us, this year might be boring, but next year will be better”.
Extreme E is about to embark on its own transition year ahead of its big relaunch as the hydrogen-centric Extreme H in 2025. But the coming season won’t be boring. Firstly, by its very nature, the races in Extreme E just aren’t boring – too much goes on in them for that – but this year there’s been one of the busiest silly seasons since the series came into existence, and it opens up plenty of intrigue before the 10-race schedule gets underway.
For a series that is ultimately on the small side – compared to the likes of Formula 1 and the NASCAR Cup Series, at least – there’s been plenty of drama since the 2023 season finale. Beforehand, in fact. From the eight teams that will contest this season, only three – Andretti Altawkilat, Rosberg X Racing, and E.ON Veloce Racing – will have the same driver lineup. Three others have made major changes, and there are two completely new teams.
Of those changing, NEOM McLaren’s made the biggest moves. After invoking memories of its Can-Am days by running an American and a Kiwi – Tanner Foust and Emma Gilmour – in its first two seasons, McLaren has gone for an entirely different approach for its third crack at Extreme E.
RACER knows of as many as seven different drivers being linked with the papaya team in the final months of 2023, but by ultimately hiring a champion – former X44 driver Cristina Gutierrez – and someone who probably should have been one – Mattias Ekstrom – it comes into the new year as one of the most lethal teams in the field.
But it’s far from alone. Another X44 exile, Fraser McConnell, will take Ekstrom’s place at champions-in-waiting Acciona Sainz. The Jamaican is largely thought of as a rising star, but that’s doing him a disservice. He’s already a two-time race-winner in Extreme E, as well as a multiple event winner in the U.S.-based Nitrocross series, and will form a formidable partnership with Laia Sanz at the Spanish team that wants to avenge a painful last-lap defeat in 2023.
With McLaren and Sainz’s refreshed driver lineups, we already have a potential five-way title fight on our hands. Both will be more than a match for reigning champions Rosberg X Racing, Veloce Racing – coming off a similarly strong but ultimately unfortunate season to Sainz – and the often fast, but more often unfortunate Andretti team, all of which are keeping their proven driver lineups.
Andretti and Veloce will be two of the three teams maintaining their 2023 driver lineups. Alastair Staley/Motorsport Images
Andretti and Veloce’s retention of drivers comes as no surprise, with the former’s Catie Munnings and Timmy Hansen, and the latter’s Molly Taylor and Kevin Hansen all tied to long-term deals. RXR keeping Mikaela Ahlin-Kottulinsky and Kristoffersson ought to have been just as obvious since they’d just won the championship, but given that the team swapped Taylor for Ahlin-Kottulinsky after triumphing in Season 1, history repeating itself couldn’t be ruled out until the team confirmed both.
The final mover from the existing pool of teams is JBXE. Andreas Bakkerud will be back for his first full season, being joined by Saudi driver Dania Akeel who perhaps should have been in Extreme E long before now given her pedigree as one of the Middle East’s most prominent female off-road racers. Bakkerud is a proven quantity, and Akeel may have a decent resume already, as well, but that team is perhaps the biggest unknown of the year – even more so than the series’ newest entrants that arrive off the back of a handful of departures.
Team exits have been a bit of an unfortunate theme this off-season: OEM-backed teams Abt Cupra and GMC Hummer EV Chip Ganassi Racing have left for business reasons relating to their road car operations and the lack of an interest in hydrogen, while entries named after Lewis Hamilton and superstar DJ Carl Cox will also have different identities this year.
Replacements are already in play. SUN Minimeal was the first team announced as a new arrival for 2024. Team boss and driver Timo Scheider and teammate Klara Andersson both have podium pedigree in the category, but now have locked in long-term futures and stable teammates for the first time, giving both perhaps the best platform they’ve ever had in the series. That stability should stand both in good stead, allowing them to fulfil their full potential.
But out of the number of intriguing storylines in the last few months, the biggest one, and certainly the most surprising one, was left late. The arrival of NASCAR icon Jimmie Johnson’s Legacy Motor Club was something nobody saw coming.
Jimmie Johnson will follow in his Garage 56 teammate Jenson Button’s footsteps. Nikolaz Godet/Motorsport Images
Of the big-name champion drivers who’ve ventured into team ownership, Johnson is likely be the most credible from behind the wheel. His Garage 56 teammate Jenson Button quit driving after one race when he realized he wasn’t up to the task, Nico Rosberg has been comfortable enough serving just as a team boss – Johan Kristoffersson steamrolls the competition in what could’ve been his seat – while Lewis Hamilton never even ventured into the paddock during his team’s three-year stay in the series, the seven-time Formula 1 world champion’s participation limited to a handful of social media video appearances.
