Extreme E is an off-road, rallycross-style championship for Odyssey electric SUVs. Teams of one male and one female driver share a car and complete one lap of the course each during a race.
The series tries to highlight environmental issues by visiting remote locations affected by climate change and pollution. In the first season, this included the Greenland ice sheet, Lac Rose in Senegal and the AlUla desert region of Saudi Arabia. It was developed by Alejandro Agag, CEO of Formula E. The inspiration for mixed teams came from Agag’s love of tennis, where mixed doubles is still played.
The inaugural season ran for five rounds, although the locations changed from those originally planned, due to difficulties caused by the coronavirus crisis. It began in Saudi and passed through Senegal, Greenland, Sardinia and Dorset, UK. All of the Odyssey cars, team equipment, charging bases and some of the personnel moved between sites on the RMS St Helena, a refitted mail ship. Spectators and extraneous media personnel were not allowed, to reduce the footprint of each XPrix.
As team size was kept minimal, the series provided two “championship drivers”, Timo Scheider and Jutta Kleinschmidt, who were able to substitute for anyone unable to compete at short notice. Jutta Kleinschmidt was called into action after Claudia Hurtgen’s roll in Saudi and took the female Cupra seat for the rest of the season. Tamara Molinaro was drafted in as championship driver. Some teams, such as Veloce, had their own reserve drivers for planned absences. Jenson Button, owner of JBXE, pulled out after the first round to concentrate on management and was replaced by Kevin Hansen, competing alongside his brother Kevin.
Molly Taylor and Johan Kristofferson were the first winners, driving for Nico Rosberg’s Rosberg X Racing, ahead of Cristina Gutierrez Herrero and Sebastien Loeb in X44’s Odyssey. The X44 team is owned by Lewis Hamilton.
Season 1 Championship Table
Molly Taylor/Johan Kristofferson (Rosberg X Racing)
Cristina Gutierrez/Sebastien Loeb (X44)
Catie Munnings/Timmy Hansen (Andretti United Extreme E)
Mikaela Ahlin-Kottulinsky (JBXE)
=Kevin Hansen (JBXE)
Laia Sanz/Carlos Sainz (Acciona Sainz XE Team)
Mattias Ekstrom (Abt Cupra)
=Jutta Kleinschmidt (Abt Cupra)
7. Sara Price (Segi TV Chip Ganassi)
=Stephane Sarrazin (Veloce)
8. Kyle LeDuc (Segi TV Chip Ganassi)
9. Christine Giampaoli Zonca/Oliver Bennett (Xite Energy Hispano Suiza)
10. Jamie Chadwick (Veloce)
11. Emma Gilmour (Veloce)
12. Jenson Button (JBXE)
=Lance Woolridge (Veloce)
13. Claudia Hurtgen (Abt Cupra)
A new team, McLaren, joined for the 2022 championship. Its drivers are Emma Gilmour, who sat in for Jamie Chadwick at Veloce when she was on W Series duty, and Tanner Foust. Other changes in personnel happened for Season 2 and the championship drivers were called into action several times. There were five rounds in 2022, held in Saudi, Sardinia (two races), Chile and Uruguay. Defending champion Molly Taylor only did two rounds as a championship driver this year.
Season 2 Championship Table
1. Cristina Gutierrez/Sebastien Loeb (X44 Vida Carbon Racing)
2. Mikaela Ahlin-Kottulinsky/Johan Kristofferson (Rosberg X Racing)
3. Laia Sanz/Carlos Sainz (Acciona Sainz XE Team)
4. Sara Price (GMC Hummer EV Chip Ganassi Racing)
5. Kyle LeDuc (GMC Hummer EV Chip Ganassi Racing)
6. Nasser Al-Attiyah (Abt Cupra XE)
7. Emma Gilmour/Tanner Foust (Mclaren XE)
8. Klara Andersson (Abt Cupra XE)
9. Catie Munnings/Timmy Hansen (Genesys Andretti United Extreme E)
10. Kevin Hansen (JBXE)
11. Tamara Molinaro (Xite Energy Racing)
12. Hedda Hosas (Veloce Racing/JBXE)
13. Timo Scheider (Xite Energy Racing)
14. Molly Taylor (Veloce Racing/JBXE)
15. Oliver Bennett (Xite Energy Racing)
16. RJ Anderson (GMC Hummer EV Chip Ganassi Racing)
17. Lance Woolridge (Veloce Racing)
18. Christine Giampaoli Zonca (Veloce Racing)
19. Jutta Kleinschmidt (Abt Cupra XE)
20. Ezequiel Perez Companc (Xite Energy Racing)
21. Fraser McConnell (JBXE)
For 2023, the Xite team was taken over by DJ and motorsport mogul Carl Cox. There were ten races spread across four locations: Saudi, Scotland, Sardinia and Chile. The two female championship drivers were Tamara Molinaro and Christine GZ, who stepped back from a full-time drive. Both got to make starts. McLaren driver Emma Gilmour was unfortunately injured in a crash in Scotland and had to pull out. She will not return in 2024.
Season 3 Championship Table
1. Mikaela Ahlin-Kottulinsky/Johan Kristofferson (Rosberg X Racing)
2. Laia Sanz/Mattias Ekstrom (Acciona Sainz XE Team)
3. Molly Taylor/Kevin Hansen (Veloce Racing)
4. Cristina Gutierrez/Fraser McConnell (X44 Vida Carbon Racing)
5. Amanda Sorensen/RJ Anderson (GMC Hummer EV Chip Ganassi Racing)
6. Klara Anderson (Abt Cupra XE)
7. Catie Munnings/Timmy Hansen (Andretti Attawkilat Extreme E)
8. Tanner Foust (Mclaren XE)
9. Hedda Hosas (JBXE/McLaren)
10. Sebastien Loeb (Abt Cupra XE)
11. Timo Scheider (Carl Cox Motorsport)
12. Andreas Bakkerud (JBXE)
13. Emma Gilmour (Mclaren XE)
14. Lia Block (Carl Cox Motorsport)
15. Christine GZ (Carl Cox Motorsport)
(Image copyright Zak Mauger/Extreme E)
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