Extreme E premiered season two of its documentary, “Race for the Planet,” this week at an exclusive event at Electric Cinema in London that included RACER among its invited guests.
The documentary series, co-produced by Extreme E and NEO Studios, offers a behind-the-scenes look at the second season of the all-electric off-road racing championship. It also explores the personalities involved and shines a spotlight on the championship’s environmental and ecological initiatives away from the racetrack.
“We are absolutely thrilled to announce our second season of ‘Race for the Planet,’” said Extreme E’s chief marketing officer, Ali Russell. “The series highlights the untold stories behind the scenes of Extreme E on and off the track and takes audiences along with us on this incredible adventure around the globe to witness environmental issues and solutions they might otherwise be unaware of.
“We have captured in a very raw form what it is like to race in Extreme E. We break down the barriers around the ups and down of motorsport, and there is no hiding the challenges faced and essentially, how extreme this championship is.
“It gives a real insight into the thoughts and emotions of some of the best drivers in motorsport, and that just makes this documentary even more unique and entertaining as we bring the audience into the heart of our racing and legacy projects.”
The series also mirrors the championship’s commitment to gender equality — each team features both male and female drivers with both getting equal track time, as well as there being multiple other female team members throughout the paddock — with co-commentator Jennie Gow and the championship’s TV reporter Laura Winter both featuring prominently.
“For women to be on the motorsport world stage in equal machinery with equal opportunity, it’s something that has never been done before,” said McLaren driver Emma Gilmour. “As we’ve seen over the two seasons, the caliber, and the talent and the speed of the females has got better and better and that’s still with limited seat time.
“I think it’s really exciting for the future, and especially for that next generation coming through, it’s fantastic.”
Each episode is dedicated to one of last year’s five championship rounds. The premiere showcased the final episode in the series and the tense finale title fight primarily between 2021 champions Rosberg X Racing and X44, with the latter prevailing after a thrilling weekend in which all the contenders hit trouble.
“At NEO, we also couldn’t believe the outcome, and filming a championship as close as this helps to draw interest from the motorsport community and beyond,” said Anouk Mertens, global CEO of NEO Studios. “The access that we get to the series is the best we’ve experienced in terms of creating a fly on the wall documentary and that allows us to tell deeper human stories around the sport.
“The reason why NEO is invested in this project is because we feel Extreme E shares the same values as us both on and off the track, particularly our ambition to highlight inequality in sport that still exists today.
“At NEO we focus on the fact that our shows highlight unexpected stories and often underrepresented voices throughout the sports world.”
After Season One of the series was shown exclusively on Amazon’s Prime Video in the UK, Season Two is expected to be made available globally, with news of the broadcast partner set to be revealed later in the year.