Johnson, despite being best known as a seven-time NASCAR Cup Champion who has sampled IndyCar and sports car racing in recent years, is well versed in off-road. He was a serial race-winner in Short Course in the 1990s, before he hit the big time, so it will be interesting to see how he fares in Extreme E.
Thanks to his ‘day job’, however, he’ll be missing the season-opener. His spot will be taken by Travis Pastrana, who knows a thing about winning on loose surfaces. He’ll be instantly quick – a stage win at last weekend’s Sno*Drift rally in the U.S. proving that recent knee surgery hasn’t taken away any of his speed.
Occupying the female driver spot at Legacy MC will be Gray Leadbetter, an emerging talent in the off-road world who’s been handpicked by Pastrana as something of a potential successor. The two have raced against each other in Side-by-Sides in Nitrocross, where the 19 year old hasn’t finished below fourth in the 2023-24 season, so any adjustment or team-building period will be fast-tracked, at least at the season-opener. All three Legacy MC drivers are new to Extreme E, but the blend of youth and experience will be fascinating to watch all year.
So despite doubts about the validity of the 2024 season, the reality is that it could be an incredibly interesting season. The construction work is ongoing, the focus is firmly on 2025, but don’t write off this year yet. You won’t need to pardon its appearance, because thanks to the big game of musical chairs, the 2024 season is likely to be the best one yet for the category.
NASCAR Cup series team Legacy Motor Club will expand into Extreme E this season, with Jimmie Johnson and Gray Leadbetter driving in the all-electric international off-road series. It marks something of a return to his roots for Johnson, who raced …
NASCAR Cup series team Legacy Motor Club will expand into Extreme E this season, with Jimmie Johnson and Gray Leadbetter driving in the all-electric international off-road series.
It marks something of a return to his roots for Johnson, who raced off-road trucks before his stock car career. He was a rookie of the year in Mickey Thompson’s series, the Short-course Off-road Drivers Association series, and SCORE International in the 1990s, and won more than 20 races across all three series, racking up 100 podiums, too.
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“The opportunity for Legacy Motor Club to field an off-road vehicle in the Extreme E championship is exciting in many ways,” said seven-time Cup series champion and NASCAR Hall of Famer Johnson. “We are essentially representing America in this unique and very competitive series and we are committed to the challenge.
“Our goal is to learn as much as we can and see what the future might bring. The fact this series competes globally, focuses on sustainably, inclusion, and gender equality really perks our interest.
“From a technical standpoint the changeover to hydrogen in 2025 is really intriguing and the entire motorsports community is watching closely. Personally for me as a driver, going back to my off-road roots and to the type of racing I started my career with is going to be a blast.”
Travis Pastrana (left) will fill in for Johnson for the opening two rounds in Saudi Arabia. Nigel Kinrade/Motorsport Images
The 2024 season begins this weekend in Saudi Arabia, the same weekend as the Daytona 500, meaning Johnson will be absent as he makes his 21st start in the Cup series opener. His place in the No. 84 Odyssey 21 will be taken by six-time U.S. rally champion and 2021 Nitrocross champion Travis Pastrana.
“This all came together pretty quick, but I’m really excited,” said Pastrana. “I have quite a bit of experience in electric vehicles, although I’ve never been in an Extreme E Odyssey 21 before. I compete in a lot of off-road events and some desert stuff – mostly on two wheels – but this should be really fun for us.
“I believe in Jimmie Johnson and in Legacy Motor Club and all he is doing with the Club, so when he asked me it was a no-brainer.”
Both drivers will be partnered by Leadbetter, who will be making her Extreme E debut, having previously spent time in the paddock as an observer with Chip Ganassi Racing in 2022. Leadbetter races in the Nitrocross Side-by-Side championship, where she currently sits third in the standings, one spot ahead of Pastrana (who competes part-time), with eight top-four finishes from eight starts, including podium finishes in Phoenix and Southern California.
Off-road prodigy Leadbetter has been a frontrunner in Nitrocross’ Side-by-Side category. Qnigan/Nitrocross
“I’m super excited and thankful for this opportunity,” said Leadbetter who, at 19 years old, will be the second-youngest driver to compete in Extreme E after fellow Nitrocross racer Lia Block, who made her debut last year aged 16. “I’ve always been interested in Extreme E, but just never found the right opportunity to step foot in it.
“When Travis texted me last week that there might be a chance to race with Jimmie Johnson and Legacy Motor Club, I couldn’t have been more thrilled. I’ve never driven these cars so it’s sure to be an adventure, but I will be in great company. This is a dream come true.”
Patrana added: “I’ve worked with Gray before and she is a huge talent, so overall it is just a great opportunity for both of us to compete in this championship series together. She’s the top female young up-and-coming talent in Nitrocross and has the speed, so hopefully as Americans, we will do our country proud and return home with a win and some smiles on our faces.”
