RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The news about the arrival of the Extreme E category championship to Maldonado next year has generated great expectation and enormous interest, arousing curiosity to know what this new category is all about, which a few days ago culminated the dispute of its first season with the Jurassic X-Prix – a competition that took place in Dorset, Great Britain.
Enrique Antía informed that Punta del Este will host a round of the electric SUV category competition in November 2022. The mayor announced that although official confirmation is still awaited, everything indicates that this will be the case. He also added that the place chosen for the competition would be located near the buoy of José Ignacio, in a private property.
Engineer Antía commented: “It is an important international event, which chose Punta del Este as a point. Six places in the world do it, and they chose Punta del Este in South America. It was decided this week in Paris, at the FIA headquarters, but we will wait for the official communication”, he concluded.
Meanwhile, Alejandro Agag, founder and chairman of the Formula E World Championship and founder and CEO of Extreme E, released a statement in which he expressed his satisfaction that the final date of the 2022 season will be in Punta del Este.
The Spanish businessman, who recently visited Uruguay, commented: “I have a long relationship with Punta del Este, which is now renewed with the support of Mayor Antía and the authorities of the National Government of Uruguay. Punta del Este has always bet on innovation and electric competitions. We have been working on the idea with our local partner Sportlink. We are thrilled to start working to build another success that will be of high exposure in the world and will be able to spread even more the beauties and transformations of Uruguay”.
The two-day competition is similar to the world rallycross championship, with heats, semi-finals, and a grand final.
All the vehicles are Odyssey 21 E-SUVs, powered by electric energy with a power equivalent to 550 hp. By regulation, each pairing must be mixed, and both participants must drive, promoting gender equality.
The 2022 calendar consists of five dates, to be held in Saudi Arabia, Italy (Sardinia), Scotland or Senegal, Chile (Antofagasta), and Uruguay (Punta del Este).
The first season of the Extreme E Championship had nine teams, four directly related to world champions. Acciona/Sainz XE had the participation of two-time world rally champion Carlos Sainz. The JBXE belongs to 2009 Formula One world champion Jenson Button. Nico Rosberg (2016 world champion) drove the RXR and multi-time winner Lewis Hamilton the X44. Meanwhile, the Veloce Racing team is run by two-time Formula E champion Jean-Eric Vergne and the leading and successful Formula One designer Adrian Newey.