Preview 2021, Part 1: Boom in electric series 🎥
This year, electric racing in particular is showing a new side. In addition to Formula E with World Championship status, there is now also an extreme offroad and touring car series as well as an e-rally cup. What does Extreme E mean? The trailer explains. Many fans turn up their noses at the lack of sound. Otherwise, [...]
What does Extreme E mean? The trailer explains it.
Many fans turn up their noses at the lack of sound. Otherwise, however, electric racing series offer everything that conventional motorsport has to offer - and often even more action than with combustion engines.
Living Equality in the Extreme E
The Extreme E, created by the makers of Formula E, will be held starting this year with 405 kW (550 hp) electric buggies in five remote regions of the world without spectators. The racing series, in which a man and a woman take turns at the wheel, is intended to draw attention to various environmental problems such as desertification, glacier melt and deforestation.
Prominent team owners include F1 world champions Lewis Hamilton, Nico Rosberg and Jenson Button. With Button, Sébastien Loeb (who drives for Hamilton's Team X44), Carlos Sainz, Mattias Ekström and Johan Kristofferson, no fewer than five world champions from Formula 1, rally and rallycross will be taking the wheel.
Coverage on German-language station
All teams have the same e-buggy with the Odyssey 21 and are only allowed to slightly customize its bodywork. For example, one vehicle will compete with a front end based on the Hummer because the team (Chip Ganassi Racing from the USA) is sponsored by General Motors.
A ship powered by alternative fuels serves as the vehicle transporter and floating base camp. The season starts on April 3-4 in AlUla in Saudi Arabia. The racing action will be televised on Pro Sieben Maxx and Sky for Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
Long overdue revaluation
Formula E has already begun on February 26 and 27 with two races also held in Saudi Arabia (Diriyah). Since 2021, the world's fastest electric racing series has been given the official title of an FIA World Championship. This upgrade was long overdue in view of the level of driving skills and the commitment of the manufacturers.
The world championship will no longer be spread over several years, as was previously the case, but is to end as early as June 5/6 with the second doubleheader in Santiago de Chile. The organizers are doing everything they can to ensure that three European races can take place in between in Rome (April 10), Valencia (April 24) and Monaco (May 8), as well as one in Marrakech (May 22).
Three Swiss in the hunt for world championship points
Swiss figurehead is and remains Sébastien Buemi, even if the 2015/16 season champion failed to score any points at the season opener. In honor and promotion of the Japanese company's new all-electric SUV, his race car bears the name Nissan Ariya.
Edoardo Mortara from Geneva drives with Mercedes-E-Power at ROKiT Venturi Racing, which propelled him to second place in Diriyah. And for Nico Müller, hopes of scoring his first WRC points were also fulfilled with a strong fifth place in Dragon Racing's Penske EV-4.
The fastest electric touring cars
The Pure ETCR was supposed to get underway as early as 2020, but it remained static presentations. It represents the first multi-brand racing series for all-electric touring cars. The championship will not consist of races, but of battles (duels) over a sprint distance.
So far, three manufacturers have been confirmed as participants: Cupra with the e-Racer, Hyundai with the Veloster N ETCR and Alfa Romeo with the Giulia ETCR by Romeo Ferraris. MG is still to be added.
Equipped with various standardized components for cost reasons, they produce a maximum of 500 kW (approx. 680 hp) and sprint to 100 km/h in an impressive 3.2 seconds. The season starts in June at the Autodromo Vallelunga near Rome.
The Pure ETCR is not held in races, but in elimination matches.
Opel as a pioneer in rally sport
The world premiere of the first electric one-make rally cup was actually supposed to take place last year. But because all the planned events were cancelled, the international ADAC Opel e-Rally Cup will not start its first season until May 2021.
Opel technicians used the time under difficult conditions in Germany for development and extensive test drives with the 100 kW (136 hp) electric Corsa. Four rounds of the German Rally Championship are planned, plus three one-day races over 70 kilometers each and, as the highlight, the European Championship Barum round in Zlín (CZ). The purchase price for an operational Corsa-e Rally is 49,900 euros excluding taxes.
