Friday and Saturday kicked off the inaugural season of the first-ever electric boat racing league when the first eight teams in the UIM E1 Championship Series motored, foiled, and splashed across the Red Sea in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Marc Anthony’s Team Miami had pole position heading into Saturday’s race, but two other famous names were on the podium; here are the final E1 results.
It’s been a multi-year journey for the UIM E1 Series and its founders leading up to this weekend’s first GP, and we at Electrek have covered the nascent league most of the way. That said, we naturally had to tune into Saturday’s electric boat racing rounds, broadcast live from Jeddah on CBS Sports Network.
Friday’s qualifying races consisted of time trials to determine pole position for the semi-finals. The fastest time ended up coming from Marc Anthony’s Team Miami, which also tallied one point toward their season total for the championship in Hong Kong.
On Saturday, the eight initial E1 teams were split into two separate semi-final rounds of four, each racing twice (one male pilot and one female pilot). The combined points of each team determine which of the top two teams in each semi-final advance to the Super Final for a spot on the podium and maximum points toward the championship.
The Super Final is run twice, allowing both pilots on each team a chance to compete, and one championship bonus point is awarded to the team with the fastest overall lap. The bottom four teams still compete in what E1 calls the “place race ” for the remaining points. Here’s how the point system breaks down, pending the results for each E1 GP event:
E1’s first GP results in Team Brady taking 1st, Rafa 2nd
The E1’s first-ever Super Final saw some teams from some more prominent owners competing. The field consisted of Team Brady, Team Rafa, Team Miami, and Blue Rising, owned by Cricket star Virat Kohli.
After the first Super Final race, Team Rafa had the lead, followed by Team Miami and Team Brady. The second Super Final race saw a lot more back and forth, as some spray blocked Team Rafa pilot Cris Lazarraga’s view, causing her to cut a corner, which resulted in a penalty in which the team had to choose between a 30-second penalty, or an additional “long lap,” (usually only one per race required).
With the top team penalized, Team Brady took the lead and didn’t let it go in race two. Combined with pilot Emma Kimilainen’s third place in race one, Sam Coleman led Tom Brady’s team to first place in the first E1 GP.
Here are the current UIM E1 Championship standings following the Jeddah GP results:
- Team Brady – 20 points
- Team Miami – 17 points
- Team Rafa – 14 points
- Team Blue Rising – 10 points
- Sergio Perez E1 Team – 8 points
- Team Drogba – 5 points
- Aoki Racing Team – 3 points
- Team Brazil – 1 point
The next E1 GP will take place in Venice, Italy, on May 11-12.