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By Alan Baldwin
(Reuters) - Extreme E founder
Alejandro Agag is thanking his lucky stars already as his new
electric off-road racing series prepares to debut in the deserts
of Saudi Arabia this weekend.
Getting to the start line has been no easy feat for the Spaniard
and his vision of racing SUVs in the remotest parts of the
planet to highlight the effects of climate change and promote
sustainability.
The COVID-19 pandemic, the logistical challenges of Brexit and
even the recent blockage of the Suez Canal by a giant container
ship have been obstacles overcome or narrowly avoided.
"I will be relieved on Sunday when the race is done," Agag told
Reuters on Wednesday from the St. Helena, a former British mail
ship that serves as a floating base for teams and scientists and
is currently off the Saudi coast.
"I’m happy that we’re here. We had (to deal with) COVID, we had
Brexit that made it difficult to bring the cars into the UK to
load them on the ship in Liverpool, we had many different
obstacles.
"By a few days we didn’t get blocked in the Suez canal which
would have meant cancelling the race. With a bit of luck we were
able to be here."
Extreme E has a schedule of five rounds, from Saudi's Al Ula to
Senegal, Greenland, the Brazilian rain forest and Argentine
glaciers of Tierra del Fuego.
The areas are suffering from environmental damage but the series
has science-based programmes, working with experts, aimed at
restoring and protecting.
It announced on Wednesday a legacy programme to support turtle
conservation along a stretch of the Red Sea shoreline.
INITIAL VISION
The initial vision was for the series to be a packaged "docu-sport"
but races will now be shown live due to the level of interest
from broadcasters around the world and the involvement of big
names from motorsport.
Nine-times world rally champion Sebastian Loeb is competing,
along with 2009 F1 world champion Jenson Button and triple Dakar
Rally winner and double rally world champion Carlos Sainz.
"This is something completely new," Sainz, 58, told Reuters from
the boat. "I think it can be very spectacular.
"I said to myself I would like to have some experience in
electric motorsport, it was probably my last chance. I think we
need to have an open mind about what we are going to find."
Loeb is representing the team of seven-times F1 world champion
Lewis Hamilton, run by British motorsport company Prodrive.
Nico Rosberg, the 2016 F1 champion, has a team too while Jamie
Chadwick, the inaugural winner of the all-female W Series, is
racing for Veloce. Chip Ganassi Racing and U.S. track rivals
Andretti Autosport also have teams.
Every crew must feature a male and female driver taking turns at
the wheel.
Qualifying is on Saturday and the final on Sunday, without
spectators.
"I am massively surprised by how much interest this is
generating," said Agag, who also founded the Formula E
championship.
"The sporting element has grown within the space we dedicated to
it in the project because of the live broadcasting, but the
documentary side is very important because that is where we can
go in more detail on the environmental issues."
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin, editing by Ed Osmond)
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