EXTREME E GEARS UP FOR SEASON 3

Extreme E returns next month for its third season, and it’s set to be bigger than ever!

It has been almost four months since the dramatic finale to Extreme E’s second season, which concluded with Lewis Hamilton’s X44 Vida Carbon Racing pairing of Sébastien Loeb and Cristina Gutiérrez claiming the title on the very final day of the season.

Season 3 Calendar

With the series returning next month, the teams and drivers are preparing to do it all again. In this feature, we’ll preview the upcoming Season 3 calendar, as well as assessing the favourites to bring home the title in 2023!

Last year saw Extreme E embark on its most expansive calendar yet, racing across three different continents in some of the most remote destinations on the planet, and it will be more of the same this year. As always, the Extreme E calendar will begin with the traditional curtain raiser in Saudi Arabia, where the drivers will have to battle mountainous dunes and searing temperatures. Rosberg X Racing will be looking for a repeat of last season, as they started their title defense by claiming the Desert X-Prix last year. The series will then make its long-awaited return to the UK, as Round 2 will be hosted in Scotland. Extreme E has not raced in the UK since the finale of the Season 1, which was held in Dorset as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

At the midway point of the season, Extreme E will return to Sardinia, where it has raced in each of its past two campaigns.

The fourth X Prix of Season 3 will see Extreme E race in another new setting, with the championship heading to either the USA for its inaugural round in North America or to remote parts of Brazil. Despite being unable to compete in Brazil so far due to Covid restrictions, Extreme E has continued its legacy work in the Amazon. Extreme E has partnered with TNC

Ones To Watch In 2023

The Season 2 Championship went down to the wire last year, with X44 Vida Carbon Racing beating reigning champions Rosberg X Racing to the title in dramatic fashion.

X44 entered the final on Sunday with three of the top four teams in the championship standings missing out, including leaders and reigning champions Rosberg X Racing.

As their closest rivals watched on from the paddock, Sébastien Loeb and Cristina Gutiérrez secured the podium finish needed to take their maiden Extreme E title, just two points clear of RXR in the standings, having bagged a crucial five points from the Continental Traction Challenge in Qualifying 2.

Having been the most dominant team in Extreme E since its inception, Rosberg X Racing will surely be looking to regain the Championship this year, but they will have much stiffer competition once Season 3 kicks off.

With just two points separating the teams, this year looks set to be just as close, and X44 will be doing all they can to retain the title, but Hummer EV Chip Ganassi Racing, which claimed its first win of Extreme E in the first Island X-Prix last year, will also be in the mix.

Although the win came as a technicality following RXR’s Kristoffersson collision with Carlos Sainz Snr. in the early stages of the final, Hummer EV Chip Ganassi Racing certainly made an impression in its debut season, finishing fourth overall.

McLaren’s paring of Emma Gilmour and Tanner Foust will be desperate to improve this year, finishing in fifth place of the Team’s Championship in their rookie season, but with one season under their belts, they will be confident of improving this time round.

to develop its Amazon-based Legacy Programmes, which funds native forest restoration and a well-established cacao-based agroforestry programme. The final round of Season 3 will take place in a familiar setting, with Extreme E returning to Chile, where Cristina Gutiérrez and Sébastien Loeb of X44 claimed their first win of the season this year.

Alejandro Agag, CEO and Founder of Extreme E, said: “We have had two spectacular seasons of Extreme E so far and the third promises to be even more thrilling.

“All of us here at Extreme E are looking forward to revisiting some of the amazing race locations we have visited so far, and to build on the impacts we have made in those areas and further develop our vital legacy programmes as we continue to raise awareness of the climate crisis.

“I am proud to see the positive impact our electric series has had and to see what more we can bring to the communities there.

“It is also extremely exciting to potentially add a race in the USA or Brazil to our global championship, while returning to the UK, the birthplace of top-level motor racing, is fitting. We cannot wait for the 2023 campaign to begin as the race for the planet continues.”

It is new beginning’s for JBXE this year as well, with Fraser McConnell replacing the outgoing Kevin Hansen. McConnell stood in for JBXE in the final round of last season, and with a rich background in motorsport which consists of winning the ARX2 title in 2019, Jenson Button’s side will be hoping for much better this year.